Confluence with Rahul and Richard
A santoor, a piano and the past experience of an album with the blend of both. Rahul Sharma and Richard Clayderman let the confluence of Indian and Western Classical, flow through yet again. The album bears some resemblance to some very common Indian tunes, which might a ring a bell with the listener. Its simplistic style doesn’t require an in-depth knowledge of either instrument or genre of music. Instead, the entire album aims at enabling you to understand fusion. In comparison to its predecessor, Confluence II is meant more for the Indian than global audience.
Songs like Fragrant Night however, provide new direction to the playlist. With no resemblance to a traditional lounge mix, you might just be taken aback by the precision and the "stylishness" with which this particular song is executed. Alongside this, another powerful number from the album is Chase. With a follow up as 'The Chase Continues' in the same album, both musicians have very cleverly interlinked every aspect of the album.
Just like the album title is equivalent to the confluence of two musical instruments of totally different genres, similarly the titles of most songs are indicative of the meaning and the flow of music in each. The Dance of the Sufis broadly explores the peace and constancy of Sufism and hence Sufi music. Yet, with its heavy infusion of the percussion, the album may at times, sound slightly jarring to the untrained ear; this, since most numbers meander their way through, without actually assuming any particular direction.
As is in any album, some songs overpower the others and remain in one's short and long term memory but the album overall remains with anyone who is a fan of semi-classical or even fusion, for that matter. Overall, the album could stand anywhere between a 3 to 3.5 on a scale of 5. With what seems like major influences of ghar ki matti, Rahul Sharma, in collaboration with Richard Clayderman has produced an album that is global, yet remains connected with India.
Akanksha Arya
[ratings]
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