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Rating: Hooray... now what has the most eccentric quartet of the contemporary jazz (?) scene come up with? Well, India was the only thing left, and then the tour around the world in 80 CDs (a few less, let's say) is complete (punk-rock, nu metal, the '80s new wave, and little else are still left out, but... give it time...).
Okay, we've got the idea, they must have said, and now? Should we start writing Indian stuff? Come on, we wouldn't be credible, and anyone who wants to do it, raise your hand... No one, huh? So, here they are, taking the verbose production of a certain Rahul Dev Burman, considered the father of contemporary Bollywood soundtracks, and reworking it here and there, inspired more by the historical moment (oh God, the Indian fad might have passed, but who's going to tell our guys?) than by true artistic/expressive urgency.
In fact, the CD, although pleasant on the first listen, adds little to nothing to what has already been heard in terms of Indian-style and related genres from 2/3 years ago.
But I say:
What's the point of practically remaking these little songs identical, again, charming and enjoyable but suitable only for TV jingles, without an interpretation worthy of the Kronos Quartet or what this band has done in the past? I repeat, it's hard to discover interventions of strings and/or cellos in the tracks, and once found, they merely underline the central theme or little more, something a third-year conservatory student could do better.
The composer's wife's voice, Asha Bhosle, and the (by now obligatory) interventions of Zakir Hussain on percussion and Wu Man on the pipa, are of little use. In my opinion, if they were so interested in the project, it would have been better for them to get involved only as producers or, at the very least, if an intervention had to happen, they should have studied a bit more and really "dared": damn it, aren't you the KRONOS QUARTET, not "the chocolatiers of Poggibonsi," right?
Alas, here from the Kronos Quartet of the good old days, only some pleasant fiddling is left, blurred by some tablas and a few pipa.
With one or more "p's" depending on personal taste.
P.S. I give a 3 as encouragement, but it would be less...
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