Jai Uttal - Footprints/Monkey(1990/1992)

Hoy les presento a un norteamericano que desde niño sintió un especial amor por la música india. Esa pasión le llevaría a dedicarle su vida , y a sintonizarse en cuerpo y alma   con la esencia de esa música. Se trata de Jai Uttal, y les vamos a hablar de sus dos primeros álbumes, sobre todo del primero, que cuenta con  la excepcional colaboración de Don Cherry  y de Lackshmi Shankar, dos gigantes,  que deben haber visto algo verdaderamente especial en este muchacho para participar en su  disco de debut. Gracias Moe por la música. Que lo disfruten!

Artista: Jai Uttal

Álbum: Footprints/Monkey 
Año: 1990/1992
Género: New Age, World Music, Kirtan
Duración: 54:25
Nacionalidad: EEUU

Lista de Temas:

01. Footprints
02. Caravan
03. Andobar Island
04. Raghupati
05. Madzoub
06. Pahari
07. Snowview
08. Taking The Dust
09. Raghupati II
10. Bus Has Come

Alineación:
Don Cherry / Guest Artist, Performer, Trumpet, Trumpet (Pocket)
Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell / Trumpet (Pocket)
Daniel Paul Kapp / Tabla
Lakshmi Shankar / Guest Artist, Performer, Vocals
Lakshminarayana Shankar / Vocals
Don Sherry / Trumpet
Jai Uttal / Arranger, Bells, Cello, Chimta, Composer, Dotar, Ektara, Gopichard, Gubgubbi, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Harmonium, Kartals, Liner Notes, Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer, Sampling, Shaker, Swaramandala, Synthesizer, Vocals
Jerry Watts, Jr. / Bass







  

Un hombre con una curiosa vida, este Jai Uttal, nativo de Nueva York, e hijo de una familia muy vinculada a la música. Desde pequeño estudió piano, banjo y otros instrumentos musicales. Estamos hablando de un niño de siete años. A los 17 oye música india por primera vez,  y según el mismo relata, esa música le llegó tan hondo, que cambió su destino. 

Su vida se orientó definitivamente hacia la música de la India. A los 19 años viaja a California y allí profundiza su aprendizaje del sarod, y otros instrumentos orientales. 

Mas tarde viaja a la India entrando en contacto con las enseñanzas hinduista y budista, y, según el afirma, viviendo experiencias trascendentales. Se entregó al Bhakti Yoga, o yoga de la devoción, que, entre otras cosas, utiliza el canto y la música para conectarse con lo divino.  El canto devocional, o Kirtan, es aquello en que se basa la mayor parte de su música, y francamente, lo que a mi menos me atrae de ella. 

Encuentro bellísimas muchas de sus piezas instrumentales, pero cuando empieza a entonar sus cánticos devotos, pierde interés de inmediato, para mi.

Su primer álbum, Footprints, que grabó nada menos que junto a Don Cherry y Lackshmi Shankar, (no está nada mal tener semejantes padrinos para un primer álbum),me parece delicioso, y es por eso que lo traigo aquí  para ofrecérselo hoy a ustedes. Que por qué lo encuentro tan bueno?

En primer lugar, porque solo canta en un par de temas, los demás son instrumentales (sublimes, a mi modo de ver).

Luego...está Don Cherry, y cuando está Don Cherry, hasta lo mas trivial se vuelve enjundioso, y lo más convencional se convierte en extraordinario. Desde que sonó el primer soplo de trompeta se me derritió el iceberg que llevaba dentro ese día, y me entregué de lleno a la música.

Y por fin, Lackshmi Shankar, un percusionista indio que hasta grabó un disco en colaboración con Frank Zappa: "Touch me There". 

    Portada de Monkey, uno de los dos álbumes que presentamos hoy:

En suma, Una delicia de álbum, cuyo tema Pahari suena a diario en Disneylandia (lo que debe reportarle al amigo una buena plata), pero que pese a  eso, es muy bueno.

Junto a Footprint les ofrezco Monkey, segundo álbum de Jai Uttal, donde canta bastante más, aunque en inglés, pero encuentro en  sus temas cantados un intento de fusionar la música india con un pop bastante banal; quizás haciendo un par de temas comerciales pensó recolectar fondos para su comunidad de devotos...pero me parece un desacierto.  Además ya no están Don Cherry ni L. Shankar.

Finalmente, también en este trabajo, los temas instrumentales son excelentes, aunque en general, el disco me gusta mucho menos que el anterior.

En fin, les dejo con doña Wikipedia, y con una reseña en inglés, pero sobre todo, Moe y yo les ofrecemos fraternalmente estos delicados perfumes, que ya saben ustedes en que frascos están guardados.  

el Canario

Jai Uttal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jai Uttal (born June 12, 1951) is an American musician. He is a Grammy-nominated singer and “a pioneer in the world music community with his eclectic East-meets-West sound.” He is a “sacred music composer, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist, [who] combines influences from India with American rock and jazz to create a stimulating and exotic multicultural fusion that is truly world spirit music.”

Biography

Uttal grew up in New York City and lived in a home filled with music: “He began studying classical piano at the age of seven, and later learned to play old time banjo, harmonica, and guitar.” His father was record label executive Larry Uttal. At the age of 17, Uttal heard Indian music for the first time, which he said, “touched his heart like sounds of home.” At 19, Uttal moved to California and studied under the famous Sarod player, Ali Akbar Khan.He later began “regular pilgrimages to India, living among the Bauls, the wandering street musicians of Bengal, and singing with the kirtan wallahs in the temple of his guru, the highly revered saint, Neem Karoli Baba.” Uttal spent time with many beings of both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. He became deeply absorbed in the practice of kirtan, the ancient yoga of chanting, or singing to God. This form of prayer became the core to Uttal’s musical and spiritual life.

Musical style

Uttal’s music is very popular in the yoga community, being described as “very hypnotic.” One reviewer stated, “He does a great job of explaining the purpose of chanting and kirtan.” “The practice of calling to the divine creates a bridge between the individual and the eternal, opening the heart and welcoming the spirit.” Uttal says, “These ancient chants contain a transformative power and healing energy. By singing these prayers we join a stream of consciousness and devotion that has been flowing for centuries.” Uttal says, “Music that creates bridges. Music that unites hearts and cultures. Music that brings peace.”

Uttal has led kirtans around the world for more than 30 years. In one biography it is said, “Jai Uttal has cultivated a voice and musical styles that carries the listener into the heart of devotion, prayer, and healing, and to an ecstatic remembrance of the divine.”

Albums

In 1990 Uttal released his debut album, Footprints, with Triloka Records, which featured “world music innovator Don Cherry and Indian vocalist Lakshmi Shankar.”The album was in the top ten on the world music charts. In 1992, Uttal released Monkey. The next year, in 1994, Beggars and Saints was released, which was a “tribute to the Bauls of Bangal.” In addition to the new album, Uttal produced two CD’s for his teacher, Ustad Ali Akbar. Journey and Garden of Dreams became extremely popular in the Indian community.

Three years later, Shiva Station was released, which was mixed by innovative producer, Bill Laswell. Shiva Station presented traditional chants in a totally new way. The concerts united the temple and the nightclub, the sacred and the worldly; emphasizing the underlying theme that spirituality and devotion can pervade all aspects of life. Around this time the popularity of yoga was on the rise. Uttal began to receive more requests to lead kirtan workshops and concerts all over the world. Uttal released a live kirtan CD entitled Nectarto begin to chronicle these kirtan events.

In 2000, a compilation of his four Triloka albums appeared as Spirit Room. In February 2002, Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra released, on Narada Records, Mondo Rama, which means World is Rama or Everything is God. The album has been called Uttal's most personal expression to date. “Combining Brazilian influences, Hebrew prayers, Appalachian Blues, Beatles psychedelia, and, of course, Indian music and chants, Mondo Rama explodes from the speakers in celebration and rebirth.”

In 2009, Uttal released Thunder Love. One reviewer said the following about the album, “[It’s] a true example of ‘world music,’ it’s a pan-cultural potpourri of sounds and styles from around the globe, seamlessly sewn into a contemporary pop/rock format. Uttal’s soulful singing and spiritual themes provide the crucial connective thread throughout the album."

2011 saw the release of Queen of Hearts, a “unique mixture of reggae, ska, and samba rhythms, used as a backdrop for call and response, dance oriented kirtan, and invoking Queen Radha (Radharani), the bestower of devotion.”

In 2003, Uttal began the first of several recordings focused on the practice of bhakti yoga (kirtan) for the Sounds True label. These have included: Kirtan! The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant, Music for Yoga and Other Joys, Loveland, Dial M for Mantra, and Pranayama, a collaboration with his wife, yoga teacher and bhakti dancer, Nubia Teixeira. The two had a son, Ezra, which led to Uttal’s inspiration to focus his work towards kids. Uttal began to lead children’s kirtan events near his home in Northern California and he created an album especially for children entitled Kirtan Kids: The Elephant, the Monkey, and the Little Butter Thief. In addition to those, Uttal also hosted donation-based events at several yoga studios. At these particular events, children would sit around in a circle and listen as Uttal told “colorful stories drawn from Ramayana and other Indian myths.” The chants during these events were kid-friendly versions.

“Kirtan Kids recreates the feeling of these events and gives parents a new way to introduce children to kirtan.” The album features “an elephant solo, the sounds of banging pots and pans, and music from about a dozen instruments, including the glockenspiel and a toy piano.” The album also includes “narrated tales of Gopala, the child form of Krishna; the elephant-headed god Ganesha; and the monkey god Hanuman.”

In 2014 Jai Uttal with Ben Leinbach released Lifeline which explores a decade of their collaborations sequenced as an unfolding musical celebration of their favorite tracks ranging from the unadorned primordial chant to layered sacred sound immersions.”

In 2014 Uttal revisited Shiva Station also with Ben Leinbach and re-created his 1997 work to "bring us closer to the music itself with unadorned, intimate arrangements that illuminate directly the spiritual heart of each composition."

In addition to his own works, Uttal also owns the back catalogue to Private Stock Records which was his father's record label in the 1970s.

Discography

·         Footprints (1990) - with Don Cherry and Lakshmi Shankar

·         Monkey (1992)

·         Yoga Chant

·         Spirit Room (2000)

·         Beggars and Saints (1994)

·         Shiva Station (1997)

·         Nectar (2001)

·         Mondo Rama (2002)

·         Kirtan! (2004)

·         Music for Yoga (2004)

·         Pranayama (2005)

·         Loveland: Music for Dreaming and Awakening, with Ben Leinbach (Sounds True, 2006)

·         Dial M for Mantra (2007)

·         Thunder Love (2009)

·         Bhakti Bazaar (2010)

·         Queen of Hearts (2011)

·         Kirtan Kids (2011)

·         lifeline (2014) - with Ben Leinbach

·         Return to Shiva Station (2014)

wikipedia

Jai Uttal

A pioneer in the world music community, Jai Uttal has led kirtans worldwide for more than 30 years. His musical roots embrace a rich variety of cultures and traditions that span the globe and the centuries. 

From the hillbilly music of the Appalachian mountains to the passionate strains of Bengali street singers, from the haunting rhythms and melodies of ancient India to contemporary electric rock sounds, Uttal’s music distills the essence of diverse musical forms.

Early in his career, Uttal made regular pilgrimages to India, singing with kirtan wallahs in the temples of his guru Neem Karoli Baba, and studying with Ali Akbar Khan and master teacher Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Upon returning to the United States, he formed the Pagan Love Orchestra, which gained international prominence with the release of several critically acclaimed albums, including Footprints and Thunder Love. Uttal’s subsequent recordings continue to be prolific and widely praised. They include the Grammy-nominated Mondo Ramaand Bhakti Bazaar.

What People Are Saying About Jai Uttal

“[Jai Uttal] is one of the most extraordinary spiritual chanters and ecstatic singers of our time. His music transforms the hearts of all who listen.”
—Jack Kornfield, founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center

 “When I get off the plane, whether I’m arriving in New Delhi or returning to New York, I say to myself, ‘I’m home.’ Home East, home West: Jai Uttal’s musical heart is at home in either idiom. He could be called what Karl Jung termed a ‘gnostic intermediary,’ an ambassador between the two cultures.”
—Ram Dass, author of the spiritual classic, Be Here Now

”Jai is a shaman with wings big enough to carry all of us to ecstasy. Singing with him is a transcendental train to everywhere you ever wanted to go; all you have to do is sit there, surrender and let your song rock.”
—Gabrielle Roth, creator of The 5Rhythms™ dance practice

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