Sharat Chandra’s violin is the soul of the album; pervasive and brilliant. The track Ganga is perhaps the best example of his skills, even as the band layers it beautifully with guitar. Ghulam Qadir Niyazi’s qawwali’sh vocals makes an interesting accompaniment to the jazz-rock that occupies most of Ali, while the band cooks up interesting ways to add both. Procession is the pick of the album – a hypnotic mix of Sanskrit verses, the sufi element and hyper-imaginative music. Mitwa is mellow, with Sukriti’s somber vocals and an oddly Louis Banks’ish ending! Pahari funk has a folk touch that seems peculiarly forced, but Scottish mixes the Celtic flamboyantly, except for the breathlessly coarse vocalizing during the penultimate stages. Deccan springs into life as the Carnatic fusion paves way to the qawwal portions and Rock the raag is the most exuberant of the album, with a foot-tapping tune expounded in violin. There have been fusion bands in the past and there will be in the future too. Mrigya’s album, The Composition of World Harmony 2010, is not path-breaking – it has a faithful invocation of what we appreciate as fusion. But within that limitation, the band produces some astonishingly entertaining music!
Keywords: The Composition of World Harmony 2010, Mrigya, Sharat Chandra Srivastava (Violin), Gyan Singh (Tabla/ Dholak/ Mridangam), Rajat Kakkar (Drums/ Percussion), Indraneel Hariharan (Bass Guitar), Sachin Kapoor (Keyboards), Karan Sharma (Guitar), Qadir Niyazi (Sufiana vocals), Sukriti Sen (Hindustani vocals)
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