Facing Beloved
Facing East
10014

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“What’s nice about it is the overall sound. You really get the feeling of musicians making music together. It’s not about whose band it is or about showcasing chops or anything like that. They’re playing the music, and you can feel how relaxed and free they are doing it. It’s not tight and yet it’s very tight, which is an amazing place to arrive at in music. I think this is great.” – Charnett Moffett in Jazz Times.

"This is a great example of what happens when musical cultures collide in perfect harmony. The musical melange that's mixed up here is absolutely breathtaking, as a wild experiment of rhythm and melody that takes the listener around the world. This one holds all the mystic rhythms of the East, while maintaining a true grip on Western musical ideas. It's a beautiful marriage of music and culture."
mashmusic.tripod.com/august03.html

1. Continuous Celebration - Based on an 8 1/2 beat rhythmic cycle and the melodic structure of raga Jog.
2. Bass Alap - Steve's fretless bass with sustained sound is reminiscent of the rudra veena. Here he is playing Raga Marwa in the traditional alap manner.
3. John Beyond - Dedicated to John McLaughlin and featuring Subash's konnakol (vocal Percussion).
4. Prelude for Debby - John and Jorge's improvisation featuring the long tones of the bansuri with the classical guitar creating a soft texture.
5. Irish Prelude - A piccolo bansuri duet with an Irish flavor.
6. Irish Raga - Unique and lively blend of Celtic and Indian.
7. There is Only Light - An alap improvisation in raga Jog.
8. Infectuoso Groovitissimo - The infectious happiness of Subash and Ganesh's drumming inspired this composition which features Jorge’s brilliant guitar.
9. The Light Above Religion's Mind - an Excerpt from The Essay Truth and Religion read by the author, Ruchara Adi Da Samraj.*
10. facing BELOVED - The melody uses parts of a J.S. Bach sonata and elements from raga Kirwani.
11. Celebration Continuous - Continuing the never ending groove.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the group is that Wubbenhorst primarily plays the traditional bamboo bansuri flute in the North Indian style, having studied for the past decade with the leading North Indian flute player, Hariprasad Chaurasia, while Subash and Ganesh are top South Indian percussionists. "The two parts of the country have very different and distinct musical styles and traditions," explains Wubbenhorst. "Many Westerners are familiar with the rhythmic sound of the tabla, which is from Northern India. It was featured prominently on all of the popuiar Ravi Shankar recordings, and we used it on the first Facing East album. But on this new CD, we purposely did not bring in a tabla in order to emphasize the South Indian rhythmic sound. In this way we are not only blending Indian music with musical elements from Europe and the United States, but we are incorporating two styles of music from India as well."
emol.org/music/profiles/2003summerb.html#east

Adi Da Samraj quote, Copyright 2004 The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd, as trustee for The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam. All rights reserved. Perpetual copyright claimed.