COMPOSERS: Kaushiki Chakrabarty
LABELS: Sense World Music
ALBUM TITLE: kaushiki
PERFORMER: Kaushiki Chakrabarty (voice), other musicians
CATALOGUE NO: Sense World Music 097
After her BBC World Music Award in 2005, a weight of expectation has hung over the young singer kaushiki. A three-disc set is the outcome, two from a festival and one in the studio. The latter tries too hard, sampling styles from South as well as North India in distinguished company and sounding very correct, a brilliant technician with a lively way in ornamenting, and a touch studied. However, she is in a different league from many offspring of famous parents (her father, the singer Ajoy Chakrabarty, plays harmonium accompaniment here), and her live performance is the real thing. At slow tempo she builds a long improvisation with real shape, and she becomes resourceful and spirited at speed – a showing of stamina, followed by an expressive shorter item.
Robert Maycock