AM Foreign World Cup: Round 1 - Southern Asia (Part 1)

[Stephan]

This week sees the first few songs by the artist who has more entries in this World Cup than anyone else: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. We have a grand total of 5 songs in the next two weeks by this legend.

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain

Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam
Yashan - Ra Thun Yama

Bracket 3.2.4
Ravi Shankar - Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam - Downloadable
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

[Honorio]

This week Spotify playlist with 7 of the 8 songs, including the Ravi Shankar rāga.

[Honorio]

Bracket 2.3.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta (India, 1975)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain (Pakistan & Canada, 1996)
Two westernizations of the Asian sounds, I like both a lot but let me opt for the 70s psychedelic grooves of Ananda Shankar, I prefer it to the 90s atmospheric sounds of the other one.


Bracket 2.3.2
Davlatmand Kholov - Devonah Shaw (Tadjikistan, 2006)
Udit Narayan, Alka Jagnik, Sukhwinder Singh, Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, Kishori Gowariker & Chorus - Ghanan Ghanan (India, 2001)
Not a big fan of Bollywood but this song is a very nice one, isn't it? Probably you would like to see the whole movie scene, it's amazing to see how important is the rain for many countries. The Davlatmand song is very good too but maybe too long (a problem with many songs on this part of the poll).


Bracket 2.3.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam (Pakistan, 1992)
Yashan - Ra Thun Yama (Sri Lanka, 2011)
Let's go with Nusrat in this bracket, an engaging chorus punctuated by some really fast vocals by Nusrat (one of his specialities). The Yashan song is nice also, it goes to show how big is hip hop right now all around the world.


Bracket 2.3.4
Ravi Shankar - Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam (India, 1956)
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya (India, 1998)
And another very good Bollywood song (probably I need to give the style a second chance) but my choice goes without hesitation to the great Ravi Shankar, it's amazing to see his command on sitar in such an early stage of his career (this rāga comes from his very first album on 1956).

[nicolas]

Just a quick expert correction :The Davlatmand song is from 1992 (from the French label Maisons des Cultures du monde) see http://mcm.bois.free.fr/booklet260038.pdf

It's a Sufi poem from the 13th century

Have done with your cunning ways, Oh Lover !
Decide on madness,
Be consumed by the flame, like the butterfly.
Relinquish all property and destroy your home.
Thus you will be able to dwell among the Be-Loved
Ones.
Like the Saints, bathe your heart seven times.
Bathe it seven times to rid of hate and bitterness
And then only will you be a goblet for Love’s wine.
To be worthy of the Be-Loved
Who is but soul and spirit,
Become all-spirit yourself…

I found that song in the fabulous compilation Sufi Soul ( http://www.networkmedien.de/68-0-Sufi-S ... world.html)
It's on the German label Network Medien. The double CD compilations they made are all masterpieces and were the foundations of my world music collection and explorations

[Miguel]

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta

Bracket 3.2.2
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam

Bracket 3.2.4
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

[Stephan]

I'm going on winter holiday this Saturday, and I'm not 100% sure about the internet there. For now, the deadline is still midnight Sunday 4th, but if I don't have internet there it'll have to be extended for a week. You'll know when I don't post the new topic on Monday. Again though, assume for now that the deadline is unchanged.

[nicolas]

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta 4.25
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain 4
Ananda Shankar and his psychedelic sitar win here over a good Westernised Nusrat. That won't surprise you but I really prefer when Nusrat sings his original qawwali music, extended Sufi songs, 15+ minutes long with a traditional Paki band. You'll discover some in the second part. @Honorio : I wouldn't call the songs length "a problem", I like them like that. After all the 3 minutes format was the result of technical limitations of recording. And these songs are religious and spiritual, inducing meditation and union with the creator, a state of ecstasy which is supposed to match or even surpass sexual extasy. 3 min of lovemaking would be a little short no ?


Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw 4.5
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan) 3.75
I already told you about Davlatmand and my love for Sufi music, poetry and philosophy (far beyond all the clichés about Muslims). This song is fascinating, totally alien, and yet quite familar now. Lagaan was a great movie, my firdt Bollywood flick, and the music is OK too.

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam 4
Yashan - Ra Thun Yama 3.25
My favorite fat singer wins here with no difficulty, with a fine song against rap from Sri Lanka, fun but not utterly original.The weakest bracket

Bracket 3.2.4
Ravi Shankar - Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam 4.5
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya 4
Chaiyya Chaiyya, very close to Arabic music, is IMO even better that "my" Ghanan Ghanan, but no match for the great Ravi Shankar and the last of his Three Ragas (another highly recommendable album and in my all time top 200)

[Greg]

Bracket 3.2.1
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain

Bracket 3.2.2
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam

Bracket 3.2.4
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

[Jirin]

Ananda Shankar - Streets Of Calcutta 9/10
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain 8/10

Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw 8/10
Ghanan Ghanan 6/10

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam 6/10
Yashan - Ra Thun yama 7/10

Nicolas is going to kill me...

I wish I'd heard this one without seeing the video. That is a god damn stupid video, and it makes me feel dirty for enjoying the song.

Ravi Shankar - Raga Simhenda-Madhyamam FILE NOT FOUND
Sapna Awasthi, Sukhwinder Singh - Chaiyya Chaiiya 6/10

Anyone have a working link?

[nicolas]

I'm not gonna kill you cause the Yashan song was one of my picks

[Honorio]

Ravi Shankar - Raga Simhenda-Madhyamam FILE NOT FOUND
Sapna Awasthi, Sukhwinder Singh - Chaiyya Chaiiya 6/10

Anyone have a working link?

It was on You Tube until two weeks ago here but now the link is broken. If you have a Spotify account you can listen to my Spotify playlist. If not, you can still listen to it in MusicIndiaOnline (it's the third raga).

[antonius]

Bracket 3.2.1
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain

Bracket 3.2.2
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam

Bracket 3.2.4
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

[Dan]

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain

This is my favourite song from Ananda Shankar’s excellent psychedelic Raga Rock album Ananda Shankar and His Music from 1975. Sweet Pain is a nice song too.

Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)

This is the first time I heard Ghanan Ghanan and the first Bollywood song I actually enjoyed listening to. I really wanted to like the Davlatmand song more because traditional Asian music should be represented in the next round too, not only Westernised or modern-sounding music. But it turns out that this particular style of Sufi music (Falak) just isn’t my cup of tea. Maybe I’m not spiritual enough. But the 15 minute length of the song gave me time to do some quick research on Davlatmand and the Sufi poetry that inspired his music, and it looks like the teachings of Rumi should be a starting point for further explorations into Sufi philosophy. So, Nicolas, thanks for introducing me to a field of philosophy I know very little about (even if I didn’t vote for the Davlatmand song).

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam
Yashan - Ra Thun Yama

The qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is more my kind of Sufi music, with its trance-like singing and assertive rhythms. It gets my vote here, although the hip-hop of Yashan is better than I thought it would be. Yes, it’s similar in structure to Western hip-hop, but elements of the music and singing still sounds Sri Lankan enough to prevent it from sounding totally unoriginal.

Bracket 3.2.4
Ravi Shankar - Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

I find the Hindustani classical music of Ravi Shankar a bit challenging (like Toumani Diabaté’s Mande folk music, or a lot of modern classical music or contemporary jazz, for that matter). But I get the feeling it will grow on me in years to come, and I admire Ravi Shankar’s technical abilities on the sitar (plus I really don’t like Bollywood music) so it gets my vote.

[nicolas]

Wait, wait, wait, i should have realized that sooner when Honorio mentioned the song's length : the Davlatmand song I have is only 5 minutes long (the version on the youtube clip); In fact it is the Spotify version but shortened for the Sufi compilation I own. So the song I had in mind was only 5 minutes long !! (the first 5 minutes of the Spotify song which is a sort of "medley" of different poems)
Although I find the 15 mn version as beautiful, maybe the short one is better for "beginners".

[Kingoftonga]

Winners in red!

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - ‪Streets of Calcutta‬
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - ‪Sweet Pain‬

Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - ‪Devonah Shaw‬
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - ‪Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)‬

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - ‪Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam‬
Yashan - ‪Ra Thun Yama‬

Bracket 3.2.4
Ravi Shankar - ‪Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam‬ - Downloadable
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - ‪Chaiyya Chaiyya‬

[Dan]

OK, I've listened to the shorter version of the Davlatmand song and Ghanan Ghanan a couple more times, and the former is a grower. It probably won't make a difference to the results, but Stephan please change my vote to Davlatmand for bracket 3.2.2. Thanks!

[Henrik]

Yes, almost every song here is too long...somehow the southern Asians seem to have too much time.

Bracket 3.2.1
Very difficult to compare these two songs, the songs impress me in different ways. I think I'll have to pass on this one. Strong match-up!


Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw

Difficult choice again. I was going to say that "Devonah Shaw" was really good for about 5 minutes but vote for the Lagaan song because 15 minutes (the Spotify version) is too long and boring for me. But if it is the 5 minute version then "Devonah Shaw" it is!


Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam


Bracket 3.2.4
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

I confess that I much rather listen to the end of "Chaiyya Chaiyya" than the Ravi Shankar song. "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (my nomination also) has an immediate appeal to me, but I think I've heard it too many times now...

[nicolas]

Or is it us Westerners who don't take our time ?

[Henrik]

I'm not gonna kill you cause the Yashan song was one of my picks

Really? And then you voted against it in "the weakest bracket"? I thought it was one from hectorthebat's batch.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[nicolas]

yes, in fact I nominated 4 songs here : Devonah Shaw, a traditional song by Nusrat that you'll discover next week( sorry it is very long), Ghanan Ghanan, because it was the end of the selection process and we were running short of songs. So in the end I chose on purpose a country and a style nobody had picked. I heard a good documentary on an English radio site about the hip hop scene in Sri Lanka after the success of MIA and picked Yashan.

[Stephan]

Ok, so as you may have realized I don't have internet here. The next round will be up coming Monday!

[Stephan]

Just got back from Austria, all in one piece, so we'll get this thing back on the road. You have a little over 1 day left to vote!

[Stephan]

My own votes:

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain

Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan)

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam
Yashan - Ra Thun Yama

Bracket 3.2.4
Ravi Shankar - Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya

[Stephan]

And the results are in!

Bracket 3.2.1
Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta - 7
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Sweet Pain - 2

Bracket 3.2.2
Davlatmand - Devonah Shaw - 5 (3)
Various Artists (by A.R. Rahman) - Ghanan Ghanan (OST Lagaan) - 5 (1)

Bracket 3.2.3
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam - 9
Yashan - Ra Thun Yama - 1

Bracket 3.2.4
Ravi Shankar - Rāga Simhendra-Madhyamam - 5
Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi - Chaiyya Chaiyya - 4