Bill Laswell and Tabla Beat Science

The musical project TABLA BEAT SCIENCE presents the current, definitive world music experience. It is a melding of cultures, combining ancient rhythms and modern audio/visual psychedelia in a way that both references the past and enhances the future.

The other day I was introduced to no other the musical masterpiece, Tabla Beat Science. Lead by renound bassist Bill Laswell, and Indian rhythm masterminds Zakir Hussain, and Talvin Singh this project is a far cry from what I'm used to listening to...and needless to say, a big breath of fresh air. Essentially, the tabla is an archetypal Native American hand drum that is geared to long cycles, most often 16 beats, and is the backbone in the musical lineup. (For a frame of reference, George Harrison used them in "Love You Too"). Accompanying this tinny progressive rhythm is the twangy almost sitar-like string instrument called the serangi which provides the direction to where the set will go. As the DVD (the album is called "Tala Matrix") progresses, Bill Laswell enters stage right and plucks his deep melodic bass layering on top of what the serangi has provided.

After the first few 16-20 minute songs, the band spun off in a different direction by applying an Indian Classical to a vocal number performed so beautifully by the humble Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw. Her display of tone and pitch, awe inspiring to say the least, redirects the focus to a fusion of Electro-Jazz with Indian Classical. The show explodes into wars with instruments and slowly resolves, re-occurs and drops off.

At this point, me, the humble viewer, was shocked and astonished to see the collaboration of eastern and western traditional sounds slowly take hold. The longer they played, the distinction between the geography in music no longer existed but instead fashioned a new sound, a universal melody (keep in mind too, that the tabla was not only used for rhythm, it is also a very tonal instrument).

Unfortunately, I don't have nearly the craft of the language needed to depict the Tabla Beat Science Live in San Fransisco DVD. Go listen and watch. If boundary-breaking and genre-transcending don't vere from your liking, check it out with an open mind.