Shiva Station

1. Guru Bramha

2. Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya)

3. Hari Guna Gao

4. Calling You

5. Malkouns (Night on the Ganges)

6. Rama Raghava

7. Bhajore

8. Corner

9. Sita Ram

10. Jaya Jagadambe (She Who Tears Apart Thought)

11. Never Turn Away - Jai Uttal & the Pagan Love Orchestra

Tracks:

Guru Brahma
Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya)
Hari Guna Gao
Calling You
Malkouns (Night on the Ganges)
Rama Raghava
Bhajore
Corner
Sita Ram
Jaya Jagadambe (She Who Tears Apart Thoought)
Never Turn Away

Amazon.com

Respected sarodist and chant master Jai Uttal proves once again you don't need a highly self-conscious message or calculated vigilance to successfully mix music of East and West. Uttal approaches his unique blend of jazz, Indian, and world music just as any experienced musician long familiar with his instrument would: as a jam session meant to spin a groove or draw on inspiration rather than highlight a single genius. Shiva Station is a testament to this refreshing approach, somehow mixing a laid-back Miles-style horn with a smooth-jazz dotar, somehow slipping a wah-wah pedal into a reggae-doused groove, somehow laying the rock and funk under ancient Indian chant. All this with a dash of banjo, trombone, and violin and the styles cook up a stew surprisingly tasty. Uttal's secret? It may be that he approaches music without apologizing for being Western while allowing inspiration from the East to flow through him authentically. He locks into the Indian tradition in the name of musical spirituality rather than a star's ego and the effect is mesmerizing. His backing band, the Pagan Love Orchestra, reflects this understated aura as well. It features some of the finest musicians from America and beyond in collaborative, eclectic jamming--most notably on "Malkouns" and "Bhajore"--that will blow you away. --Karen K. Hugg

Customer Reviews:

East meets Jazz.......2005-12-18

I bought this CD for Yoga practice because I am a fan of Jai's music. I was pleasantly surprised by the jazz sounds on this disc. I enjoy listening to Yoga music as well as jazz and when I listen to this CD, I get the best of both worlds. My two favorites on this disc are Guru Brahma and Shiva Station. Just a pleasure to listen to!

Full of Life - A Nice Indian Flare.......2001-07-08

This man has an absolutely lovely voice. Masculine, youthful, and well-trained, it is beautifully suited to the inflections of Indian vocals. (We're talking about India here, not Native America.)

A lot of traditional Indian instruments are mixed with western ones to create a CD of music that feels modern, but with some strong traditional far eastern accents.

I enjoyed the catchy, almost danceable songs. (I hesitate to use the word "danceable" because it makes you think of night-clubs, and that's not what I mean. I mean danceable in terms of catchy and spirited). Anyway, I enjoyed those, but to me, the highlight of the album was "Corner" - a ballad sung in English that was so powerful and showed off this artist's voice so well, that I tend to hit "repeat" every time it's over so that I can hear it again. That one really moved me.

So I personally would buy this album for "Corner" alone. But if you're someone who likes to branch out musically, and keep an ecclectic collection, I think you'll enjoy the whole album. It's an energetic album with western musical sensibilities plus a strong flare of India.

Awesome.........2000-11-13

This Cd is Jai's best..I heard him at this little club in Berkeley called Ashkenaz..and he was in a trance..Fantastic music to mellow out..I listen to it during my commute..and it totally drains out the tension of the work day.. I wish Jai puts out some new music..his recent CDs mostly have the same songs..the Talveen Singh remix of this CD is a disaster..doc

It's OK if you like jazz improv - but..........2000-09-23

I agree with the review of youraveragemahayanist. The only thing I would add is this: if you're looking for the Krishna Das feeling, this isn't it.

something new.......2000-05-03

If you like an exotic blend of Indian chants, soft rock and new age, check this out. I bought this CD based on the other reviews here, and now I'm back to buy all his other CDs. Recommended.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful music
Humbug
Utterly Uttal
Raga Rock Meets Tasty Jazz
Hindus! Non- hindus! Lively up your self!

Shiva Station
Jai Uttal & the Pagan Love Orchestra
Manufacturer: Triloka Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

World Dance | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant
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Beggars and Saints

ASIN: B00005YUFI
Release Date: 2002-04-09

Tracks:

Guru Bramha
Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya)
Hari Guna Gao
Calling You
Malkouns (Night On The Ganges)
Rama Raghava
Bhajore
Corner
Sita Ram
Jaya Jagadambe (She Who Tears Apart Thought)
Never Turn Away

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful music.......2007-04-30

Jai Uttal transports me every time
and the journeys are always
pleasant. I highy recommend this
music to everyone because it is
benefical so listen and be restored.

Humbug.......2005-12-05

This is a uniformly poor CD. A number of things strike a listener.

Firstly Jai Uttal's terrible diction hampers this CD. The excuse of being non-Indian does not provide refuge for Uttal who boasts of living in India and traveling with the Bauls (journeying minstrels in Bengal) and undertaking discipleship under Ali Akbar Khan. (Uttal is NOT an Indian living in the west as another review noted). It is in equal parts funny and horrifying to hear Uttal murder Hari Guna Gao by singing it with a deliberate American twang "Haari gunaaaaa gaaaao aaooo Raaadda". Most Indian classical vocalists mispronounce the words for a number of reasons; for the purpose of matching the melody, rhythm and tempo of the raga or to exaggerate an emotion and Uttal imitates this style, but the unmistakable American twang in his voice never disappears. While achieving perfect Hindi diction for a non-Indian might be an onerous task it is no less than the task attempting to be competent at Hindustani Classical music and derivative semi-classical forms which Jai Uttal ostensibly attempts to do.

Secondly most of the positive reviews of Jai Uttal are from westerners who are immediately captivated by the powerful melodies of Uttal's CD's. However, they are mistaken in thinking that the music is original. Uttal's music here owes immensely to many different Indian ragas, and the kernels of many ragas form the melodic backbone for much of Uttal's work; to an extent which Uttal can no longer claim to be the composer. Those Indian musicians that aren't composers and only sing or play the ragas on their instruments never claim to be composers! What is so special about hearing Raga Multani by Ravi Shankar as opposed to Vilayat Khan? A Multani by Ravi Shankar will be quite different than one by Vilayat Khan both in form, style, execution, development and final synthesis. The greatest musicians are gifted musical minds who can fashion the raga into a living and breathing work of art, while the same raga in lesser hands will be just a pretty melody. The only credit that a musician takes when he composes (they prefer to call it discover) a new raga is to give it a name of his own choosing. Those that compose lyrics for a particular raga will insert their colophon into the lyrics to "copyright" it. Jai Uttal has neither developed any new facet of the raga nor demonstrated virtuosity, and the lyrics are traditional verses. As for any "jazz" styled improvization, there is none to be found here.

Uttal's only accomplishment is that he has caters to a market that likes their Hindustani Classical Music amplified, distorted and laced with other "psychedelic" effects to harken back to an era of long hair, peace signs, flower-power and free love. Finally, listening to Jai Uttal's does not take me back to the "dirt and dust" of India as as it does for another reviewer. Neither does listening to any other peice of Indian classical music.

Utterly Uttal.......2005-05-26

Jai Uttal's music is very predictable. You always know you'll get something good. But no one track I've ever heard has been exactly the same as one I've heard before.

He shows his spirituality and musicianship consistently. But nothing really gets in the way of the listening experience. It's not that easy to make something simple and easy to listen to out of something that, compared with most modern music, is quite complicated.

There are three kinds of people who listen to Jai Uttal:
1: Those who are into his kind of spirituality.
2: Those who are into the music.
3: Those who are all the above.
4: Those who just want musical wallpaper.

It doesn't really matter whether you're a 1, 2 or 3. With Jai Uttal, it's easy: just dig it. If you're a 4, fine ... but be prepared to turn into at least a 2.

Some of his albums fall more easily into spirituality than the others - for example, "Music for yoga and other joys" - but Shiva Station is indisputably best for listeners in zone three.

I've listened to a handful of his albums, and got the desire to buy them too.

I disagree with the suggestion that he's taken Indian music and corrupted it into Reggae. That could only come from listening to a small part of only one track. What he's done is carved one more step in his path.

The hand of co-producer and guru Bill Laswell is evident more on some tracks than others, but that's the way he does it. And although Jai plays most of the instruments himself, there are more than a handful of others involved. The music is quite loosely hung together; at times it's almost improvisational. There are obvious Indian elements. Some of the lyrics will go over the heads of purely English speakers, but the whole image of the music isn't diminished by that. It includes elements of more than one genre, dipping into singer-songwriter (Corner is Sting-ish), modern Afro-pop (Jaya Jagadambe), Reggae (Shiva Station), and an almost bluegrass tinge (e.g. Bhajore). You'll no doubt spot more, and several in one track.

All together, the end result is an album that can reach mainstream musophiles more than any of his other releases, but it doesn't trade quality for appeal.

So if you haven't heard him before, and want to try out his music, this is probably the best first album you could choose. An utterly Uttal album.

Raga Rock Meets Tasty Jazz.......2002-12-27

This is a thoughtful and consistently interesting release by Jai Uttal. There's plenty of precedent, both good and bad, for western musicians appropriating Eastern music, but the fact that Uttal lived in India, toured with Indian musicians and studied with Ali Akhbar Khan lends a note of credibility to the proceedings. And if Uttal made a living on previous albums by appropriating contemporary Indian "Raga Rock", he's all but evolved past that practice here. Songs such as "Malkouns (Night On The Ganges)" and especially "Bhajore", with its hair-raising trombone solo, are simply smoking, funky, and exciting exercises in East/West fusion the likes of which isn't often seen this side of Bombay (or the other side, for that matter). The songs are surprisingly rooted in classical Indian music, especially Mantra-like invocations like "Shiva Station (Nama Shivaya)" but are given a contemporary feel by Uttal's synths, ambient guru Bill Laswell's dub touches and lush mixes, and the oftentimes exciting orchestration and backing by the pure funk of The Pagan Love Orchestra. "Sita Ram" is a great example of this balance, keying on Uttal's heartfelt repeated titular mantra with deep dub beats, basslines and airtight horn arrangements. Uttal himself, posessing a fine voice, occasionally missteps a bit with the more new-agey, slower stuff like "Calling You", but even his mostly unadorned "Corner" is a fine, moody solo piece indeed. Recommended highly to fans of Bill Laswell, Peter Gabriel and other world-music experimenters, or those that enjoy more dense, thoughtful, genre-straddling music.

Hindus! Non- hindus! Lively up your self!.......2002-07-28

Some musical artists appear fully formed, their sensitivities totally developed. Examples would be Midnight Oil or Jimi Hendrix or Miles Davis, people whose music was distinctive and different from their first release.

This is the case with Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra. Uttal is an Indian who has settled in the USA, someone who has studied classical Indian music, only to pervert the form and develop his own style. This is an album of Hindu devotional song presented as reggae, I suppose, with the instrumentation including Western, Indian, electric and acoustic instruments, a new synthesis for the end of the Twentieth Century. Three of the eleven tracks are in English, the others in Indian languages. One song includes a sample of a field recording of the Bauls, the minstrel Gypsies of India. Listening to it takes me back to India, the dust and the dirt, the sense of difference all about me. Different? Yes. For you? Maybe.

Shiva Station
Average customer rating:

awesome voice awesome album

he's got a great voice; a fine fusion of indian and jazz

Makes me CRY

This CD has been one of my favorites for the past year.

Fantastic mix of fusion and ancient chanting and very upbeat

Shiva Station
Jai Uttal & the Pagan Love Orchestra
Manufacturer: Triloka
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Beggars and Saints

Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant

Music for Yoga and Other Joys

Mondo Rama

Monkey

ASIN: B0000057RL
Release Date: 1997-08-19

Tracks:

Guru Bramha
Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya)
Hari Guna Gao
Calling You
Malhouns (Night On The Ganges)
Rama Raghava
Bhajore
Corner
Sita Ram
Jaya Jagadambe (She Who Tears Apart Thought)
Never Turn Away

Customer Reviews:

awesome voice awesome album.......1999-11-07

Track 2 Shiva Station is reggae influenced. The guitar is tuned to sound like a sitar. Uttal's voice absolutely booms out at you. He sounds like the devotee in love with the guru and his / her teachings, wanting to take all on board, immersing himself in the fountain of divine truth. Jai Uttal does more to promote the concept of Indian religious music through this band than a lot of musicians who are involved in the east-west fusion game. I spent several months in an ashram in Herrakhan India about ten years ago doing exactly what Uttal does (not anywhere as well I may add). Hearing Jai Uttal singing these songs of praise and devotion always brings back good memories for me. repetition of the mantra brings on its own trance like state and as such JU sounds like he is in a semi permanent state of bliss and ecstasy, surrounded by his group of female backup singers. I can't help thinking that he has a beautiful voice. In fact it comes as a pleasant shock to suddenly hear him sing in English with the tune Calling You from Bhagdad Cafe. In fact on this recording he also sings in Bengali, Hindi and Sanskrit. Malkoun is an instrumental piece with all out support from the brass section, scorching guitar solos and killer bass playing. I assume from Mr Bill Laswell who mixed this release. Mine is a promo copy with not too much data but it sounds like him. Just as it sounds like it's all going to get bigger than Ben Hur, the harmonium brings it all to earth.

Rama Rhagawa-flute intro,electric guitar toned down into the background, JU sings introspectively, a muted trumpet weaving in and out of all this before the orchestra kicks in. For me a moment of sheer magic and poetry. Great to hear the Hammond organ. Not enough people use it in their music. I think suddenly about McLaughlin's time with Mahavishnu. They were intense and sonically challenging at the best of times, but what a group. The Pagan Love Orchestra reminds me of them somehow. I guess because both made a serious attempt at fusing east with west. Uttal is not as full frontal though. Here is a man at peace but still forceful in his delivery. Who is the trumpet player here? Whoever they are, they are hot.

Listening to this brings back so many memories for me. crossing the border into India from Nepal, sitting on a bus, taking the perfect picture of a three year old girl who had the eyes of an old soul, palm trees, the smell of coconuts and mangoes,sandalwood incense, Indian women laughing at the big guy sitting behind them. The radio is playing Bollywood music. God it's funny. Voices saying lambhu lambhu. Months alter after hearing it too many times I finally asked someone what it means. Tall person. I laughed. What a mad place India is.So diverse and spiritual,beautiful and frightening at the same time if you are not ready for it. Jai Uttal's music is like this. The overall feeling is that they are having fun doing this and so it should be. Absolutely a great album if you are at all interested in the fusion of east and west.

he's got a great voice; a fine fusion of indian and jazz.......1999-09-16

The first song is probably the best, but the music is good for driving or for just before bedtime.

Makes me CRY.......1999-05-26

Hi folks, I cry everytime when I listen to this CD. The tears of JOY comes rolling down my eyes....

This CD has been one of my favorites for the past year........1999-05-08

I groove to this CD with my two year old son. He enjoys the title track and "Calling You". I enjoy them all.

Fantastic mix of fusion and ancient chanting and very upbeat.......1999-01-12

this is one of my most favorite CDs. I have listened to it over 20 times and I never get tired of it. As you get familiar with the Chants it is wonderful to sing along and get lost in the feelings they produce

Average customer rating:

Shiva Station
Jai Uttal & the Pagan Love Orchestra
Manufacturer: Artemis Records/Koch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

World Dance | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant
Loveland/Music for Dreaming and Awakening
Beggars and Saints
Music for Yoga and Other Joys
Spirit Room

ASIN: B000063KI9
Release Date: 2002-04-09

Tracks:

Guru Bramha
Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya)
Hari Guna Gao
Calling You
Malkouns (Night on the Ganges)
Rama Raghava
Bhajore
Corner
Sita Ram
Jaya Jagadambe (She Who Tears Apart Thought)
Never Turn Away

Average customer rating:

Shiva Station
Jai Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000MSZOPQ

Product Description

1 Guru Bramha 2 Shiva Station (Namah Shivaya) 3 Hari Guna Gao 4 Calling You 5 Malkouns (Night on the Ganges) 6 Rama Raghava 7 Bhajore 8 Corner 9 Sita Ram 10 Jaya Jagadambe (She Who Tears Apart Thought) 11 Never Turn Away

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