"The exception to the rule"
This is an exception to the rule. The trouble with most cross-cultural efforts is the grey results. Merging both traditions often produces something that is neither here nor there-curiosity value at best. This collaboration between Paul Grabowsky's orchestra, which blurs the lines between composition and performance, and master drummer Karaikudi R. Mani's Sruthi Laya ensemble, strikes in the opposite direction. As expected, the result steps outside the classical Indian and familiar jazz territories.
At the same time, the integrity of both Western and Eastern traditions is somehow preserved, making it more a mosaic than a melting pot, more a dialogue than fusion. On the five-movement title track, written by Mani and Adrian Sherriff, the orchestra instruments double with drums and percussion in call and response. Here are constant lines of tension and release as the rhythms are moved and extended across a pulse that remains rock steady, creating the illusion that it is the pulse that keeps dissolving and reforming. A standout is the final movement with the mesmerising drumming of Mani and Thiruvalaputhur Kaliamurthi, where drums and voice blend in as one. A similar story for "Moras", written by John Rodgers and Mani, which both jars and exhilarates.
- The Age Green Guide (Leon Gettler), May 2000
