Track Listing
1 Rise and Fall 2 Be A Bird 3 Out of Them All 4 Fear Is a Tree 5 I Am Me
and She Is She 6 Love Is a Lifeboat 7 Money 8 Dig Up Yer Ancestors 9 No
Man Is An Island 10 Poppy Flower 11 Stay Before I Go (aalap) 12 Stay B4
I Go 13 Pieces
Price : £7 direct from Flying Mountain
Ravi Shankar, Nick Drake
HOW SCALE GOT MADE...
The demos for Scale were first begun in Spooky Electric
studios in Leith Edinburgh. Some songs had been waiting around for
years and had old sessions from turntablists and bass players. Generally
a massive bag of unfinished ideas. The
project then moved to London when I ran out of money in Scotland and
had to get a job to fund the next stage. While working during the day
the demos were fleshed out more fully into 'records' at night
The decision was then taken to move the studio by ferry in a large
crate to Kochi, Kerala in the South of India. This was a lucid moment
of appropriate madness and the landscape for completing the album and
recording improvs from Carnatic musicians was set. Kochi is not known
for it's musicians in the same way that Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Varanassi
and other states are however the reasoning was to just find people
and experiment.
Trying to find the correct house to rent to stick all the music gear
in was quite nightmarish not to mention delays with shipping and problems
with politicians and customs. We nearly went a bit mad for a month
and a couple of times the plug nearly had to be pulled. Luckily many
people in Kerala speak English and our lives slowly became easier the
more Malyalam we learnt. We eventually found a place outside Ernakalam/Kochi.
While waiting for the equipment to arrive I managed to meet Suji
in Fort Cochin - a music hub who knew many established and young players.
Suji runs a venue where traditional Khatakali dance and Indian music
concerts are held 365 nights a year whether an audience comes or not.
. He;s hardcore. He soon became the man I'd call to see what musicians
were around. Sujindran is a human music hub in Ernakalam/Cochin and
was a great friend and help during the making of the record. If you
are ever in the South of India then you must check out his nightly
concerts..http://www.kathakalicentre.com/
With the studio sent back to the UK in April 2004 I worked on some
gospel cover songs in preparation to do an extra record of live Gospel/Carnatic
fusion. These would be live sessions with Acoustic Guitar, Voice, Veena,
Mridingham and and Tampura. For the next month we travelled around
India and I used my laptop and acoustic to write more songs.
We arrive back in UK to record lead and backing vocals and to add
some electric guitar. Unfortunately we are broke and the banks aren't
playing ball at all. We spend winter on a Greek Island. Demo'ing and
writing the next two albums while one sits ready and the other pending.
Finally mix time arrives and Drongomala heads to San Francisco. Hyde
Street Studios where James Brown recorded 'Man's World'. After hooking
up with mix engineer Mica Luc at Hyde Street - Scale is finally in
the can.
Drongomala is set to release his first solo album 'Scale' on Flying
Mountain Records . 'Scale' came to life in many locations
including Southern India, a Greek island and the UK, before being mixed
in the famous Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco - a life-cycle that
gives the album a truly border and genre-busting feel.
Opening with the fanfare of 'Rise and Fall' the stage
is set for the album's themes of power, love, addiction and disconnection. 'Be
A Bird' has a Nick Drake influenced mood of gentle introspection, 'Money' hosts
a broken and bluesy feel reminiscent of early Beck records, 'Poppy
Flower' phases in and out of focus like a drug dream surrounded
by beautiful Santoor playing while 'Out of Them All' takes
an 808 drum machine and flute for a ride through dreams of gold and the
confusion of choices in life. The record is stuffed with jewels.
This exciting new release makes a break from the hyped dynamics of today's
records, taking a particularly strong lead from collaborative
performances by some of the top Indian classical musicians in the southern
Indian region of Kerala. All is finally unified by Drongomala's powerful
emotive voice and acoustic guitar. If you are looking to purchase this incredible CD, it is available online or you can look up your nearest record shop on 118 118 (unless you know where that old fashioned relic is still found)? Then you too can chill out with DrongoMala and all his talented collaborators and turn Scale into the soundtrack to your life.
Drongomala was born in Manchester,UK, to an Irish
mother and Scottish father. He spent most of his childhood in broken
mining towns in Scotland and on the border in Ireland. Playing in indie
rock bands during his teens he led the Scottish band Baby Bartok to great
heights before they spectacularly imploded after an appearance on a primetime
weekend TV show hosted by the enimitable Jonathon Ross.
After a period of recovery Drongomala went on to work in the drum and
bass scene in Edingburgh with turntablists and musicians releasing through
compilations and online communities, but soon the double time beats of
jungle gave way to the percussive flurry of Indian tabla beats.
Scale is the record that captures Drongomala's fascination with all
things Indian. It is a unique love letter from India - a must for World
music fans and a door into Indian music for those who find 'fusion' to
be too spicy for their taste.
MUSICIANS ON SCALE
O.K Subramaniam. (Nadaswaram). This is a temple instrument
from the South of India and is the counterpart to the Shenhai of North
India. Subramaniam's playing instantly struck me as having similarities
to jazz horn players and from then on he was my Miles guy.
Hari Das is a Santoor player and is a student of the most famous
Santoor player Shiv Kumar. The santoor is a wonderful instrument with
over 90 strings and has a delicate and romantic sound. It takes eons
to tune. Hari will be doing an ambient Santoor record with Drongomala
in 2006.
A. Balakrisna Kamath (Mridangham). Balu (his short name) is one of
the best mridingham players in the South of India. The mridangham is
the two sided instrument you see Balu playing there and it is said
to be the primordial drum into which creation was brought into being
with.
Vinod Kumar D (Ghanjeeram). The Ghanjeeram is a deceptively simple
looking instrument. This tambourine like instrument can play extremely
low sounds in tandem with it's jangling tambourine bells. a small rucksac
and this drumkit is good to go.
Soundarajan (Veena). The Veena is a south Indian classical instrument
and is the precursor to the sitar and many other stringed instruments
through Asia/Persia. Soundarajan is a Classical music teacher in Chennai
and also one of the funniest sessions that I had during the time,.
He loved the punchbag out the back.
Dean Mohan (Tabla).
Dean's has a group of tabla students that are devoted to him with
good reason - super serious about music and a comic when there are
no drums around.
A.R. Biju played Veena on the track Out of Them All and also for
the whole of the 100 Fields record. I think he is a rising star of
the south - we'll try and get him to do some special pieces for Flying
Mountain.
SreeKumar Kalamandalam Chenda. This instrument is used in the folk
dance and storytelling of Khatakhali. The Chenda drummer watches from
the side of the stage and drums the movements of the actors and punctuates
dramatic points. The noise levels on this puppy had me ringing for
a few days. SreeKumar sweated his skin off playing this drum to some
of the more frantic pieces on Scale.
Dionyssis Konstas- drum kit. A literal legend on
the island of NAxos Dio is a jazz/rock/funk/salsa or whatever you want
him to be. He plays in three or four bands in Athens and will be releasing
a CD in the
next few months. We think he rocks - his hair is genre busting too.
Anna Lauvergnac - backing vocals. a little angel from Italy. Anna
sings all over and most recently with the Vienna Art Orchestra.
O.K Subramaniam. (Nadaswaram). This is a temple instrument
from the South of India and is the counterpart to the Shenhai of North
India. Subramaniam's playing instantly struck me as having similarities
to jazz horn players and from then on he was my Miles guy.
