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Review – The Stables, Milton Keynes 22 March 2006

ShivaNova - SunDance
MK Music – Steffi Lewis

A FUSION OF MUSIC, DANCE, COLOUR AND LIGHT

This week I’ve been traveling the world thanks to The Stables. On Tuesday I was in Africa with Nuru Kane, on Wednesday I was in Asia with Shiva Nova. You know what amazes me the most? Even though the music was separated by thousands of miles, the similarities were frightening.

The house lights went down and the band walked on stage. Made up of Indian Percussion, Vocals, Keyboards, Violin and Flute you’d think they’d be happy with that. But no … Shiva Nova did something different.

They had a synthesised backing track and each section of the show had a different genre theme. Drum & Base, Celtic, Clubby.

I was amazed at how it worked so well together. And for the sections that didn’t have a backing track, they picked another genre and gave it an Asian twist.

At one point I was hearing Australian aboriginal rhythms, then Celtic flutes and violins, and I found myself comparing what I was hearing to similar sounds I remembered from the previous nights Nuru Kane set.

It amazes me that the further back in time you go, the more genres travel the world. Suddenly I realised that the roots of what we hear today, and consider to be our foundation genres are firmly embedded in these two musically under-rated continents.

The band were made up of:

R N Prakash – Percussion
Sanchita Pal – Vocals
Priti Paintal – Keyboards
Jyotsna Srikanth- Violin
Alex Housego – Flute

And they all played extremely well together. For my first introduction to Asian music, I was amazed at how beautiful it really was. Add in the backing track from Priti’s synths and you had a fusion of Eastern and Western music that can only be described as brilliantly conceived, and professionally executed.

Then you have to add something else into the evening. Something I really wasn’t expecting …

The three dancers, all from The Creative Dance Company were superb and they added an extra level to the show, which not only fused two diverse cultures of music, but mixed in movement, light and colour.

The whole evening was superb. And with lead Kali performing an energised solo dance called Hothouse at the end, I very nearly cried with elation. It really was that beautiful.

What we call World Music should be embraced by everyone in Milton Keynes. We are a multi cultural city, so there’s no excuse for not going to an evening such as this.

And if you’re a member of MK Music, in need of inspiration, then watching these professional, experienced and very well travelled musicians can only get your creative juices flowing.

http://www.mk-music.net

ShivaNova is a dimension of new musical excitement, bringing together virtuoso improvising musicians from Europe, Asia and Africa. The creation of Priti Paintal, ShivaNova's music integrates elements of jazz, classical, Asian, ambient and club dance styles to create a sound-world that is immediately accessible yet completely unique. Instruments used by ShivaNova include sitar, sarod, Indian and Middle Easter harps, voice, tabla, Indian and Western violins, cello, piano/keyboards, saxophone, flutes, percussion, African kora and drums and Chinese instruments.