Featured Album : Soul Yatra { watch | listen }
The eternal journey of the soul, in the words of composer and pianist Merlin, is what best describes the feeling behind her new instrumental studio record.
Charting a soundscape that fuses raga influenced melodic lines, Indian rhythm patterns, groovy arrangements and oodles of fluid piano work, Soul Yatra also features guest performances by the likes of Taufeeq Quereshi, Rakesh Chaurasia, Mukul Dongre, Karl Peters, and Vivienne Pocha.
‘Amantran’ { watch | listen }, the opening track, starts with an evocative chant and explores a morning raga (Bairagi) in a sinuous duet of piano and flute amidst shifting time signatures. The title track, ‘Soul Yatra’, eases into an ambient space with the ebb and flow of operatic vocals and veena-like strains.
‘Mast’ { watch | listen } embraces raga Bhimpalasi and more with punchy basslines and rhythms, while the jhaptal and rupak time signatures of ‘Rain’ give it a lingering cadence. The upbeat ‘Tu Hi tu’ is the only lyrical track on the otherwise mostly instrumental album.
Reflective, playful and exciting, the album draws from different moods for its musical architecture. Inspiration drawn from ragas and Merlin’s own experience as a western classical pianist as well as her foray into jazz marks her oeuvre, where technique fuses with feeling.
Soul Yatra signals the next passage in her musical journey as she invites the audience to tune in and listen.
Other Albums
Ankahi { watch | listen }
Merlin was part of ‘Koshish’, a world fusion band and performed in their debut album ‘Ankahi’. The ensemble that contributed to the album consisted of Merlin de Souza, Aneesh Pradhan, Brennon Denfer, Benoni Soans, Sudhir Nayak, Murad Ali and was led by Shubha Mudgal. { more }
The songs in this album are based on multi-layered sub-texts of medieval poets such as Kabir and Pemi as well as contemporary literary giants such as Faiz Ahmad Faiz. The melodic tunes are subtle in nature and involve contributions ranging from North Indian art music to Western art music and Jazz.
Jantar Mantar/Mantra { watch | listen }
Merlin and Asif Ali Beg formed the duo ‘Mantra’. Their Hindi-pop album achieved success on the pop charts with tracks such as ‘Panchatantra’ and ‘Jantar Mantar’. { more }
The album fared well, taking Merlin and Asif all over the country to perform a series of concerts and to New Jersey to perform at the Six Flags Festival. The pair has continued to co-produce music for various musical media.
Miss India - Mehnaz { watch | listen }
Merlin composed & produced ‘Miss India’ for MehnazwithBMG Crescendo (currently known as Sony BMG). ‘Miss India’ was Mehnaz’s debut album and the song of the same name was extremely popular with the youth.
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Musically, ‘Miss India’ was a refreshing change from what was being composed at the time of the album release. During an era when synthesized music was the rule of law in the Hindi-pop scene, Merlin gave the song and album a fresh and original touch through her musical arrangements.
Hennessey X.O. - Jazz Tour { watch | listen }
Merlin’s Soul Yatra was the first ever Asian band invited to perform internationally as Jazz Ambassadors for Hennessey X.O. on their world renowned jazz tour. { more }
‘Soul Yatra’ was led by Merlin as she displayed her wizardry on the keyboards in Taiwan, South Korea, China and Malaysia. The Hennessy X.O. Jazz tour enabled Merlin to find her voice on the international jazz stage. Several songs that were performed on the Hennessy XO jazz tour have been compiled together to shape this album.
The keyword in Jazz is ‘improvisation’. And Merlin improvised with her tunes and performed to an international audience, proving that Jazz is still alive in India and that she would be India’s very own jazz ambassador.
On the jazz tour, Merlin & ‘Soul Yatra’ performed mainstream jazz and Latin jazz which got the audience to swing to their tunes. But it was their Indo-Jazz fusion that made a big impression in the top jazz venues that they visited.
Song for Africa (Kenya-Red cross) { watch | listen }
Mantra (Merlin & Asif) composed and produced this album with two leading young singers, Sachin & Avni. The album was dedicated for various Kenyan causes. { more }
The tracks musically covered issues ranging from the girl child to apartheid and our environment. The album had a successful run and raised enormous funds for charity.
