Tabla Beat Science

Tabla Beat Science began as a collaborative project between Indian-born tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell, and has since grown to embrace a loose configuration of artists and a sub-culture of its own. The Tala Matrix CD, released on Axiom/Palm in September 2000, features "tablatronics" pioneer Talvin Singh (whose solo debut OK won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize the previous year), as well as impeccably recorded performances from vocalist and sarangi master Sultan Khan, Bombay percussionist and jazz veteran Trilok Gurtu, and Brooklyn-based drummer and producer Karsh Kale. The record drew praise from press and audiences alike, prompting the New York Times to rave, "The music is too aggressive to be ambient and too abstract for the dance floor; it's a genuine fusion that pours energy into the air, pauses to meditate and then rushes forward again."

Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove reunites four of the core contributors to Tala Matrix and develops several pieces from that record into fully expanded live dub excursions, taking a cue from the Jamaican "dub style" that has had such a profound influence on rhythm sections today. The frenetic cut-time beats of drum'n'bass represent the modern offshoot of that style, and this is where the artistry of Zakir Hussain's tabla comes into full effect. From the long meditative duet with Sultan Khan called "Taaruf" that opens the set, he segues with a flurry into "Sacred Channel," an aggressive re-working of the Tala Matrix track "Secret Channel." Suddenly, hypnotic waves of pulsating low-end dub — connected by a seamless exchange of hyper-accelerated chops between Hussain, Laswell and Karsh Kale — take the sound of the tabla from the ancient past into an electric future.

The worlds of East Africa and the Asian subcontinent merge with surprising harmony in " Nafeke," the signature song of Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw. Singing in her native Amharic tongue from Ethiopia, Gigi renders the vocal melody with jubilation, and is joined on the microphone by an inspired Sultan Khan, his voice as hauntingly beautiful as that of his multi-stringed sarangi. Khan Sahib (as he is known among friends and admirers in Mumbai, India) later takes the vocal spotlight for himself in "Magnetic Dub," a version of another Tala Matrix track that brings a lilting sarangi line together with undulating bass to close the first set on a euphoric high.

The second set offers a taste of breakbeat culture as DJ Disk steps out on "Tala Matrix." Known in the Bay Area for his collaborations with Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike, and as a founding member of the now-legendary Invisibl Skratch Picklz turntablist crew, Disk cuts his way into a raga of his own, with Hussain following his every move on various percussive instruments and Laswell and Kale coming in with a pulsating backbeat. The progressive electronic thread is then taken up by the Delhi-based production duo Midival Punditz, whose Bollywood-sounding drum loops and string orchestrations weave their way through "Trajic."

By the time Gigi takes the stage again on "Mengedegna," everyone — musicians and audience alike — seems to sense that something completely new is being created here. And when the bhangra-tinged "Devotional Dub" draws the audience into its own rhythmic accompaniment, the music floating on a chorus of handclaps, it's clear that whatever may have been unplanned about this performance has somehow solidified into the feeling of freedom and soul that a truly live event brings. —Courtesy Calabash Music