Karsh Kale - Broken English

On "Broken English," his third full length album, Karsh Kale reconfigures his sound to incorporate a flourishing community of like-minded artists, who shine in a series of unique collaborations that emphasize lyricism and harmony. The album features vocal contributions from 11 different people, and is painstakingly constructed around elaborate compositions that highlight the indisputable talent of Kale's hand-picked ensemble of backing musicians. Although long renowned as one of the most sought-after young drum virtuosos on the planet, Karsh's prodigious percussive skills take a backseat to the arrangements and song craft that characterize this multifaceted album. It is a rare artist who seeks to expand the spotlight they occupy in order to shed light on their peers... Rather than focusing on the personal expression of his singular artistic vision, Karsh throws open the gates to his ideas, and acts as an interface for a diverse group of artists who drape their intertwined melodies against the backdrop of his inimitable rhythmic signature. The result is an album that is both complex and crowded, and a testament to the vibrant community of artists emerging fully-realized in the wake of Karsh's progressively globalized aesthetic.

The voices strike you first. Broken English kicks off with MC Napoleon dropping staggered flowing cadences over a processed dhol break, laying the groundwork for an album infused with vocalists from various traditions, singing in multiple languages, often on the same track. Whereas in earlier projects, a single well-placed vocal melody might suffice to carry Karsh's core idea, here he intersperses multiple voices in careful counterpoint, weaving together harmony in overlapping lines that demonstrate a well-developed compositional maturity. Vishal Vaid's gorgeous ghazal-rooted tenor returns in fine form, and new band member Todd Michaelsen contributes the most distinct new voice to several tracks, projecting an urgency and atmospheric yearning that calls to mind the melodic work of Maynard Keenan of Tool. Dierdre Dubois is featured in a hauntingly beautiful ballad, "Innocence and Power", and Trixie Rice from the Crystal Method contributes a sugary pop feel to the up tempo bounce of "Free Fall." Throughout the album, Sabiha Khan's delectable vocal motifs firmly orient the music within the Indian classical tradition, providing a raw spiritual anchor to these very futuristic productions. The instrumentalists also stand out. J.P. Doherty provides lush, dexterous fretwork in restrained guitar parts, and Yossi Fine and Jeremiah Hosea hold down the bottom end with several pumping bass lines. Selim Merchant's keyboards weave intricate atmospheric dynamics into these mixes, and various other musicians add sitars, bansuris, and assorted bowed strings. Karsh also lets his fellow dial tweakers get their hands dirty, as DJs Zakhm, Radiohiro, and the MIDIval PunditZ all contribute production elements, samples, and sequencing to this collection. Kale orchestrates this motley ensemble with a sure hand, bringing into focus an expansive vision satiated with reverb-laden hooks and processed tablas. This album is without doubt a collective creation, a patchwork of tones, languages, and identities woven together into a heavy quilt of waveforms. Some songs are more seamless than others, but without a doubt, the end result is a valuable document that chronicles the convergence of a large extended family of musicians, connected only by the links of what Karsh dubs "Broken English."

This album needs to be heard in the larger context of Karsh's career. "Realize," his 2001 debut, announced to the world the arrival of a gifted producer equipped with the skills and knowledge to assume a primary leadership role in the evolving global movement that had been christened the 'Asian Underground' a few years earlier. His sophomore effort "Liberation," released in 2003, marked his emergence as a distinguished songwriter and band-leader, a world-class composer capable of creating breathtakingly beautiful music both in the studio and in a live setting. His ongoing work with the super-group Tabla Beat Science has secured his role as one of the world's most elite percussionists. At the peak of his popularity, he emerges now in 2006 with this album, a collection that signals a slightly different creative approach than its predecessors. Longtime friends and collaborative partners Ustad Zakir Hussain and Ustad Sultan Khan are notably absent here, as is Bill Laswell, and in the place of these venerated elders Karsh emerges with a deep line-up of under-exposed rising stars to initiate into what he calls the Kollektiv, a creative community seeking "the sound of breaking ground." It is difficult to pigeonhole the scope and reach of this group, and trying to describe it with labels and generalizations does a disservice to the quantity and diversity of talent laboring under its moniker. The same can be said for anyone trying to categorize the music on "Broken English." These songs don't fit into simple categories, and are too nuanced and multidimensional to be reduced to any single genre. This is the very essence of polyglot, a hybrid of dialects that comprises a new shared language, providing its users with a means to communicate with anyone seeking a larger culture beyond the limitations of their local origins. This album heralds the immanent rise of a pluralistic pop music that has long been simmering in the underground, brought forth now by an international tribe of cosmopolitan artists. This future belongs to those who speak in many tongues, who travel freely across borders and genres, and who pay for their journeys with the universal currencies of rhythm and tone...

- Fuad Ahmad