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Last year's Personae was a fusion powerhouse, laying creative waste to all in its way. Not
content to rest on his muse, über -bassist Jonas Hellborg has set out after the polyphonic and
polyrhythmic music of India. Hellborg and long term collaborator Shawn Lane apply their synthetic
method, meshing East and West with Indian vocalist V. Umamahesh and two percussionists, V.
Selvaganesh and V. Umashankar--who play the ghatam and the kanjeera, two types
of hand drums used in the Southern Indian musical tradition.
The results of this union are four lengthy ruminations (save the last) that beautifully combine the
chant-like droning of Hindustani music with the consonance and resolution of western music.
Rhythmically and harmonically sophisticated, Hellborg and Lane navigate their way deftly around
the nooks and crannies of the Indian musical psyche. Both string players bristle with ideas and
make use of fluid musical technique to express them cogently.
In the same way that the movie Victor Victoria was a gender bender, Icon is an
ethnic bender, proving that music is music and traditions can be successfully combined and artfully
executed.
