Catalogue : FMCDA001

Release Date : 6th Feb 06

Track Listing
1 Rise and Fall 2 Be A Bird 3 Out of Them All 4 Fear Is a Tree 5 I Am Me and She Is She 6 Love Is a Lifeboat 7 Money 8 Dig Up Yer Ancestors 9 No Man Is An Island 10 Poppy Flower 11 Stay Before I Go (aalap) 12 Stay B4 I Go 13 Pieces

Recommended if You Like : Beck, David Byrne, Nick Drake, Ravi Shankar

MUSICIANS ON SCALE

O.K Subramaniam. (Nadaswaram). This is a temple instrument from the South of India and is the counterpart to the Shenhai of North India. Subramaniam's playing instantly struck me as having similarities to jazz horn players and from then on he was my Miles guy.

Hari Das is a Santoor player and is a student of the most famous Santoor player Shiv Kumar. The santoor is a wonderful instrument with over 90 strings and has a delicate and romantic sound. It takes eons to tune. Hari will be doing an ambient Santoor record with Drongomala in 2006.

A. Balakrisna Kamath (Mridangham). Balu (his short name) is one of the best mridingham players in the South of India. The mridangham is the two sided instrument you see Balu playing there and it is said to be the primordial drum into which creation was brought into being with.

Vinod Kumar D (Ghanjeeram). The Ghanjeeram is a deceptively simple looking instrument. This tambourine like instrument can play extremely low sounds in tandem with it's jangling tambourine bells. a small rucksac and this drumkit is good to go.

Soundarajan (Veena). The Veena is a south Indian classical instrument and is the precursor to the sitar and many other stringed instruments through Asia/Persia. Soundarajan is a Classical music teacher in Chennai and also one of the funniest sessions that I had during the time,. He loved the punchbag out the back.

Dean Mohan (Tabla). Dean's has a group of tabla students that are devoted to him with good reason - super serious about music and a comic when there are no drums around.

A.R. Biju played Veena on the track Out of Them All and also for the whole of the 100 Fields record. I think he is a rising star of the south - we'll try and get him to do some special pieces for Flying Mountain.

SreeKumar Kalamandalam Chenda. This instrument is used in the folk dance and storytelling of Khatakhali. The Chenda drummer watches from the side of the stage and drums the movements of the actors and punctuates dramatic points. The noise levels on this puppy had me ringing for a few days. SreeKumar sweated his skin off playing this drum to some of the more frantic pieces on Scale.

Dionyssis Konstas- drum kit. A literal legend on the island of NAxos Dio is a jazz/rock/funk/salsa or whatever you want him to be. He plays in three or four bands in Athens and will be releasing a CD in the next few months. We think he rocks - his hair is genre busting too.

Anna Lauvergnac - backing vocals. a little angel from Italy. Anna sings all over and most recently with the Vienna Art Orchestra.

Drongomala

Opening with the fanfare of 'Rise and Fall' the stage is set for the album's themes of power, love, addiction and disconnection.   'Be A Bird' has a Nick Drake influenced mood of gentle introspection, 'Money' hosts a broken and bluesy feel reminiscent of early Beck records, 'Poppy Flower' phases in and out of focus like a drug dream surrounded by beautiful Santoor playing while 'Out of Them All' takes an 808 drum machine and flute for a ride through dreams of gold and the confusion of choices in life. The record is stuffed with jewels.

This exciting new release makes a break from the hyped dynamics of today's records, taking a particularly strong lead from collaborative performances by some of the top Indian classical musicians in the southern Indian region of Kerala. All is finally unified by Drongomala's powerful emotive voice and acoustic guitar. (If you are looking to purchase this incredible CD, it is available online or you can look up your nearest record shop on 118 118) (unless you know where that old fashioned relic is still found)? Then you too can chill out with DrongoMala and all his talented collaborators and turn Scale into the soundtrack to your life. )

Scale is the record that captures Drongomala's fascination with all things Indian. It is a unique love letter from India - a must for World music fans and a door into Indian music for those who find 'fusion' to be too spicy for their taste.

HOW SCALE GOT MADE...

The demos for Scale were first begun in Spooky Electric studios in Leith Edinburgh. Some songs had been waiting around for years and had old sessions from turntablists and bass players. Generally a massive bag of unfinished ideas. The project then moved to London when I ran out of money in Scotland and had to get a job to fund the next stage. While working during the day the demos were fleshed out more fully into 'records' at night

The decision was then taken to move the studio by ferry in a large crate to Kochi, Kerala in the South of India. This was a lucid moment of appropriate madness and the landscape for completing the album and recording improvs from Carnatic musicians was set. Kochi is not known for it's musicians in the same way that Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Varanassi and other states are however the reasoning was to just find people and experiment.

Trying to find the correct house to rent to stick all the music gear in was quite nightmarish not to mention delays with shipping and problems with politicians and customs. We nearly went a bit mad for a month and a couple of times the plug nearly had to be pulled. Luckily many people in Kerala speak English and our lives slowly became easier the more Malyalam we learnt. We eventually found a place outside Ernakalam/Kochi.

While waiting for the equipment to arrive I managed to meet Suji in Fort Cochin - a music hub who knew many established and young players. Suji runs a venue where traditional Khatakali dance and Indian music concerts are held 365 nights a year whether an audience comes or not. . He;s hardcore. He soon became the man I'd call to see what musicians were around. Sujindran is a human music hub in Ernakalam/Cochin and was a great friend and help during the making of the record. If you are ever in the South of India then you must check out his nightly concerts..http://www.kathakalicentre.com/

With the studio sent back to the UK in April 2004 I worked on some gospel cover songs in preparation to do an extra record of live Gospel/Carnatic fusion. These would be live sessions with Acoustic Guitar, Voice, Veena, Mridingham and and Tampura. For the next month we travelled around India and I used my laptop and acoustic to write more songs.

We arrive back in UK to record lead and backing vocals and to add some electric guitar. Unfortunately we are broke and the banks aren't playing ball at all. We spend winter on a Greek Island. Demo'ing and writing the next two albums while one sits ready and the other pending.

Finally mix time arrives and Drongomala heads to San Francisco. Hyde Street Studios where James Brown recorded 'Man's World'. After hooking up with mix engineer Mica Luc at Hyde Street - Scale is finally in the can.