Prash - Asha Ke Badal

Hear The Track Here

Prash is a guitarist and songwriter who has given this particular reviewer a lot of pleasure over the past couple of years, I have lots of his tracks in permanent storage and after a few initial plays I'm already convinced that Asha Ke Badal (Clouds Of Hope seeing as you asked) will take it's place amongst them - and I don't even like the track that much. Well, let me clarify that somewhat. Essentially, my introduction to Prash has been through his rock work and only every once in a while though one of his superlative World music tracks (he's from Mumbai, India); all of which have been replaced on his SC site with 'demos of songs for use in Hindi Films'

I have huge respect for Bollywood and its influence on Indian musicians of all stripes but I have to say its more sugary moments are to be avoided and - in that respect - this track shares some of that aura. There again, demo for a fime, fair enough, right? Well, let's go a bit further. Asha Ke Badal is a track Prash wrote for a charity helping to children in underdeveloped rural areas in India; the charity site is here. All the music is created by Prash and the Indian Classical vocals are courtesy Pt. Abhyankar and together they make a wonderfully warm and flowing track.

My problems are obviously more of style than substance because as usual I could nothing technically awry with this track - a standard which Prash attains every time. There's a lot more than Bollywood in the track and that outweighs my own stylistic misgivings enough to enjoy the track once it starts to stretch out and really show what it is capable of. Its a beautifully worked peice of music, fair enough, and I'm sure the cause is glad to have its use because it shows that Indian musicians are every bit as compassionate as their friends in the western world. Don't worry about understanding the lyrics, just go with the flow and experience some of India's finest....

Highly Recommended World music.