Home

Forest fires create an ashen, black landscape in the Amazon. Over in India, an elephant stumbles across a pineapple, begins eating it and then gets blown up, hidden explosives inside wreak a harrowing scene. So begins Sushma Soma and Aditya Prakash’s creation of digital release, Home. A rallying cry for humanity to take care of the planet we call ‘home,’ this intense, at times disturbing, at other times meditative album is an astonishing mix of music and political yearning.

Indian Karnatic, predominantly vocal music, is fused with famous musicians like hang player Manu Delago. His soulful, meditative, wave-like handpan contribution to the first track, ‘Nature’ follows Sushma Soma’s own deeply felt vocalisations on raga Hamsadhwani. The drone without initial metre and Soma’s atmospheric voice begin the journey towards the final track, ‘Grief’ – true rasa (a quest for undiluted aesthetic experience). The track ‘Ma’ is extraordinary. Soma’s vocal dexterity pushed to the limit with uncompromising emotional intensity. Heartfelt pain and anger at man’s apathy towards our destruction of nature builds throughout the track. ‘The Elephant’s Funeral’ is also quietly profound, a lament for the elephant – the percussion so evocative of India’s religious music. A must try album – resonant and powerful.