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Rating: ★★

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Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

Lokkhi Terra

Label:

Funkiwala Records KKLTC001

Aug/Sep/2010

Lokkhi Terra is the recording name of Bangladeshi-Londoner Kishon Khan – a pianist who has played with the likes of Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura, South London Afro-beat-reggae collective the Soothsayers, percussionist and composer Pandit Dinesh and the Arun Ghosh Sextet. What he has aimed for is a fusion of Bengali folk and Indian classical, Cuban rumba, Afro-beat and Brazilian samba.

What we get is firmly planted in the realms of jazz – if distinctly worldy jazz. With hypnotic horns from trumpeter Graeme Flowers and trombonist Justin Thurgur (of English folk big-band Bellowhead) and labyrinthine rhythms from Ska Cubano conga player Oreste Noda, Asere bassist Jimmy Martinez and Turkish drummer Tansay Omar (Björk/Brand New Heavies), the band might seem to be the ultimate session musicians group, but the groove is insistent and involving. Largely instrumental, the jazzy album does feature Bengali singers Sohini Alam, Aneire Khan and Aanon Siddiqua, lending it a distinctly Asian flavour.

This is easy-going, cross-border stuff and the tracks occasionally meander to the ten-minute mark. Its jazz feel won’t be to everyone’s taste and it’s not distinctive enough to make it truly memorable, but the steady groove – from the samba strains of ‘Harmoniuzinho’ and the hip-swivelling ‘Cuban Mela’ to the soothing ballad ‘Naiya Re’ – will certainly mellow-out a stressed head.

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