Shuruaat

This was always going to be slick, the Berklee Indian Ensemble is a collective of musicians with amazing technical skills. If you really want to hear them show off their chops, then have a listen to the jazz-fusion ‘5 Peace Band’, all the more impressive for being live. There’s not a dropped note nor bit of grit anywhere on this album, and this is both its strength and weakness.

If you are looking for some relatively easy-listening filmi-type Indian pop, then there is a lot here to please – check out ‘Arz-e-Niyaz’, which could have come straight from a contemporary Bollywood tear-jerker, or ‘Pinha’, which is pretty much the same. If, however, you are looking to be more challenged or feel some excitement, you may be left feeling let down. This is the case with the live version of ‘Lady L’, a rather bland outlet for the great talents of Zakir Hussain, and when they veer towards a jazz-fusion feel, as on ‘Dua’, apart from the Hindi lyrics I was left wondering where the Indian connection was.