A Meeting by the River

Last updated
A Meeting by the River
A Meeting by the River album cover.jpg
Studio album by
Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
ReleasedApril 1993 [1]
RecordedSeptember 1992
Genre Blues, international, new-age, pop rock [2]
Length39:35
Label Water Lily Acoustics
Producer Kavichandran Alexander, Jayant Shah
Ry Cooder chronology
Little Village
(1992)		A Meeting by the River
(1993)		 Talking Timbuktu
(1994)
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt chronology
Gathering Rain Clouds
(1993)		A Meeting by the River
(1993)		 Mumtaz Mahal
(1995)

A Meeting by the River is an album recorded by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; it was recorded in September 1992 and released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. [2] This improvised, collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena , a stringed instrument created by Bhatt. A Meeting by the River was produced by Kavichandran Alexander and Jayant Shah, engineered by Alexander, and mastered by Kevin Michael Gray and Paul Stubblebine. It peaked at number four on Billboard 's Top World Music Albums chart, and earned Cooder and Bhatt Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album at the 36th Grammy Awards in 1994. The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die .

Contents

Composition

Mohan veena performer Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in 2006 Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt.jpg
Mohan veena performer Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in 2006

A Meeting by the River was recorded in September 1992; it features Cooder solely on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena, a stringed instrument he created. [2] [3] Allmusic's Daniel Gioffre described the instrument as a hybrid between a guitar and a vichitra veena ; [2] it is played with a metal slide moving across steel rods along the neck. [4] Cooder had heard a recording of Hindustani classical music performed by Bhatt and was impressed by his playing and the "haunting clarity" of the Mohan veena. [5] Cooder and Bhatt met for the first time less than one hour before recording began; they improvised much of the set; the album's liner notes state, "this recording was unplanned and unrehearsed". [2] [4] [6] The album was produced by Kavichandran Alexander, founder of Water Lily Acoustics, [7] and Jayant Shah. It was engineered by Alexander, and was mastered by Kevin Michael Gray and Paul Stubblebine. Cooder and Bhatt are accompanied by Cooder's then fourteen-year-old son Joachim on dumbek , a Middle Eastern drum, and by Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari on tabla . [5] [8]

The collaboration between Cooder and Bhatt is Alexander's first attempt to record musicians of different cultures together, one of his goals when he founded the record label. [7] Author George Plasketes described Bhatt's playing as "highly nuanced" and said, Cooder performs in a more "loose-jointed, slip 'n' slide style". [5] According to Gioffre, Cooder and Bhatt use improvisation and "voice-like" phrasing, showing melodic performances in an alternating fashion and in unison. [2] The album contains four tracks, three of which are credited to Cooder and Bhatt; tracks range in duration from approximately seven-and-a-half minutes to twelve minutes. [2] "Longing" has a structure similar to a raga . Author Tom Moon said Cooder takes the lead on the hymn "Isa Lei" as Bhatt contributes "elaborate squiggling asides" and "swooping nosedives". [9] In 2011, Bhatt performed "A Meeting by the River" at a music festival in honor of guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Bhatt said of the song, "Music has no religion and no geographical or linguistic barrier. It speaks a universal language. My composition – 'A Meeting by the River' – aims at explaining this." [10] Bhatt has said he considers working with Cooder his "most special" collaboration. [11]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [4]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]

Gioffre wrote a positive review of the album and called Cooder and Bhatt "genuine masters" of their respective instruments. [2] He described the musical interplay between the musicians as "nothing short of astounding" and the album as a rare instance in which a combination of genres works. Gioffre also wrote, "this album is masterfully recorded; each instrument is clear, distinct, and three-dimensional sounding. A Meeting by the River is a must-own, a thing of pure, unadulterated beauty, and the strongest record in Cooder's extensive catalog." [2] Peter Margasak of the Chicago Tribune awarded the album four stars out of four, describing Cooder's performance as "arresting" and Bhatt's as "haunting". Margasak wrote that the fusion revealed a "rare, often transcendental beauty" as the two artists "gently and intuitively" found common ground. [4] Rolling Stone called the album "fruitful" and awarded it three stars out of five. [12]

Chart performance and recognition

Ry Cooder in 2009 Ry Cooder playing.jpg
Ry Cooder in 2009

A Meeting by the River reached a peak position of number four on Billboard 's Top World Music Albums chart. [13] In 1994, the album earned Cooder and Bhatt Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album. [14] Bhatt became one of a few Indian musicians to have received a Grammy Award until A. R. Rahman won at the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010. Previous Indian award winners had been recognized jointly with Western artists. [15] The February 25, 1995, issue of Billboard, which featured the annual "Indies Spotlight" and covered independent music between the January 29, 1994, and January 21, 1995, issues of the magazine included A Meeting by the River at number ten on its list of the "Top Indie World Music Albums". [16] The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. [9]

Chart (1993)Peak
position
Billboard 's Top World Music Albums4

Track listing

All tracks by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt unless noted otherwise.

  1. "A Meeting by the River" – 10:03
  2. "Longing" – 11:56
  3. "Ganges Delta Blues" – 9:57
  4. "Isa Lei" (Caten) – 7:39

Track listing adapted from Allmusic. [2]

Personnel

Credits adapted from Allmusic. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slide guitar</span> Guitar technique

Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle. The term bottleneck was historically used to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ry Cooder</span> American musician

Ryland Peter Cooder is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taj Mahal (musician)</span> American blues musician

Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohan veena</span>

Mohan veena refers to either of two distinct plucked string instruments used in Indian classical music, especially Hindustani classical music which is associated with the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vishwa Mohan Bhatt</span> Indian mohan veena player

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, professionally known as V. M. Bhatt, is a Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who plays the Mohan veena.

<i>Rise</i> (Anoushka Shankar album) 2005 studio album by Anoushka Shankar

Rise is an album by Anoushka Shankar released on 27 September 2005. The album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005 (#82). On previous recordings, Anoushka Shankar had followed in the footsteps of her father, Ravi Shankar, by performing relatively traditional, raga-based music. Rise, by contrast, incorporated jazz, pop, and pan-ethnic world music textures in an unpredictable melange. At the center of it all are Shankar's sitar expertise and traditional Indian roots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Manx</span> Musical artist

Harry Manx is a Canadian musician who blends blues, folk music, and Hindustani classical music. His official website describes his music as being a "blend Indian folk melodies with slide guitar blues, add a sprinkle of gospel and some compelling grooves and you'll get Manx's unique "mysticssippi" flavour." Manx plays the slide guitar, harmonica, six-string banjo, mohan veena and Ellis stomp box. He studied for five years in India with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Bhatt is the inventor of the 20-stringed mohan veena, which has become Manx's signature instrument. He has released twelve albums in twelve years, and has his own record label Dog My Cats Records. He has received much recognition and many awards, including: seven Maple Blues Awards, six Juno nominations, the Canadian Folk Music Award in 2005 for Best Solo Artist, and CBC Radio’s "Great Canadian Blues Award" in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water Lily Acoustics</span>

Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label in Santa Barbara, California founded in 1985 by Kavichandran Alexander, a Tamil from Sri Lanka. Alexander is a record producer and audio engineer. He named the label after his mother, Lily. The label primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and collaborations by musicians from around the world. At its inception, the Alexander emphasized Eastern musicians, espousing the belief that they had seldom been recorded with proper sound quality compared to their Western counterparts. He began to include music from outside Asia. Alexander has recorded and produced musicians such as José Neto, Ali Akbar Khan, V. G. Jog, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ry Cooder, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Taj Mahal, Papa Susso, Jiebing Chen, Simon Shaheen, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Music he has recorded has appeared in the films Angel Eyes, Dead Man Walking, and Meet the Fockers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memo from Turner</span> 1970 single by Mick Jagger

"Memo from Turner" is a solo single by Mick Jagger, featuring slide guitar by Ry Cooder, from the soundtrack of Performance, in which Jagger played the role of Turner, a reclusive rock star. It was re-released in October 2007 on a 17-song retrospective compilation album The Very Best of Mick Jagger, making a re-appearance as a Jagger solo effort. After its original release in 1970, it was included on Rolling Stones compilations, such as Singles Collection: The London Years as a track credited to the Jagger/Richards songwriting partnership. "Memo from Turner" was ranked No. 92 in the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs list of Rolling Stone.

<i>Bop Till You Drop</i> 1979 studio album by Ry Cooder

Bop Till You Drop is Ry Cooder's eighth album, released in 1979. The album was the first digitally recorded major-label album in popular music. Bop Till You Drop was recorded on a digital 32-track machine built by 3M.

<i>Breathing Under Water</i> 2007 studio album by Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale

Breathing Under Water is an album by Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale released on 28 August 2007. Shankar and Kale expand beyond cultural and traditional borders of music with this collaboration. With the help of featured guests Ravi Shankar, Sting, Norah Jones, Midival Punditz, Salim Merchant, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and others, the duo blended Indian classical music, electronica, dance and folk styles.

<i>My Name Is Buddy</i> 2007 studio album by Ry Cooder

My Name Is Buddy: Another Record by Ry Cooder is the thirteenth studio album by Ry Cooder. It is the second social-political concept album by Ry Cooder. Cooder has described it as the second in a trilogy that began with Chávez Ravine and concluded with I, Flathead. The album is packaged in a small booklet that includes a brief story and drawing to accompany each song. Both the songs and the stories relate tales from the viewpoint of the characters, Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse, and Reverend Tom Toad. The liner notes ask listeners/readers to join them as they "Journey through time and space in days of labor, big bosses, farm failures, strikes, company cops, sundown towns, hobos, and trains... the America of yesteryear."

<i>Good Dog, Happy Man</i> 1999 studio album by Bill Frisell

Good Dog, Happy Man is the 11th album by Bill Frisell to be released on the Elektra Nonesuch label. It was released in 1999 and features performances by Frisell, steel guitarist Greg Leisz, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer Jim Keltner with a guest appearance by Ry Cooder on slide guitar.

Doug Cox is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and music programmer, and is currently signed to Toronto's NorthernBlues Music.

<i>Mambo Sinuendo</i> 2003 studio album by Manuel Galban and Ry Cooder

Mambo Sinuendo is a studio album released by Cuban performer Manuel Galbán and producer Ry Cooder. The album was the first number-one album in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart for Galbán and the second for Cooder, and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 46th Grammy Awards.

<i>Mumtaz Mahal</i> (album) 1995 studio album by Taj Mahal

Mumtaz Mahal is an album by American blues artist Taj Mahal, N. Ravikiran and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

<i>Tabula Rasā</i> 1996 studio album by Béla Fleck, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Jie-Bing Chen

Tabula Rasā is a collaborative album by American banjoist Béla Fleck together with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Jie-Bing Chen, who plays the traditional Chinese two-string fiddle erhu. The unusual combination of Fleck's banjo together with these traditional instruments creates a unique sound on this album, which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album at the 39th Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salil Bhatt</span> Indian slide guitar player

Salil Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. He is the son of the fellow slide player and Grammy Award winner, Padmashree Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

Kavichandran Alexander is an audio engineer and record producer. He is the founder of the American record label, Water Lily Acoustics. Alexander was the producer and engineer for the 1993 album A Meeting by the River, featuring Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, which won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.

<i>Music for the Motherless Child</i> 1996 studio album by Martin Simpson and Wu Man

Music for the Motherless Child is a collaboration album between English folk guitarist Martin Simpson and Chinese pipa player Wu Man, released by Water Lily Records in 1996. As with the other album's released on the label, it was recorded at Christ the King Chapel, St. Anthony Seminary, Santa Barbara, by Tamil producer and label owner Kavichandran Alexander, who, also similarly to the label's other releases, curated and oversaw the project as a fusion between the music of two disparate cultures. Neither Simpson or Man had met before the recording of the album, which was done in only a single session that lasted seven hours. Alexander employed vacuum tube recording and took advantage of the church's natural acoustics.

References

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin Charles (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Canongate U.S. p. 223. ISBN   9781841958606 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Gioffre, Daniel. "A Meeting by the River". Allmusic. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  3. ↑ Kumar, Sanjay (February 4, 2005). "Meeting by the backwaters". The Hindu . Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: The Hindu Group. ISSN   0971-751X. OCLC   13119119. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Margasak, Peter (July 22, 1993). "Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt A Meeting by the River..." Chicago Tribune . Tribune Company. ISSN   1085-6706. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Plasketes, George (2009). B-sides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular in Music, 1960 to the Present. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 92–93. ISBN   9780754665618 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ Frith, Simon; Straw, Will; Street, John (2001). The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. p. 284. ISBN   9780521556606 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Morris, Chris (May 4, 1996). "Musical Hybrids Thrive at Water Lily". Billboard . Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 108 (18): 55–56. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  8. 1 2 "A Meeting by the River: Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  9. 1 2 Moon, Tom (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. Workman Publishing. p. 86. ISBN   978-0-7611-3963-8. OCLC   179803341 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Grammy award winner pays tributes to Guru Kelucharan". The Hindu. Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: The Hindu Group. September 11, 2011. ISSN   0971-751X. OCLC   13119119. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  11. ↑ Sheikh, Shahzeb (December 12, 2010). "Spotlight: Soulful stirrings". Dawn . Saddar, Karachi, Pakistan: Dawn Group of Newspapers. Archived from the original on January 19, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  12. 1 2 Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 188–189. ISBN   9780743201698 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  13. ↑ "A Meeting by the River: Charts & Awards". Allmusic. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  14. ↑ "The Grammy Winners". The New York Times . March 3, 1994. p. 2. ISSN   0362-4331. OCLC   1645522. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  15. ↑ Ravi, Bhama Devi (February 2, 2010). "Rahman's individual Grammy a first for India". The Times of India . New Delhi, Delhi, India: The Times Group. OCLC   23379369. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  16. ↑ Mayfield, Geoff (25 February 1995). "Charting the Best Indies: Top Indie World Music Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 107 (8): 126. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved September 16, 2011.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.