Tasa

Tasa
Urban Turban


This first-rate Canadian world music ensemble strives for Indian authenticity as it strides into some new and exciting musical territory with its third CD. Combining the sounds of Indian tabla, sarangi, sarod and bansuri with American electric guitars, saxophone
and drumset, Tasa has arrived at a fresh, post-Shakti hybrid of East meets West that recalls saxophonist George Brooks’s Indian fusion with his group Summit (featuring guitarist Fareed Haque, electric bassist, drummer Steve Smith and tabla master Zakir Hussain). World music aficionados and followers of creative instrumental music in general should definitely know about this dynamic band of musical renegades to the North.

While the prevailing vibe here may be in a world music
vein, Urban Turban is highly recommended to open-minded listeners and
devotees of groove everywhere.

-- Bill Milkowski
- Bill Milkowski

It’s unfailingly interesting... the new album features lush, dense rhythmic overlays and haunting sounds...
Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star
- Toronto Star

Tasa is creating a unique amalgam, not a fusion,
but a confluence of musical streams into a river of
improvised originality.
Stephen Pedersen, [Halifax] Chronical Herald

- The Chronical Herald

Jazzy and slinky, it evokes a sexy encounter in a dark lounge one minute and meditation in a green open field the next. In the tradition of Coltrane, the CD shuttles between western jazz and Indian systems of musical scales, the Raga and Tala.
Vinita Srivastava, Impulse Magazine
- Impulse Magazine

Ravi Naimpally on tablas stole the set with an intricate solo displaying the broad capabilities of the seemingly small Indian percussive instrument, and further proved himself worthy of the title tablas virtuoso to an excited round of hooting, hollering and applause.
Chris Imrie, Guelph Mercury
- Guelph Mercury

The sheer confidence of the playing makes Bhakti elegant and virtually unclassifiable. Rating: NNNN
Matt Galloway, NOW Magazine - NOW Magazine