Flat Planet
	Produced by Fareed Haque
	Released on March 10, 2009
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
OWL00133 cover [high resolution scan]

T he silver-haired Alchemist of praga rock blends Eastern (sitar, violin, tabla, kanjira) and Western (guitar, bass, drums, Fender Rhodes, flute) jazz beautifully on Flat Planet. The idea is not unique to Haque, of course. It goes back to Oregon, Shakti, Shankar. But in a genre that needs new champions, Fareed Haque is a beacon. The songs on Flat Planet offer a world of variety: kanjira and guitar are paired in mathematical pursuits (“32 Taxis”), violin and accordion dance together in playful Penguin Café poses (“The Chant”), funk meets the middle east (“Big Bhangra”), sitar and guitar square off (“Bengali Bud”), serious Crimson tones (“North” and “South”) and silly diversions (“The Hangar”) pass through like stormclouds and sunshine. Haque’s articulate soloing could easily become the focal point for an entire album, but it’s only one of many scents and sights to be enjoyed in this musical bazaar. Willerm Delisfort (Fender Rhodes), Davis Hartsman (alto sax/flute), Subrata Bhattacharya (tabla), Indrajit Bannerjee (sitar) and Kala Ramnath (violin) each catch and release the listener in swirling eddies of sound at various stops along the way. There is an organic “aliveness” to this music that makes the mixture of East and West seem like the most natural of settings, and much credit belongs to Fareed Haque and the Flat Earth Ensemble for navigating through this Flat Planet like children native born to the conundrum of a world where opposite ends might also intersect. Moreso than the last Garaj Mahal disc, W00t, Flat Planet is what I had hoped would come from a fusion of East and West. It turns the tablas on traditional contemporary jazz, and pushes the possibilities of East/West fusion to their ultra-logical edge.

TRACK LISTING

1. BIG BHANGRA    10:02
2. THE CHANT    7:03
3. UNEVEN MANTRA    10:12
4. BLU HINDOO    5:29
5. BENGALI BUD    5:01
6. FUR PEACE    11:08
7. THE HANGAR    7:35
8. 32 TAXIS    4:00
   THREE MOVEMENTS FROM THE FOUR CORNERS SUITE
   
9. NORTH    7:20
10. SOUTH    2:57
11. WEST    4:51
    
    All compositions by Fareed Haque

CREDITS

FAREED HAQUE -- Samick "Lasalle" jazz guitar, guistar, Stromberg jazz guitar, German Perez Barranco classical guitar, Ibanez 6- and 12-string double-neck guitar, Gibson L5-S guitar, J. Pena Fernandez classical guitar, Hammond B-3, flutes, bells, percussion, very silly vocals, photography
Alex Austin -- bass
Indrajit Banerjee -- sitar (2,5)
Subrata Bhattacharya -- tabla
Rob Clearfield -- piano, accordion, electric piano, Hammond B-3
Willerm Delisfort -- keyboards
Jim Feist -- tabla, vocals
Elihu Scott Haque -- vocal countoff and djembe (2)
David Hartsman -- flute, alto sax
Cory Healey -- drums
Ganesh Kumar -- kanjira, vocals
Salar Nader -- tablas, naal, kanjira (2,6)
Kalyan Pathak -- sticked percussion (2)
John Paul -- bass
Kala Ramnath -- Hindustani violin (2)
Jason Smart -- drums
Gary Mielke -- engineer, mixing
Steve Wagner -- engineer, mixing
J. Allan Hall -- executive producer
P.J. Yinger -- art direction/design
Dreamstime -- photography

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