ALIO DIE & AMELIA CUNI: APSARAS

Alio Die is an amazing project from a genius of the ambient music very often open to collaborations like this one with Amelia Cuni who is one of the few western vocalist to have studied the dhrupal singing. She's also a composer and a percussionist as well as a dancer. All things that she has studied during a 10 year period spent in India.

The Apsaras are nymphs of the water and all the album's theme is centered on that. What appear to be lyrics in Indian are only repeated syllables which compose the "alap", a sort of long improvised introduction which is one of the element of the dhrupal singing.

However this is not an album of classical Indian music. The Dhropal singing is immersed into an ambient monotonal and modal soundscape, totally empty of percussion of any kind. The only rhythms come from water and other natural sounds as often happens in Alio Die music. This artist, even if considered "progressive electronic" is uset to record acoustic and natural sounds later re-elaborated through the electronics.

Two of the track titles are in Sanskrita and require a translation: "AMBHAS" means "celestial waters" but is also a metric consisting of 82 syllables. I haven't counted, but it's possible that the opening track has both the meanings. "AAPAHA" is water intended as one of the primeval elements which are the same of the western culture: Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether.

This album is a sort of nature inspired mantra. The Indian element is strong but the music is as spacey as the early TANGERINE DREAM with the addition of a sitar on "Water Memories" and some other instruments and devices which can't be distinguished easily.

It's an unique album that seems made to capture your mind and send it back in time to contemplate the creation of the world from the waters. The Dhrupal singing is mystic and Amelia Cuni sounds like a Nymph, an "APSARA".

The mentioned "Water Memories" and "Churning Of The Oceans" are the album's highlights, but the whole is excellent if you like the genre.

4 stars