My favourite... Women Singers from India

Today I want to present you three female voices from different parts of India which I adore. Every one has a totally unique, yet unpretentious style, and they are not as famous as they deserve - at least not here in Germany, but I'm trying to do my very best ;-).
First to be introduced is Sona Mohapatra - I mentioned her in an earlier post - whose mesmerizing voice give a totally new accent to classical Sufi style or North Indian folksongs. Her broad repertoire includes also very danceable songs, pleasing but still sophisticated, and never boring!
Check out her brand new (second!) album!
Another artist that blends eastern and westen musical traditions perfectly is Tamil Londoner Susheela Raman. I stumbled upon her a couple of years ago, totally by chance, half-listening to MTV in a portuguese hotel room. I just scribbled down her name on a piece of paper, which I miraculously found again back in Germany.
"Salt Rain" was her first album which I listened over and over again. For sure it draws its magic form the collaboration of musicians across Europe, Asia and Africa, and the songs in different indian languages.


The sublime and intense album "Love Trap" features Indian devotional songs in a very original and dreamy way.
Although I personally prefer her first two CD's, because the lyrics are mostly not in English - for me foreign languages have a strong appeal, and if I do not understand them perfectly, this adds another magic to a song - also her last two should be listened to. "Music for the Crocodiles" and "33 1/2" display her unique blend of repurposed western songs from (amongst others) Velvet Underground, Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Can and Joy Division, with new arrangements.
Altoghether it is her seductive voice that captures the listener in the meanders of modulation and appealing rhythms.




The last singer I want to introduce today is Canada-based, Punjabi folk singer Kiran Ahluwalia.


She performs classical "Ghazals", songs of love from India and Pakistan, with a special twist. Listen to her classical skilled voice and the spell-binding songs of supernatural grace!

If you scroll down to the end pf the page I put have some of the songs I have written about on a small playlist. Enjoy!