INDIAN & WORLD FUSION :

presents

Mathew Joseph

CD (2005), CD (2006)

PrivateMathew Joseph : Firefly (IND/BERM,2005)**°°

South-East Indian born Matthew Joseph combined from the start his interest in guitar during his studies inmedicine. Throughout his travels in the Himalayas he learned and explored Indian music and Tibetan medicine. In Indian music he was interested in adapting it into a western form. After this period he moved to the Bermuda Islands where he now works as a practicing physician, with his wife, a gynecologist. At the Bermuda School of Music he also learns classical guitar and flamenco.

The music of Matthew Joseph at its best is of a song orientation with fast classical guitar fingerpicking that has some influence from Indian melody (especially on “Kaliyug” this is remarkable, but you can hear it also on “Sruthi Laya Thalam”), accompanied by voice, tabla/dumbek, bass, percussion, violin mostly. “Amanita” is a song accompanied by Spanish guitar, and hand percussion. Two tracks are a bit out of tone & for me are disappointing, not really fitting with the original sound elsewhere –I can not imagine this was inspired from the same inner need to express something- “Rhododendron Queen”, a light weight jazzy blues song, and “Lay Down”, a reggae song with some gospel mode and with Indian tabla, guitar. But even here there's more behind this than easily noticable at rough hearings. Matthew said about it "though the track has a reggae feel, the all-acoustic setting and the use of the Indian drumming, with the down beat emphasized by the mrdang and locked in by the kanjeera and hand cymbals, is very similar to the drumming that accompanies bhajans.Quite different from mainstream Caribbean reggae yet within its social tradition of protest {anti-war}." And also "Rhododendron Queen" refers with mood and all to a girl he met when travelling trough the Himmalayas. The title track, “Firefly” is a short idea, more classically arranged, chamber orchestra with fine acoustic guitar, light and pleasant. “Sunrise” also has Indian/gospel-like flavoured vocal arrangements, almost celebrating, with guitars, and nice flute arrangements. I can recognize Indian Music, jazz, song orientated poprock, in a fine mix. “The Grandmaster” seems to have some religious inspiration too, still showing the mix of interests. I already mentioned the highlighting closer, “Kaliyug”, which might be the most “progressive” and inventive track (piano, bass, a kind of melodica-like instrument on the back, handpercussion, splendid guitar, a driving energy, dynamic flute, and Indian voice,..).

Except for two tracks which makes the release less interesting, Matthew Joseph surely shows a talent for fusing classical guitar with flamenco flavour and interest from his Indian origin roots, and some jazz (fusion) ability.

Info : http://www.mathewjoseph.com/ & http://www.myspace.com/mathewjoseph & http://www.sonicbids.com/...& http://www.cdbaby.com/... at i-tunes here    ; new album further down->

Private releaseMathew Joseph : Eclectia (IND/BERM,2006)***°

South Indian born Mathew Joseph, so it is said in the introduction, in his youth was heavily influenced by his father’s eclectic music collection. In the meanwhile Mathew developed his guitar technique, travelled to the US for his first album, and settled down on the Bermuda Islands.

This album even more than his predecessor truly is an eclectic mix, where it is starting to become more difficult to make out where all the inspirations originate from, because the mix very often pretty much becomes Mathew Joseph’s own unique style.

Like on the previous release, there’s one lighter track, which now is the opening track, a song with a Jamaican reggae style association, but about a different Island, sunny and happy. Mostly such tracks appeal to a wider public. But because the happy feeling is real, and attractive, it is easy to imagine where it refers to, and it remains an acceptable, even rather convincing opener, as it immediately takes you into the right environment.

But it is only especially after this where Andrew’s well developed guitar playing is shown, like on the next track, “the tribute to Andrew York”. Also shown better is his vision on spontaneously developed fusions (like on “Yogiya”, played by electric guitar with acoustic guitar, Indian percussion and marimba), mixed with singer-songwriting (like on “between my eyes”, a song which has a small Indian flavour in the vocal fantasy lines and with the percussion).

Except for the origins of ideas from flamenco and India (“Moham” reveals a developed vision on his guitar playing, inspired from this mix of flamenco and Indian music most probably), I can also hear very well a mood and sphere referring to some kind of island, although I can not exactly say how. “Aayiram” for instance has such Indian, flamenco references as well as these exotic Island-flavours (keyboards), resulting in a special eclectic mix. Also the song “If I could be” has the same kind of influences, in the guitar arrangements mostly. It is mixed perfectly with electric guitar, flute, tabla. The kind of “flute keyboards” on “the tempest” I think refers to the island very much, and very moodily. The concluding track’s rhythms might add this kind of flavour.

A nice album, expressing a local mood as the best and most benefiting nutrition to personal inspirations.

Audio : "Tribute to Andrew York" ,"Kaliyug" , "Yogiya", "between my eyes", "if I could be","The tempest",

"dance of the sprites", "beautiful island" & on http://musicishere.com/artists/Mathew_Joseph/Eclectia

& http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/1135785

Info : http://www.mathewjoseph.com/

& with audio : http://www.myspace.com/mathewjoseph & http://cdbaby.com/cd/mathewjoseph2

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