Jazz Articles about Natraj

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Natraj: Deccan Dance

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 1999

Jazz naturally shares much in common with the music of India and Africa. Ragas emphasize improvisation around a harmonic structure; the music of West Africa relies upon the superimposition of complementary rhythms. Lately there's been a dramatic recognition of that fact in Boston, with groups like Antigravity and Natraj drawing from both Eastern and Western traditions. On its third release, Deccan Dance, Natraj somehow manages to make a raga sound jazzy and yet at the same time tribal. The two ...