Kartick & Gotam - Business Class Refugees (A Review)

First things first, Business Class Refugees is an album compiled by music producer Patrick Sebag (Kartick) and sound designer Yotam Agam (Gotam). The album contains ten tracks. The album has been produced by EarthSync India. [Follow EarthSync on Twitter]

Business Class Refugees is a compilation of world music which Kartick and Gotam have mixed with electonica funk with heavy influences from India. The album features distinguished artists from around Asia and the Middle East such as Mahesh Vinayakram, Erez Lev Ari, Navin Iyer, Yoav Bunzel, Anuradha Viswanathan, Murad A

li and Mishko M’Ba.

The album is nice mix of soothing numbers which highlights the theme of the album that is travelling. The music does comprise of myriad sounds collected from all over the globe and well performed by the artists as mentioned above. [Buy the music here.]

The first track ‘Bonjour’ is a nice soothing mix of clarinet, flute and male and female vocals. The track is a bit fast but it still leaves a calming effect on the listener. Well placed female and male vocals provide a texture to the music.

The track ‘Tamil Bossa’ starts with a brilliant flute solo and is followed by awesome Carnatic vocals. The flute makes the track very soothing. The Carnatic vocals take you to a time very far in the past. The track is nicely paced and invites the listener to close their eyes and lose themselves to the music.

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Business Class Refugees’ next track ‘Boye Boye’ starts with the voice over of a flight stewardess making announcements and sets the tone of the album. The music involves a variety of sounds which range from the harmonium, sitar, to sarod. The amalgamation of music and the vocals transfers the listener to a land somewhere in Middle East Asia and the sitar and tabla brings him back to India. The song is racy and foot tapping.

‘Shiva Shiva’ starts with the tone of sarangi and quawalli like claps in the background. The song overall has a classical feel to it with a trance like effect. The vocals again provide the texture to it and the tabla will make you tap your feet.

The track ‘Rututu’ also starts with an announcement by a flight stewardess and then takes on a pace which you can identify with the running of a train, again very much in theme of the album. The saxophones are the soul of this track and are guaranteed to make you get up from your seat and groove. The song has a feel of retro funk due to the saxophones and cello in the background.

Other tracks in the album are ‘Heer’, ‘Door Open Door’, ‘Vellai Thaamarai’, ‘Supreme Chaos’ and ‘Hear Comes The Funk’. All the tracks are quite soothing to listen to. [Listen to the tracks here]

Kartick & Gotam - Business Class Refugees is a must if you are a world music and fusion music fan. For music lover like me who can listen to all types of music it was a treat listening to the album. The music is fresh unlike other electronika funk albums the music grows as you listen to it again and again. The concept of travelling and composing music makes the whole album a very unique experience. Recommended!

A Special Date.

It was a bright sunny morning exactly the way he had expected it to be. He raised his eyes and scanned the sky. The sky was blue with the lone morning Sun shining. His black jacket fluttered in the November breeze. With a smile he stepped out of his building, swinging his walking stick in his left hand.

“Good morning Cutinho saab!” said the doorman standing up.

“Morning Bahadur, how is your wife now”, he asked putting his hand on the doorman’s shoulder.

“She is fine now saab.”

“Looking sharp in that black suit Mr. Cutinho”, said a voice from behind.

Mr. Cutinho turned around and saw a tall fair young man entering the compound. He wore a white t-shirt, grey slacks and running shoes. His face and hair were moist with sweat and he smiled brightly at him.

“Good morning Ravi! Looks like you are back in shape these days.”

“Yes I am trying to be regular at my jogging routine these days. Where are you off to today?”

“Well, I am going on a date”, said Mr. Cutinho.

“That’s great! May I ask with whom?”

“With my wife of course”, said Mr. Cutinho with a laugh.

Ravi smiled back at him.

“My wife has her own way of celebrating our marriage anniversary, I pretend to be her blind date and we spend the whole day wooing each other. Today is our thirty fifth marriage anniversary. So you see Ravi if I am to meet my blind date I must look sharp.”

“That’s an awesome way to spend such a special day. Hope you two have fun.” said Ravi with a calm expression on his face.

Mr. Cutinho nodded, patted Ravi on his shoulder and walked out of the complex. He walked on the sidewalk swinging his walking stick with the enthusiasm of a young lover about to meet his beloved for the first time. He bought a bunch of red roses from the flower shop and went to the bus stop.

As he waited for the bus he thought about all the good years he had spent with his wife. She had been sad after their only son left them and went to the US. But after Mr. Cutinho retired as the CEO of a leading multinational in the country four years back his savings and incomes from investments were enough to support their needs, so he had enough time to spend with his wife.

Bus number 438 came and Mr. Cutinho boarded it. He took a seat at the end of the bus and bought a ticket for the next stop. As the bus started to gain speed he started to think about her again.

They had begun to enjoy their new found privacy and the free time they got. This was the time when they fell in love with each other again. It was their thirty first marriage anniversary, first after his retirement, when she suggested that they should pretend to be blind dates for each other.

The bus stopped.

Mr. Cutinho picked up the flowers and stepped off the bus. After walking for a few minutes he came to a huge iron gate. Through the gate he saw trees of all kinds. The area was surrounded by a crumbling boundary wall. He heard the sea which lay beyond the boundary walls. He heard a church bell toll in a distance.

Through the small gate on the right of the huge Iron Gate he entered the compound. He heard the birds chirp. His heart was at peace. He walked until he could clearly hear the water lashing on the sea shore. He came to Gulmohar tree, sat down underneath it, and kept the flowers on one side. With trembling fingers he traced the carvings on the granite stone. It said:

Mrs. Cynthia Cutinho

1958 - 2007