Joys Abound

• Shrink-wrapped
• music
• Joys Abound
• Bhattacharya, anandi

In the words of Anandi Bhattacharya, her debut international album release 'Joys Abound' "is about knowing happiness without restraints". From the opening joyous invocation to Lord Ganesh to the celebration of colours of the various cultures of the world, the album carries a celebratory and positive message throughout, as Anandi's remarkable voice explores her traditional roots within a modern setting. Being the daughter of the great Hindustani slide guitarist Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, Anandi has been surrounded by music since birth and recalls how having 'breathed in music from every room in the house was a blessing'. At 22 she is now headlining her own shows, accompanied by her father and uncle, and fellow contemporary vocalist, clarinettist and composer Carola Ortiz from Spain, all of whom feature on the album. Along with folk songs of Rajasthan and Bengal and a beautiful piece by Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, the album includes original compositions by her father Debashish Bhattacharya and Carola Ortiz and features dextrous and sympathetic accompaniment by Anandi's uncle Subhasis, one of the world's foremost tabla players. Along with the towering influence of her father and other legendary Indian musicians such as Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar and Lata Mangeshkar, Anandi sites influences as diverse as Thom Yorke, Ella Fitzgerald and Joni Mitchell. This outward looking approach coupled with the years of dedication and nurturing of her voice, when she also trained under the renowned Indian female singer Vidushi Shubhra Guha, allows Anandi to explore new musical directions with grounded musical excellence. Press: "What we have here is a debut packed with potential but absolutely beautiful in its own right." ***** --Evening Standard