Review of Dr Das v Dhamaal Sound System at Elbo Room, San Francisco (Apr 2007)

[Susan Burroughs]

The singular sound of the recent collaborative project of Dr Das, Sukhawat Ali Khan, Janaka Selekta, and Ramjac is drawn from a rich chronology: Past is represented in sampled sounds and live classical elements, Future is reflected in the expert and judicious on stage use of Information Age technology tools, and Present is displayed in the conversation of the artists with their immediate audience. Dr Das writes bass melodies that make low frequency animate and engaging. The thematic choices made by Janaka Selekta relate political and social undercurrents. This creates a positive feedback loop with the collective audio subtext of the group. Ali Khan and Ramjac add highly skilled expertise in their respective instruments with both precision and improvisation. The crew collectively understands that a positive future will neither resemble nor be an antithesis to tradition. As a soundtrack for the future, their work manifests a holistic vision of progress that respects the past. They achieve this through deconstructing and complimenting classical audio elements through digital mediation to render tradition immediate and relevant to a contemporary audience that is constantly moving forward in time.

Together, they compose pragmatically optimistic foundations for live and recorded future work. However, their creative focus is the improvisation, energy, and inspiration of live performance. This is how you should experience this collaboration. It is extremely rare that a cutting edge live concert has the arc of theatrical narrative and the impact of social awareness. The crew communicates these ideas with a show in three acts. First, Sukhawat playfully engages the audience in with light classical phrases. This is the context though which the second act, the live performance of Dr Das latest release, "Emergency Basslines," is understood. Finally, all artists come to the stage for a dynamic improvisational conversation with each other and the audience. Covering Past, Future, and Present, this package is one of the best values in live entertainment, drawing a diverse audience into a cohesive community that returns again and again for the live experience.

"Emergency Baselines" is a philosophy set in sound, an auditory theory for global progress. The militancy in the texture of the sound is a reflection of the precision digital tools used to express a disciplined multi-national conversation about the future. Dr Das employs novel technologies to craft musical localities that are also temporal spaces, reflective of the phenomenology of Web 2.0 communities where abstract space is the image of socialization and community. The hope is that he can use the Past to make the relationship between our traditions and the (virtual) realities of our Information Age experience equally relevant. Dr Das sends this message flowing through thoughts and bodies on low frequency vibrations loaded with solid DUB noise grooves and phrases. With sounds foreign and familiar, anachronistic and forward thinking, the musical collaboration seeks to construct a hopeful vision for global collaboration. They prove that this can be facilitated through technological innovations in communication across generations and cultures in an entertaining way. The compositions are stories about tradition, tools and ownership that ask the listener to realize and join a cohesive vision of collaborative cultural stewardship.