Sarathy Korwar 'KALAK' LP

• Crystal Clear vinyl
  
• Alternative sleeve design
  
• ‘KALAK’ rhythm wheel
  
• 8-page booklet
• Hand numbered edition
  
• Limited pressing of 400
  

Also available on limited dark green vinyl in alternate sleeve or standard black vinyl.

RIYL: Ishmael Ensemble / Shabakar And The Ancestors / Moses Boyd / Sons Of Kemet / Melt Yourself Down

Sarathy Korwar returns with new album KALAK. The follow up to the politically charged, award-winning More Arriving is an Indo-futurist manifesto - in rhythmic step with the past and the present, it sets out to describe a route forward. It celebrates a rich South Asian culture of music and literature, which resonates with spirituality and community, while envisaging a better future from those building blocks. 

Recorded at Real World studios with meticulous production by New York electronic musician, DJ and producer Photay, who translates these communal rhythms and practices into a timeless and groundbreaking electronic record. There’s a spirituality and warmth at play in the polyrhythms, group vocals and melodic flourishes.

The KALAK rhythm is the fulcrum upon which the 11-track project balances. After an intense lockdown induced period of reflection and meticulous note-making, Korwar boiled this down to the circular KALAK symbol which he then presented to his band before recording began. With the symbol projected on the walls in order to de-code and improvise around, Korwar had utter faith in the musicians he’d assembled and conviction in the concept.

The final part of the KALAK project is realised in the cover artwork by New Delhi-based designer Sijya Gupta. Korwar and photographer friend Fabrice Bourgelle took a light sculpture of the KALAK symbol on a road trip around Southern India, through Chennai, Pondicherry and Auroville. The evocative shots appear on the cover of the various formats, with each one offering a different angle on the country, continent and culture that inspired the album.

• KALAK is the follow up to Sarathy Korwar’s hard hitting More Arriving album from 2019 
• The album will be released on CD, black vinyl and limited edition INDIES ONLY dark green vinyl (1,000 copies for the world)
• Each format features a different cover image with photography by Fabrice Bourgelle
• All formats include an 8-page booklet, created by Sijya Gupta, with Korwar’s notes on the concepts behind the project
• Recorded at Real World Studios, with The Comet Is Coming’s Danalogue on synths, Tamar Osborn on baritone sax, Al MacSween on keys and percussionist Magnus Mehta
• The album also features vocals by Kushal Gaya of Melt Yourself Down and Mumbai-based producer and electronic artist Noni-Mouse, as well as a track recorded with Japanese drum ensemble Kodo
• Producer Photay remixed a track on Korwar’s debut album, Day To Day, and has also worked with Yazmin Lacey, Madison McFerrin, Steve Spacek and Jordan Rakei
• First single ‘Utopia Is A Colonial Project’ is accompanied by a nocturnal, neon-lit dance video by Elliott Gonzo (Perfidious Productions), starring award winning choregrapher/dancer Botis Seva
• More Arriving - a candid reflection of Korwar’s experience of being an Indian in a divided Britain - won Best Independent Album at the 2020 AIM Awards, beating out the likes of Nick Cave and Kim Gordon
• It was also awarded MOJO’s Jazz Album of the Year and was shortlisted for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards, the Jazz FM Awards and the Songlines Awards
• Korwar has established himself as one of the most original and compelling voices in the UK jazz scene, collaborating with the likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Arun Ghosh, Hieroglyphic Being, Auntie Flo and Bex Burch (as Flock)

• He has toured with Kamasi Washington, Yussef Kamaal and Moses Boyd and was invited to perform at the prestigious New York Winter Jazz Festival in 2020

On Sarathy Korwar:

“Rare talent… his rhythmically intense, entrancing vision adds a whole new spin to the Indo-jazz continuum” - Mojo

“A remarkable meeting of jazz, hip-hop, Indian classical music and radical politics” - the Quietus

“Korwar takes in the political and radical history of jazz as a voice of the disenfranchised, and applies it to the Indian diaspora experience in contemporary Britain” - The Vinyl Factory

Condition: New

Label: The Leaf Label