A Meeting by the River
Encyclopedia
A Meeting by the River is an album by Ry Cooder
and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
, released in April 1993 through the record label
Water Lily Acoustics
. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar
and Bhatt on the Mohan veena
, a stringed instrument created by Bhatt. A Meeting by the River was produced
by Kavichandran Alexander and Jayant Shah, engineered
by Alexander and mastered
by Kevin Michael Gray and Paul Stubblebine. The album peaked at number four on Billboard
Top World Music Albums chart and earned Cooder and Bhatt Grammy Award
s for Best World Music Album
at the 36th Grammy Awards (1994). The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.
and Bhatt on the Mohan veena
, a stringed instrument created by Bhatt. Allmusic's Daniel Gioffre described the instrument as a "hybrid" between a guitar and a vichitra veena
, performed with a metal slide moving across steel rods along the neck. Cooder had heard a recording of Hindustani classical music
performed by Bhatt and was impressed by his playing and the "haunting clarity" of the Mohan veena. Cooder and Bhatt met for the first time less than one hour before recording began and improvised much of the set (the album's liner notes state that "this recording was unplanned and unrehearsed"). The album was produced
by Kavichandran Alexander (founder of Water Lily Acoustics
) and Jayant Shah, engineered
by Alexander and mastered
by Kevin Michael Gray and Paul Stubblebine. Cooder and Bhatt are accompanied by Cooder's fourteen-year-old son Joachim on dumbek
, a Middle Eastern drum, and Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari on tabla
.
The collaboration between Cooder and Bhatt marked Alexander's first attempt to record musicians of different cultures together, one of his goals when he founded the record label. Author George Plasketes described Bhatt's playing as "highly nuanced" while Cooder performs in a more "loose-jointed, slip 'n' slide style". According to Gioffre, Cooder and Bhatt use improvisation and "voice-like" phrasing, showing melodic performances in an alternating fashion and in unison. The album contains four tracks, three of which were credited to Cooder and Bhatt, ranging in length from approximately seven and a half to twelve minutes. "Longing" has a structure similar to a raga
. Author Tom Moon noted that Cooder takes the lead on the hymn "Isa Lei" as Bhatt contributes "elaborate squiggling asides" and "swooping nosedives". In 2011, Bhatt performed "A Meeting by the River" at a music festival in honor of guru
Kelucharan Mohapatra
. Bhatt said of the song: "Music has no religion and no geographical or linguistic barrier. It speaks a universal language. My composition – 'A Meeting by the River' – aims at explaining this." Bhatt has stated that he considers working with Cooder his "most special" collaboration.
awarded the album four out of four stars, describing Cooder's performance as "arresting" and Bhatt's "haunting". Margasak wrote that the fusion revealed a "rare, often transcendental beauty" as the two artists "gently and intuitively" found common ground. Rolling Stone
called the album "fruitful" and awarded it three out of five stars.
Top World Music Albums chart. In 1994, the album earned Cooder and Bhatt Grammy Award
s for Best World Music Album
. Bhatt became one of a few Indian musicians to have received a Grammy Award; until A. R. Rahman
won at the 52nd Grammy Awards
in 2010, previous Indian award winners had been recognized jointly with Western artists. The February 25, 1995 issue of Billboard, which featured the annual "Indies Spotlight" and covered independent music between the January 29, 1994 and January 21, 1995 issues of the magazine, included A Meeting by the River at number ten on its list of the "Top Indie World Music Albums". The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List.
and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
unless noted otherwise.
Track listing adapted from Allmusic.
Credits adapted from Allmusic.
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena...
, released in April 1993 through the record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Water Lily Acoustics
Water Lily Acoustics
Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...
. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
and Bhatt on the Mohan veena
Mohan veena
The Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt...
, a stringed instrument created by Bhatt. A Meeting by the River was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Kavichandran Alexander and Jayant Shah, engineered
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
by Alexander and mastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
by Kevin Michael Gray and Paul Stubblebine. The album peaked at number four on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top World Music Albums chart and earned Cooder and Bhatt Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for Best World Music Album
Grammy Award for Best World Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best World Music Album was an honor presented for twelve years to recording artists for quality albums in the world music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
at the 36th Grammy Awards (1994). The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.
Composition
A Meeting by the River was recorded in September 1992 and features Cooder solely on slide guitarSlide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
and Bhatt on the Mohan veena
Mohan veena
The Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt...
, a stringed instrument created by Bhatt. Allmusic's Daniel Gioffre described the instrument as a "hybrid" between a guitar and a vichitra veena
Vichitra veena
The vichitra veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnatic gottuvadhyam . It has no frets and is played with a slide.-The structure:...
, performed with a metal slide moving across steel rods along the neck. Cooder had heard a recording of Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
performed by Bhatt and was impressed by his playing and the "haunting clarity" of the Mohan veena. Cooder and Bhatt met for the first time less than one hour before recording began and improvised much of the set (the album's liner notes state that "this recording was unplanned and unrehearsed"). The album was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Kavichandran Alexander (founder of Water Lily Acoustics
Water Lily Acoustics
Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...
) and Jayant Shah, engineered
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
by Alexander and mastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
by Kevin Michael Gray and Paul Stubblebine. Cooder and Bhatt are accompanied by Cooder's fourteen-year-old son Joachim on dumbek
Goblet drum
The goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
, a Middle Eastern drum, and Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari on tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
.
The collaboration between Cooder and Bhatt marked Alexander's first attempt to record musicians of different cultures together, one of his goals when he founded the record label. Author George Plasketes described Bhatt's playing as "highly nuanced" while Cooder performs in a more "loose-jointed, slip 'n' slide style". According to Gioffre, Cooder and Bhatt use improvisation and "voice-like" phrasing, showing melodic performances in an alternating fashion and in unison. The album contains four tracks, three of which were credited to Cooder and Bhatt, ranging in length from approximately seven and a half to twelve minutes. "Longing" has a structure similar to a raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
. Author Tom Moon noted that Cooder takes the lead on the hymn "Isa Lei" as Bhatt contributes "elaborate squiggling asides" and "swooping nosedives". In 2011, Bhatt performed "A Meeting by the River" at a music festival in honor of guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
Kelucharan Mohapatra
Kelucharan Mohapatra
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was an Indian classical dancer, guru and proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the classical dance form in the 20th century....
. Bhatt said of the song: "Music has no religion and no geographical or linguistic barrier. It speaks a universal language. My composition – 'A Meeting by the River' – aims at explaining this." Bhatt has stated that he considers working with Cooder his "most special" collaboration.
Reception
Gioffre wrote a positive review for the album and called Cooder and Bhatt "genuine masters" of their respective instruments. He described the musical interplay between the musicians as "nothing short of astounding" and the album as a rare instance in which a combination of genres works. Furthermore, Gioffre wrote: "this album is masterfully recorded; each instrument is clear, distinct, and three-dimensional sounding. A Meeting by the River is a must-own, a thing of pure, unadulterated beauty, and the strongest record in Cooder's extensive catalog." Peter Margasak of the Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
awarded the album four out of four stars, describing Cooder's performance as "arresting" and Bhatt's "haunting". Margasak wrote that the fusion revealed a "rare, often transcendental beauty" as the two artists "gently and intuitively" found common ground. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
called the album "fruitful" and awarded it three out of five stars.
Chart performance and recognition
A Meeting by the River reached a peak position of number four on BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top World Music Albums chart. In 1994, the album earned Cooder and Bhatt Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for Best World Music Album
Grammy Award for Best World Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best World Music Album was an honor presented for twelve years to recording artists for quality albums in the world music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
. Bhatt became one of a few Indian musicians to have received a Grammy Award; until A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...
won at the 52nd Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
in 2010, previous Indian award winners had been recognized jointly with Western artists. The February 25, 1995 issue of Billboard, which featured the annual "Indies Spotlight" and covered independent music between the January 29, 1994 and January 21, 1995 issues of the magazine, included A Meeting by the River at number ten on its list of the "Top Indie World Music Albums". The album is included in Tom Moon's 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List.
| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Top World Music Albums |
4 |
Track listing
All tracks by Ry CooderRy Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena...
unless noted otherwise.
- "A Meeting by the River" – 10:03
- "Longing" – 11:56
- "Ganges Delta Blues" – 9:57
- "Isa Lei" (Caten) – 7:39
Track listing adapted from Allmusic.
Personnel
- Kavichandran Alexander – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, liner notesLiner notesLiner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Vishwa Mohan BhattVishwa Mohan BhattVishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena...
– Mohan veenaMohan veenaThe Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt...
, performer, slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles... - Joachim Cooder – dumbekGoblet drumThe goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
- Ry CooderRy CooderRyland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
– bottleneck guitar, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, performer - Tim de Paravicini – technical consultant
- Kevin Michael Gray – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari – tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
- Rumi – liner notes, quotes
- Mike Sexton – cover photo, photography
- Jayant Shah – producer
- Leslie Shirack – art directionArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
- Gus Skinas – authoring
- Paul Stubblebine – digital mastering
- Susan Titelman – photography
Credits adapted from Allmusic.
External links
- Jazz.com review by Ted Gioia
- "How high do you want your fi?", a 2009 StereophileStereophileStereophile is a monthly magazine that focuses on high end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news, such as online audio streaming. It was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt....
article featuring A Meeting by the River