Retailing Insight

Cellist Hans Christian opens up a massive musical toolbox on Nandi Devi, an album of deep Indian-influenced and Indian-fusion meditative pieces (the title is the name of a sacred mountain in India). Besides cello, Christian plays thirteen other instruments, some Indian but also the Swedish nyckelharpa, as well as keyboards, guitars and bass. When rhythms are present (not often), they are fairly subdued so the album would be good for meditation or massage. With the presence of his wonderful cello playing and other “western” instruments in the mix, the music offers more variety than traditional Indian alap recordings (“Eternal Spring” is a good example of what I mean).