Straddling the cultural intersection of Paul Simon’s groundbreaking Graceland project and the expansive vision of One Giant Leap, The Laya Project might rapidly rise in relevance to be included in the same discussion as both.The idea behind The Laya Project was to embark on a journey into deep culture, recording the indigenous music of the people of the Sub-Asian continents, such as Indonesia, Malaysia. India, Thailand, Myanmar, The Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Once the recordings had taken place, executive producer, Sastry Karra and his crew retreated to their studios in India where they sensitively fused beats and grooves together with the exotic rhythms and melodies they had captured. The result is a stunning collaboration that manages to maintain the richness and dignity of the local musical expression while expanding it outward, taking it into new musical and cultural territories.

But if that wasn’t enough, they captured it all on video and produced a breathtaking DVD, which highlights the spirit of the music and the people of region in a respectful and poetic fashion and in light of the tragedy in Myanmar; it’s also an important social and historical document as well.

I cannot recommend this CD/DVD project enough. The film/DVD alone has garnered half-dozen awards at film festivals around the globe. For anyone interested in the beauty and resilience of the human spirit, exceptional music and breathtaking visuals it’s a must have.

You can go to www.layaproject.com to learn more and purchase the beautiful box set of the music and the DVD.

by Robert Phoenix
Robert Phoenix moves freely among a vast array of realities, but tends to focus-in on music and human evolution.