About "Pentecost"
fRoots Magazine:"Canadian-based guitarist Silva and his quintet create an unusual sound which feels so right, you wonder why there isn't more of it around..This is music of shifting dynamics, intelligence and plaintive melody.. "The Pentecost Song" is based on a Bulgarian lullaby that Silva's 87-year old grandmother sang to him, translated into Bengali and given a beautiful, reflective arrangement. Like much of the album it's suffused with a mood of loss and longing. I'm currently playing it on a warm autumn Sunday morning and really can't think of much else I'd rather be listening to right now." - Jamie Renton [Click here to read the full review (PDF, 60KB)]
RootsWorld Magazine:"The listener may divine just how the conception of "Pentecost" articulates with the eponymous commemorations enshrined in Jewish and Christian tradition -- 50 days after the exodus or after the resurrection. But this flamenco-Balkan-classical Indian-western chamber jazz mash-up is a lyrical, knowing, wide-ranging nod to the postmodern, postcolonial condition. The blend itself is today less remarkable than how well and expertly acoustic guitarist Sacha Silva, classically trained Indian singer Munya B., Royal Academy of Music alum and composer-cellist Drew Morgan, cellist Elliott Green, flautist Eliza Marshall and percussionist Rohin Khemani realize their fortuitous artistic partnership, forged in London from the four corners of the earth... Impossible to classify, and good that it is so, "Pentecost" resonates at a more profound register than that to which the casual world-music aficionado may be accustomed, not so much global groove as world-historical perspective.." - Michael Stone [Click here to read the full review (PDF, 36KB)]
About "Anatomy of a Coup"
RootsWorld Magazine:"'Anatomy' is audacious precisely in eschewing the customary pretense of dogmatic
idealism and multi-kulti "world-beat" mishmash... Sidestepping the deadly tedium
of all that (albeit not without a committed, non-sectarian humanitarian politics
of its own), this is an impressionistic recording of manifest artistry that gives
the music the last say... This project is one astute answer to the challenge of
bringing one's own cultural sensibilities to the international encounter, in a nuanced
appreciation of the role that crafted musical dialogue can play in this, our impertinently
globalizing world." - Michael Stone [Click here to read the full review (PDF, 36KB)]
SAMAR Magazine:"Sacha Silva is able to achieve a simple yet richly textured musical landscape that
is at times both delicate and intense... [this] the beautifully produced and presented
album celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the midst of unimaginable
tragedy. Sacha Silva is making world music literally travel around the world [and]
joins a very special group of world musicians like Nitin Sawhney, Oliver Rajamani,
Word Violin, and Rupa and the April Fishes, who successfully marry masterful musicianship
with insightful examinations of the human condition." - Robin Sukhadia
[Click here
to read the full review (PDF, 48KB)]
"Global Warming", WCUR 91.7 FM:"The more the Sigur Ros comparison grows, the more it seems like Sacha is an accessible
version of them"... This album is a hidden jewel. As for the overall sound, it's another
one of those melting pots that acclimate so many different cultural roots into a
single sound... The originality and the awe of Silva's composing definitely makes
the album more listenable as art. The blend of sounds on "Anatomy" is rich. Silva
successfully explores with each song, but does not waste any time... What this band
has put together is foreign but rich, traveled but unifying. It's sung in a foreign
tongue and separates itself from many musical standards, yet when listened to it
makes so much sense." - Anthony Worman [Click
here to read
the full review (PDF, 44KB)]
"Anatomy of a Coup" is beautiful stuff"... Fascinating and gorgeous music." - Hayley
James, Music Director, WLUR 91.5 FM
"[The band has] found a way to structure the globalizing tendency within the World
Music genre, saving it from dying out by bringing new life into it..." - Gerald
Van Waes, host "Psyche Van Het Folk", Radio Centraal, Belgium [Click here to read the full review (PDF, 48KB)]
About "Susurro"
CDBaby.com ("Editor's Pick"):"While mixing together North and South Indian classical music with flamenco might
not be the first thing to come to mind when considering world fusion, Sacha Silva
does so with jaw-dropping beauty and sophistication. Perhaps it is the embellished
and ornate nature of both musical cultures, but the dance between styles, scales,
harmonies and cultures in "Susurro" is unforgettable and startling in the most powerful
of ways. Combining the passionate cry of Spanish and cello dialoguing with Indian
Charukeshi raga as well as the poetry of Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, sung
in Hindi over traditional Karnatic and flamenco rhythms, Sacha Silva has a stunning,
captivating voice that leaves a lasting impression." - Tamara Turner
"It is incredible how seemingly obvious Sacha Silva makes this music, that while
listening one hardly wonders how perfectly Spanish music and Indian song are made
into a melted combination... " - Gerald Van Waes, host "Psyche Van Het Folk",
Radio Centraal 106.7 FM, Belgium [Click here to read the full review (PDF, 48KB)]
"Susurro" is a true global fusion. Yes, it is a combination of music from
different musical cultures - flamenco, cello, contemporary, and Indian vocals - but
really it is so much more than that. Rather than a fusion of world traditions, it
is a fusion of personalities, of the passion of three musicians for music. This
is what sets it apart from what the industry labels as "world beat" or "a global
fusion" for the length of seven songs, cultural barriers are broken down, and
music is created as one people, as friends and fellow musicians who simply have
a passion for what they are doing and who explore that together, allowing the music
to express itself, naturally." - Kim Alswager, University of Minnesota School of
Music [Click here
to read the full research paper (PDF, 68KB)]
