chailight productions

Hathira Sama’s Elements album is about to roll out globally via iTunes and eMusic on 10 July. A limited edition of good olde fashioned physical copies, including a set of Holga photographic prints, will be available directly from us here at chailight.com. Here’s a preview of the packaged set:

qalandari dub gypsies, the empty quarter, have been pouring out their collective heart and soul in the studio over the last few months, in the lead up to this year’s Muslim Music Festival. Joined by Meg Smith on violin, the group continue to explore the realms of the heart through the words of the mystic poets, rumi, hafez and ghalib and their own original lyrics. the group will be launching their debut ep at the final concert of the 2008 Muslim Music Festival, on September 8. joining them on stage will be the colour of unity qawwali ensemble, acoustic pop duo, patterns for paper, and victorian beatbox champion, shazet. full details of the festival, which spans three nights at the Northcote Town Hall, Melbourne, are available from the Muslim Music Festival website. here’s a sample of what to expect from the empty quarter on the night: 

after 2 years in the wilderness, hathira sama have re-convened their exploration of the sonic and the spiritual, recording a meditation on the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether. recorded in hyderabad, the album incorporates sounds from the fringes of one of india’s most rapidly developing cities into hathira sama’s unique blend of voice, bansuri, tabla and electronics. a journey from earth to the heavens, “elements” represents hathira sama’s most focused work to date.

here’s a taste of what to expect: 

global dub mystics, the empty quarter, have joined the chailight roster. formed by vocalist kate grealy, rasheeda cooper on tabla and arabic percussion, mark pedersen on electronics and pete emptage on bass, the empty quarter blends texts from the mystic poets of mughal india, iran and turkey with the dubbed out global grooves of asia. hafiz meets king tubby in downtown delhi on their first release, the sun never says, which featured recently on sbs radio’s alchemy and radio national’s rhythm divine. watch this space for more sample tracks, and dates of upcoming performances. you can also check their myspace: www.myspace.com/theemptyquarter