States of Mind - music by Harpreet Bansal
LWC1413 (LAWO Classics, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (25 April 2025)
℗ 2025 LAWO Classics
© 2025 LAWO Classics
Received: 3 April 2025
This item is available to review
Harpreet Bansal, violin
Vojtěch Procházka, piano
Andreas Bratlie, percussion
Cikada String Quartet
With this album Harpreet Bansal (born 1980) is once again crossing musical and geographic boundaries and, in her characteristic way, breaking the rules and confinements of our world. It is a way of affirming the roots we have, but at the same time expanding the idea of who we are. The plurality in the title, States of Mind, is a reminder telling us that the disordered inner lives we sometimes have, also can be understood as the mirror image of the diverse realities in which we live, with all its haphazardness and harmony, turbulence as well as tranquillity - just like Harpreet Bansal's music.
The foundation of Harpreet Bansal's compositions is decades of schooling and training within the Indian raga tradition, with its scales and frameworks, from which she ventures in various directions. The music is North Indian Classical but draws on various folk music styles, contemporary classical music, Bollywood and much else besides and between. The result is an album characterised by its mix of sounds, unpredictable structures and seamless transitions within and between each track. Together, these three songs provide a very special soundscape where some listeners will experience the discovery of new territory, while others will feel something close to a homecoming.
Born in Oslo to Indian parents, Harpreet Bansal embarked on her musical journey from the age of two with her father – himself a Guru of Indian classical music – as her teacher. Her music has been praised for its 'radical approach' to Indian raga music, fusing the traditional court music of the Mughals with jazz, classical contemporary music and folk traditions.