The Beatroot Road Expands Musical Horizons with Bold, Genre-Blending Sound

Press via Independent Music Promotions Inc.

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The Beatroot Road have persevered on their bold, fearless and wholly unique brand of musical expression, which humbly pays tribute to a literal cornucopia of human experience and artistic traditions. An ambitious multi-genre collective spearheaded by Mark Russell and Hazel Fairbairn, the scope and influence of this alternative and world music fusion project continues to widen due to the wide open minds involved.

Their latest release is another refreshingly atypical and passionate choice, a visionary new interpretation featuring Vancouver Indian film singer Sharan Kaur – “Milte Hi Ankhen”. This being The Beatroot Road’s third single, they are continuing a pattern of tapping into the richness of worldwide music inspiration, then humbly sharing a new expression.

“So our version includes both an interpretation of the original song by Vancouver based Indian film singer Sharan Kaur, with added vocals from Jamaican singer and rapper Sledge. Mark plays Bodhran and tambourine, Hazel plays chop and tune violins, with Dee Dee Hoptone as guest on bass from the UK. The video that goes with this song also features Indian dancer Vandana Prajapati.
This music is not rooted in any one period of time or in any one culture. It comes from the love of travelling and exploring, and on a life long musical conversation with artists from many cultures. The song is right at the heart of this inter-cultural project; I love and respect all of these sounds and can’t think of a good reason not to combine them, but we’ll see; its not unusual to get flak when you don’t conform.

For anyone interested in the sound we are trying to make, modern recording processes allow for the different strikes on the bodhran to be separated out and treated differently from each other, so although this track is made from one live performance on a single drum, different effects and processes are added to different strikes. The idea is to give the impression that there are several different drums playing, where in reality there is just one traditional Celtic goatskin frame drum being thumped with a bunch of hickory barbecue sticks taped together.

The violin is processed several times – firstly by Hazel, and then further effects are added after it has been recorded. She blends an electric bass violin, with viola and fiddles together to give extra weight and body to the sound. Bass, tambourine and vocals are treated slightly more traditionally.
The song and video were produced by The Beatroot Road at Laboratory X studios in North Vancouver.”