Even when you expect the unexpected, the music of Mahamaya Experience is still a beguiling and surprising prospect. This time out, it feels as if traditional south Asian sounds are being gently pushed through a free jazz filter to create something that echoes with authenticity but is formless and free, almost an anagram of its musical peers. It also embraces a western funk vibe to merge and meld with the drifting raga which lies at its heart.
But, as is always the case, music is just the vehicle for more profound ideas. Here, the music carries an important message and embraces the shift in Buddhist teaching which stepped away from the notion of wisdom and self-enlightenment as the ultimate goal, but instead focused on compassion and universal enlightenment. Why, it asks us, should we strive for personal illumination when most will get left behind? Compassion can only lead to enlightenment for all.
Mahamaya Experience makes music which can be approached from any angle you like. Traditionalists will love its progressive nature. World Music fans will enjoy the creative collision of cultures. Those looking for new, eclectic and exploratory music will find something unique and inventive. And if you are after music seated in deep and free-spirited ideology, then you will find the more you play the music, the more it reveals some hidden philosophy to muse and mull over.
