Butterfly Sitar Jam – Mahamaya Experience (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

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Dave Franklin, January 21, 2023 

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...In short, across these thirteen exciting and entertaining minutes, you will hear the echos of all music from traditional and classical sounds to pop to rock to folk…it is all in there somewhere.

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We are eased in by music which is very evocative of the land that Mahamaya hails from, the perfect place to start this fascinating odyssey. But, having given us a firm footing, the music quickly fades to be replaced by something more frantic and folky, a hybrid of western roots and eastern experimentation. This, in turn, is subsumed by sweet and sensual vocals, gently forming ambient music into ethereal pop music, although the term pop music doesn’t do justice to the deftness and delicacy of the piece.

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And so it goes on. Adventurous and dexterous jams bleed into heavy rock salvos, replaced by western-sounding ballads and ornate sitar tunes soaked in otherworldly vocals. There is room for spacious playing and intricate noise walls; the dynamics shift from the lulling and the low to the crashing and crescendo seeking, from music for quiet contemplation to energetic and euphoric dance numbers.

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It isn’t too much of a hyperbole to say that Mahamay Experience is a place where worlds meet. Not just the geographical ones mentioned earlier but those of genre and generation. Musical styles, sounds and even eras come and go, and behind the music are philosophies and ideas to be found and thought about. Even at its most vibrant, the music is thoughtful and meditative; it invites you to consider the place of greed and ego in the world and confront them.