Asha Bhonsle and the Kronos Quartet

NPR's Weekend Edition had an interesting interview with Asha Bhonsle and the Kronos Quartet on Sunday. Asha Bhonsle has to be a really interesting singer to work with. For a 50 year career, she was dominated by her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, who always sang for the stars, leaving Asha to often sing for the vamps. But as it turns out, that makes Asha's singing much more varied. This collaboration with the Kronos quartet, singing R.D. Burman songs, sounds fascinating. R.D., of course, is also one of those composers who always was compared to his incredibly talented father, S.D. Burman. Count me as an S.D. fan.

But Asha's songs with R.D. (also her husband) are fun to hear, and for me, very nostalgic. They did their best work together in the 1970s, which in general, was not a great time for Indian film music. But as popular as Bollywood is now getting worldwide, there's a lot of history there.

Swami