Nothing is All

Paul Prem Nadama reviews Madhuro’s recently released album – some new, some old-time beloved songs: “Congratulations to all involved. Great stuff!”

Madhuros’s new album opens with a mystical keyboard chord that immediately invites us into that empty space within. As his poignant voice and guitar joins to a gentle backbeat, it’s easy to come back to that place where, as he sings, ‘Silence has his sound, Silence has his music, Invisible to your eyes, Nothing, nothing is all’. And from here it’s easy to surrender to these melodies. Ethereal yet present, mystical yet with melodies that touch and open hearts, this is a CD with much to offer.

I felt the arrangements, some by Bhakta, are a wonderful juxtaposition of East meets West, where western style chorus-style guitar chords are weaved with Eastern Bansuri Flute (played beautifully by Praful) and Santur (a kind of Sitar sound also played superbly by Ramdhan).

With the throbbing percussion on some tracks, I found myself drifting back to my days at dancing workshops (in particular Biodanza and Five Rhythms), and teachers / facilitators of these classes should check this album out, especially for fluidity trance dances.

Madhuro himself has written three tracks, ‘Nothing is All’, ‘Sacred Space’ and ‘I keep on Loving You’ (co-written with Arjun), a touching tribute to Osho, composed just after he left his body. A special mention for Madhuro’s vocals throughout, which carries all the melodies so beautifully, with his subtle heartfelt tremolo, I was reminded of Bowie, no small comparison!

There are also three covers of songs from Peter Makena, all nicely arranged and played as clearly these artists know each other well from Poona. The soulful descending chords of ‘This Very Place’ had me picking along immediately, and the well-known, ‘Into Your Hands’ layers good guitar work with the Santur.

There are times when I’m taken back to a west coast California singer-songwriter style of the 70’s (always a good thing for me!), but with the added bonus of the eastern ethnic instruments weaving between. There’s also a treat when Praful joins with soprano Sax on ‘Sacred Space’, mmm…

‘Garden of Delight’ (written by Manu Bazzano), is a beautiful reminder of our connection with nature, with a nice acoustic guitar solo drifting in and out. Manu’s ‘Song of Joy’ and Miten’s ‘See the White Swan’ both add to the depth and beauty of this collection, all of which the listener can tell have been played ‘live’ by Madhuro on many occasions. So no wonder he chose to put down these excellent recordings of them all. Congratulations to all involved. Great stuff!

Review by Paul Prem Nadama

Available as physical CD from Oshoba and Osho Miasto bookshops or by contacting Madhuro at madhuro (at) hotmail.com

Available as mp3 downloads from amazon.co.uk

Born in Milan, Italy, Deva Madhuro found out already at age 14 that music was his medium. In 1971 he formed his first band ‘Light’ and in 1978, attracted to meditation, he took sannyas in Pune. Moving into the inner world, he found incredible inspiration and started to compose songs which quickly became very popular. He has produced several CDs, among them ‘Come l’Acqua’, ‘I keep on loving you’, ‘Sweet Emptiness’ and “In Love And Silence”. He floats between Miasto commune in his beloved Italy and his beloved partner Leela in Australia.

Related
Bhagawati’s review of ‘In Love and Silence’