''Tabula Rasā'' is a collaborative album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

banjoist

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...

together with

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, known professionally as V. M. Bhatt, is an Indian Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who invented and plays a modified slide guitar that is widely called the Mohan veena. Personal life Bhatt lives in Jaipur, Rajastha ...

(playing traditional Indian slide guitar " Mohan veena") and Jie-Bing Chen, who plays the traditional Chinese two-string fiddle

erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

. The unusual combination of Fleck's banjo together with these traditional instruments creates a unique sound on this album, which was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best World Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for influential music from around the globe at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

at the

39th Grammy Awards The 39th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997, at Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtow ...

Track listing

#"Carukesi" (

) – 6:42 #"Emperor's Mare" (Traditional) – 1:39 #"Radha Krsna Lila" ( Ronu Majumdar) – 6:42 #"John Hardy" (Traditional) – 2:29 #"Tabula Rasā" (

) – 3:06 #"Geocentricity" (Fleck) – 6:07 #"The Way Of Love" (Fleck) – 4:15 #"Earl In Shanghai" (Fleck) – 4:59 #"Water Gardens" (Traditional) – 4:36 #"The Jade Princess" (Fleck) – 2:57 #"The Dancing Girl" (Bhatt) – 10:20

Personnel

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

- Mohan veena * Jie-Bing Chen -

Erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

*Ronu Majumdar -

Bansuri A bansuri is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian Subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal-like material, used in many Indian and Nepali Lok songs. A ''bansuri'' is traditionally made from a ...

*Sangeeta Shankar -

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

*Poovalur Sriji (Srinivasan) -

Mridangam The ''mridangam'' is an ancient percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabula Rasa (Album)) 1996 albums Béla Fleck albums Water Lily Acoustics albums