From Bhangra electronica to juju soul, Afro-Asian funk to raga-pop, The Beat of Love (Blue Thumb Records) declares the global musical vision of Trilok Gurtu. A renowned master musician and composer, Gurtu has been at the forefront of innovative musical collaborations for the past twenty years. For his latest recording project, Indian-born Gurtu pairs with West-African producer Wally Badarou. Gurtu and Badarou drew deep inspiration from Gurtu's previous Blue Thumb release, African Fantasy, as they traveled to the capitals of African and India, gathering rhythms, street songs, and musical friends, preparing to record the project. They assembled the stories and sounds they found with the help of GRAMMY®-winning engineer Matt Howe (Lauryn Hill) and Squeeze's Chris Difford (who wrote the lyrics for "Ola Bombay" in addition to supervising part of the recording at his Helioscentric studio in East Sussex, England). The result is a forward-thinking mix of trans-national world music styles impossible to create or capture at any other time or in any other hands.

"We make bridges, not barriers," says Gurtu of The Beat of Love's sociopolitical subtext, "This is what the world requires." Setting out to express the common threads between traditional African and Indian music within the tapestry of contemporary world-pop, Gurtu let his instinct and experience guide the production. "Technique is OK to prove your art, but it's not everything. Only feelings will reach the people." A four-time winner of the Down Beat Critic's poll in the Best Percussionist category, Gurtu's technique is indisputable and his resumé speaks for itself: he has performed and recorded with a host of the world's greatest musicians. Don Cherry, Jan Garbarek, Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny, Bill Evans, Angelique Kidjo, and Oumou Sangare have guested on his recordings; and Trilok has in turn appeared on albums by John McLaughlin, Pharoah Sanders, Nitin Sawhney, Lalo Schifrin, Gilberto Gil, and Bill Laswell. Gurtu's music often finds its way onto the turntables of UK producer/DJs like Talvin Singh and Asian Dub Foundation.

The son of one of India's most beloved classical singers, Shobha Gurtu, Trilok first picked up the tabla at the age of six. He went on to invent a peerless style, blending contemporary rock and jazz forms with classical Indian techniques, and developing an unorthodox East-West drum kit, with Western drums arranged on the ground, Indian-style, alongside his tablas and percussion instruments.

On last year's African Fantasy album, his Blue Thumb debut, Gurtu developed an innovative marriage of African and Indian musical traditions. Lauded in The New York Times as "world music as one-world music, promising mutual understanding along with a delight in exotic differences," the album brought Gurtu's skills as a composer to the fore. The album topped CMJ's World Music Chart for an impressive five weeks. On The Beat of Love, Gurtu widens and deepens the interplay between African and Indian musical forms, achieving an even richer integration of the two by featuring more Indian vocalists and combining vocals from Indian and African artists. "We have the sense of both continents all the way through," explains Badarou. "Some tracks have the Indian taking the lead and the African backing, some songs in reverse. I hope we achieved a synthesis of both."

The Beat of Love showcases over a dozen guest players and singers from across Africa and India. Individual voices stand out from the rich mix of sounds, underscoring the specific intent of each track. "Maya" a trance groove melding Bollywood with Burning Man, features famed Indian cinema singer Roop Kumar. Over a throbbing rhythmic melange, the Hindu concept of material illusion is set in ecstatic chant. The voice of Kumar reappears across the album along with that of now full-time Gurtu band vocalist Sabine Kabongo, who was a cornerstone member of the African group Zap Mama for seven years. The Beat of Love welcomes two West African guests who share Gurtu's inclusive vision of a vibrant world music transcending cultural gaps. Benin-born Angelique Kidjo lends her voice to the sunny pop-rock of "A Friend," arranged in Badarou's trademark style. Mali's Salif Keita sings a deeply soulful lament about the suffering and the lack of hope for a united Africa, entitled "Have We Lost Our Dream?".

On "Dance With My Lover," Gurtu combines traditional Gujarati musical forms with the Juju style of Africa, recorded with all Indian vocalists and players in a startlingly authentic evocation of the Juju music with an Indian twist. Popular Indian bandleader/vocalist Nandini Sirkar introduces a paean to Gurtu's hometown on "Ola Bombay." Her ethereal tones transform into sweet soul bridged by the gritty Juju taken up by Kabongo and Senegalese composer/actor Wasis Diop. In "Passing By," Diop ruminates with shamanistic sonority over Gurtu's tablas, retelling a dream of meeting himself in the street which wakes him up with a shock. South African singer Jabu Khanyile, leader of a popular Bayete group, intones a poem for world peace in "Ingoma". An Afro-Asian funk vibe anchors the album, throbbing through "Jhulelal," "Tuhe," "Ola Bombay," and the title track, as Gurtu draws upon diverse Indian and African traditions. The collection closes with the sole instrumental, "Peace of the Five Elements" an ambient raga with sitar accompaniment, which showcases Trilok's percussion virtuosity.

The reoccurring theme of this new album is one of love-devotional, personal, restless, and exuberant. "Love is just a word," insists Gurtu, quick to diffuse pop mysticism. "Music is spiritual, closer to God than anything. Music shows people how to move. Play! Dance! The groove has the power. Without that we are dead."Gurtu defers much of the credit for The Beat of Love to Wally Badarou, whose wide-ranging production resumé includes Level 42, Fela Kuti, James Brown, Miriam Makeba, Salif Keita, Mick Jagger, and Youssou N'Dour: "Wally is a great partner. We are both talking the same language. He let me be what I am." The admiration is mutual; of working with Gurtu, Badarou commented: "I didn't have to do much other than just be there with him. I wish I had more work like that! Musically speaking, he's such a giant."

Badarou was Gurtu's guide across Africa, and Trilok, in turn, took Wally on his first trip to India. Admitting to a mass-media view of the subcontinent, Badarou quickly overcame his apprehensions about the trip. In the end, he said, "It didn't feel that different from very populated places in Africa." The economy, the food, the heat, and especially, the music reminded him of home. "I was more surprised by what we had in common than what we didn't," recalls Badarou. "The instinctiveness of things; it is something that arrives from the heart."

The Beat of Love was conceived as a bridge between Africa and India. From the beaches of Bombay to the townships of Johannesburg, from the nightclubs of London to the beaches of Dakar, The Beat of Love holds sway. With this new recording, Trilok Gurtu bares his heart to the world, and it seems the whole world is open to him.