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BHAJAN BOY

Bhajan Boy

Bhoy On The Wire

    Ajay Saggar is BHAJAN BHOY. "With BHAJAN BHOY, Saggar synthesizes all of the stylistic approaches he’s explored over the years, swirling them into an intoxicating musical blend, with an earthy spirituality. Even the project’s name reflects the dual aspects of Saggar’s upbringing coming together in harmony. In Hindi, a “bhajan” is a devotional song, sung in the mandir, or temple, while “bhoy” is a Scottish and Irish derivation for a young man. There’s a searching quality to Bhajan Bhoy, as if Saggar is still hunting for transcendence with each track, whether through an expansive drone, an orchestral facility on the piano, or an electronics-augmented raga that threatens to dip into noise” (Erick Bradshaw / writer and WFMU DJ). This album presents a rich and varied set of compositions that showcase Saggar’s skills as an incredibly talented and accomplished composer and musician. With each and every Bhajan Bhoy LP, you are are carried to a higher place.

    With ‘Bhoy On The Wire’, the 35 minutes laid out unfolds like a cosmic tapestry, an extraordinary exploration that shimmers and reverberates with newfound vibrancy. The songs were broadcast as part of a session on Steve Barker’s “On The Wire” radio show in April 2024. They were a gift to Steve and his team for 40 years of broadcasting. “On The Wire” is simply the greatest radio show in the world.

    As Ajay explains in his own words : “In September 1984, I started a degree course at the University of Lancaster. On a wet and soggy Sunday afternoon towards the end of September, I sat in my room staring out at the grey Lancashire landscape, and decided to alleviate the boredom by seeing if there was anything to listen to on the radio. Most of the stations I tuned into were as dull as the weather outside. However, as I neared the end of the FM dial (and was about to give up hope), I chanced upon a station where I was taken by the music being played. That show was “On The Wire”, introduced by Steve Barker. From there on in, every Sunday, between 2-5pm, I tuned into Radio Lancashire to listen. Steve’s shows had an incredible and wide reaching selection of music and genres, that thrilled your ears and left you wanting more. Tied to that, his deep knowledge of the material he played helped the listener dig into the sounds even more, and also left you in admiration of this trait. In 1985, I started putting on DIY shows in Lancaster (inviting the likes of Bog-Shed, bIG fLAME, The Membranes, The Wedding Present, etc etc) and Steve was kind enough to mention the shows on-air, which helped in getting people from different parts of the county to come to the shows. At the tail-end of 1985, he invited me to the studio to come and hang out. When in 1988, the group I was in, Dandelion Adventure, released our first (demo) cassette, it was Steve, who not only played tracks off it, but invited the group to the studio for an interview. Now if you’re a young band, that is a massive thrill! And in 1990, when Dandelion Adventure did a John Peel session, I actually used “On The Wire” jingles (that Steve had put on a cassette and given to me a few years before) on the track “All the World’s A Lounge”. Since then, the show has been a mainstay for me, and so many others around the world, to get turned onto incredible sounds from around the world. And over the course of 40 years, Steve has always supported my music.

    These six tracks are a 40th birthday gift to the “On The Wire” team (Steve, Michael “Fenny” Fenton (an absolutely critical part of the show), and Jim Ingham (engineer who keeps the technical side of things going)) for sharing so much amazing music, and making the world a better place. They were originally broadcast as an exclusive session in April 2024 on “On The Wire", and are here for your listening pleasure. Music like shower”. Artwork by Jake Blanchard

    TRACK LISTING

    SIDE A
    1) The Milkman (Blackburn)
    2) Campus Blues (Lancaster)
    3) Castle Bandstand (Clitheroe)
    SIDE B
    1) What Lurks Behind Those Illuminations? (Blackpool)
    2) Pass The Sushi Pon The Lef? Hand Side (Burnley)
    3) Caribbean Club (Preston)

    Bhajan Boy

    Shanti Shanti Shanti

      Ajay Saggar is BHAJAN BHOY. Since his debut album was released in June 2020 (“Bless Bless”) he has been receiving critical acclaim for his recorded output and his live shows. His second album “Shanti Shanti Shanti” was initially released on a limited edition cassette in November 2022 on his own Wormer Bros. Records. However, when respected label honchos at Cardinal Fuzz (UK) and Feeding Tube Records (USA) heard it, they insisted that this mighty album deserved a vinyl release. This album is part of a triptych. The other two albums in this series (“To Love Is To Love Vols.1+2”) were released in March 2023 to universal acclaim, with publications such as Mojo and Uncut and the Wire heaping praise on the two albums. "Another fine release by Dutch musician Ajay Saggar. His basic thrust is modern psychedelia, minted from radio snippets, dubby reverb flapping, elegant guitar washing, electronic drones interwoven with flashes of mock jaw harp or sploshy drums, and a generally stoned atmosphere. And the concept is spectrally sound!" (Byron Coley / the Wire magazine...January 2023) The songs on this album are varied stylistically. Combining psych, drones, minimalism, free jazz, electronic music and dub in this work, this is another album's worth of musical joy and wonder for all to enjoy.

      TRACK LISTING

      Cat On Arkengarthsdale
      Red, Green & Gold
      Stokely's Rebellion
      Kosmos Klub
      Won't You Wait?
      I Love You So
      Van Cleef Dub

      Bhajan Boy

      To Love Is To Love (Vol. 1)

        Bhajan Bhoy releases two separate albums on the same day, his third and fourth albums, and a joint release on highly respected independent labels Cardinal Fuzz (UK) and Feeding Tube Records (USA). Drawing from the deep triple bad acid well of psychedelia, Bhajan Bhoy further shifts the parameters surrounding the perceptions aligned to this genre with a beautiful and meditative set of tracks. A kaleidoscopic sonic universe within which you will find raga-esque musical excursions, meditative Dream House drone, beautiful folk inflected jams on a Laurel Canyon tip, electronic dreamscapes and heavy guitar riffola where sometimes two chords are enough. Listening to the two albums and you could imagine Pandit Pran Nath, Spacemen 3, Pauline Oliveros, and Don Cherry drinking the same Psilocybin tea beforehand, and then embarking to the studio to lay down the jams. This is the sound of freedom! Byron Coley / The Wire (January 2023) said of the previous release “Shanti Shanti Shanti” : “another fine release by Dutch musician Ajay Saggar. His basic thrust is modern psychedelia, minted from radio snippets, dub reverb flapping, elegant guitar washing, electronic drones interwoven with splashes of mock jaw harp or splashy drums, and a generally stoned atmosphere. And the concept is spectrally good!” The songs for “To Love Is To Love (Vols. 1+2)” were recorded and mixed between January 2021 and June 2022 at Soundation Studio….Ajay’s sonic laboratory. As he states : “it was a highly focused and intensive period of work for me. The pandemic allowed me to go and work in the studio all day and into the night pretty much everyday. I’d never felt more focused in my pursuit of making a set of songs. It yielded a body of work that I am incredibly proud of, and think is some of the best stuff I’ve done. I was fortunate enough to have some incredibly talented players join me on some songs (Ab Baars, Gayle Brogan, Sheila Bosco, Holly Habstritt Gaal, Mees Siderius, Arvind Ganga, Aaron Lumley, Elsa v/d Linden, Ditmer Weertman). The songs evolved in a very organic manner. The influences are there for sure…but I don’t know any musician who is not directly or indirectly influenced by their peers / record collections. Ultimately though they are BHAJAN BHOY songs…..and if you listen to them, they are definitely from within ME!. The songs are part of a journey, and that is the reason that there are two separate albums. It made total sense for these songs to appear on two separate albums (“Shanti Shanti Shanti” was the album before these ones and was the first part of this triptych).”

        Bhajan Boy

        To Love Is To Love (Vol. 2)

          Ajay Saggar is BHAJAN BHOY. Since his debut album was released in June 2020 (“Bless Bless”) he has been receiving critical acclaim for his recorded output and his live shows. On Friday 10 March 2023, BHAJAN BHOY will release TWO separate albums on the same day. These will be Bhajan Bhoy’s third and fourth albums , and a joint release on highly respected independent labels Cardinal Fuzz (UK) and Feeding Tube Records (USA). Drawing from the deep triple bad acid well of psychedelia, Bhajan Bhoy further shifts the parameters surrounding the perceptions aligned to this genre with a beautiful and meditative set of tracks. A kaleidoscopic sonic universe within which you will find raga-esque musical excursions, meditative Dream House drone, beautiful folk inflected jams on a Laurel Canyon tip, electronic dreamscapes and heavy guitar riffola where sometimes two chords are enough. Listening to the two albums and you could imagine Pandit Pran Nath, Spacemen 3, Pauline Oliveros, and Don Cherry drinking the same Psilocybin tea beforehand, and then embarking to the studio to lay down the jams. This is the sound of freedom! Byron Coley / The Wire (January 2023) said of the previous release “Shanti Shanti Shanti” : “another fine release by Dutch musician Ajay Saggar. His basic thrust is modern psychedelia, minted from radio snippets, dub reverb flapping, elegant guitar washing, electronic drones interwoven with splashes of mock jaw harp or splashy drums, and a generally stoned atmosphere. And the concept is spectrally good!” The songs for “To Love Is To Love (Vols. 1+2)” were recorded and mixed between January 2021 and June 2022 at Soundation Studio….Ajay’s sonic laboratory. As he states : “it was a highly focused and intensive period of work for me. The pandemic allowed me to go and work in the studio all day and into the night pretty much everyday. I’d never felt more focused in my pursuit of making a set of songs. It yielded a body of work that I am incredibly proud of, and think is some of the best stuff I’ve done. I was fortunate enough to have some incredibly talented players join me on some songs (Ab Baars, Gayle Brogan, Sheila Bosco, Holly Habstritt Gaal, Mees Siderius, Arvind Ganga, Aaron Lumley, Elsa v/d Linden, Ditmer Weertman). The songs evolved in a very organic manner. The influences are there for sure…but I don’t know any musician who is not directly or indirectly influenced by their peers / record collections. Ultimately though they are BHAJAN BHOY songs…..and if you listen to them, they are definitely from within ME!. The songs are part of a journey, and that is the reason that there are two separate albums. It made total sense for these songs to appear on two separate albums (“Shanti Shanti Shanti” was the album before these ones and was the first part of this triptych).”


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