Anmol Mohara

“Across The Sea”

(Lomna Records – AM001CD)

Anmol Mohara – drums, percussion, vocals, Tereza Catarov, Nicole Petrus Barracks – vocals, Simeon May – flutes, tenor sax, Daniel Fawcett Tuke – acoustic & electric guitars, Rory Hudson –  electric & acoustic bass, Cody Moss – keyboards, James Knight – soprano & tenor saxes, Jansen Santana – percussion, Price Nepali – sarangi

“Across The Sea” is the debut album from the Nepalese born, London based drummer, percussionist, composer and bandleader Anmol Mohara.

Mohara moved to the UK in 2015 and the music was written in 2023 during his final year at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

In November 2024 I enjoyed a live performance by Mohara and his band, simply named Anmol, at the Milton Court Concert Hall, the event forming part of the annual Guildhall Jazz Festival, which takes place under the wider umbrella of the EFG London Jazz Festival. My account of Anmol’s performance can be found as part of my Guildhall Jazz Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/guildhall-jazz-festival-milton-court-concert-hall-london-20-24-november-2024

Anmol’s show at Milton Court featured a number of the performers featured here, namely Tereza Catarov (vocals, cowbell)  Simeon May (tenor sax, flute) Daniel Fawcett-Tuke (guitar) Cody Moss (piano & keyboards) and Rory Hudson (bass). The performance included many of the pieces that feature on the album and was a very visual production with the music augmented by a display of Nepalese dancing and a video screen behind the band showing various projections created by Asis Dai, who I believe provided the album artwork too.

Mohara seeks to bring traditional Nepalese music into a wider, jazz informed, global musical context. His influences include the Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu, the Malian singer - songwriter Oumou Sanagare and the British-Asian multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Nitin Sawhney.

He has collaborated with guitarist Nicolas Meier and flautist Gareth Lockrane and appeared alongside the leading US based musicians Gerald Clayton (piano), John McLaughlin (guitar), Christian McBride (bass) and Teri Lyne Carrington (drums) on the Heartcore for Nepal project. The charity single  “Sambandha”  can be purchased here;
https://heartcorefortheworld.bandcamp.com/track/heartcore-for-nepal-sambandha

Mohara says of his music;
“My music is deeply inspired by the rich culture and traditions of my homeland, Nepal. I blend these roots with my love for the improvisational element of jazz and a wide range of musical influences that have shaped me”.

Mohara’s percussive set up for the album includes the madal, a two headed cylindrical drum made of wood and goatskin, and the nagara, a pair of kettle drums that originated in the Middle East before flourishing in 16th century Nepal. He also plays the Indian tabla.

The instrumentation on “Across The Sea” also includes the Nepalese sarangi, a traditional four-stringed folk instrument made of wood and goatskin and played with a bow in a manner similar to the violin. It is played here by Prince Nepali, who is emerging as a leading exponent of the instrument.

Mohara’s love of the visual arts finds expression in the way that “Across The Sea” is structured a little like a film soundtrack with the formal compositions linked by a series of brief “Scenes”, which I suspect may have been wholly improvised. The material includes arrangements of three traditional Nepali folk songs in addition to five of Mohara’s original compositions.

The core band on “Across The Sea” is the Anmol line-up that appeared at Milton Court – i.e. Mohara, Catarov, May, Fawcett-Tuke, Moss and Hudson with the other players appearing as guests on selected tracks. James Knight also acts as co-producer with Mohara.

The brief “Opening Scene” features the sounds of children’s voices and traditional Nepalese percussion in addition to contemporary Western jazz and rock instrumentation.

It evolves into an arrangement of the traditional Nepali folk tune “Sakhiye Ho” featuring the combination of drum and electric bass grooves, soaring vocal melodies and airy flute. Electric guitars and keyboards also make important contributions in this fascinating musical melding of East and West. It’s an extremely rhythmic piece featuring the sounds of both kit drums and traditional Nepalese percussion, these forming a very effective platform for the soaring vocals. The tune celebrates Maghi, one of Nepal’s major festivals.

The short (twenty seconds), largely electronic “Scene 1” segues rapidly into the appropriately titled “A Rhythmic Guy” with its deep bass grooves, driving drums and percussion and English language lyrics. It’s a joyous, celebratory piece and I recall Mohara encouraging the audience to clap along at the live show. May’s flute also plays a prominent role in the arrangement on this recording and additional percussion is provided by Jansen Santana.

“Scene 2” is a brief drum and percussion episode underpinned by an electronic drone and the sound of birdsong. It segues into an arrangement of the traditional folk song “Sorathi” with guest vocalist Nicole Petrus Barracks’ semi spoken / semi sung English language lyrics telling the tale of a Nepalese folk legend. Elsewhere May solos effectively on flute followed by Moss on lyrical acoustic piano.

“Scene 3”, one of the shortest at just ten seconds, is a solo percussion episode that presages “Silu”, the last of the three traditional folk songs.  This is one of the album’s most gentle and lyrical pieces and features brushed drums, Catarov’s sensual wordless vocals, crystalline guitar melodies and a gently brooding tenor sax solo from Simeon May. Following this the return of Catarov’s soaring wordless vocals imparts the song with a distinct anthemic quality.

“Scene 4” with its taxi horns and the sound of aircraft is the perfect precursor to “Migrant”, a song that “explores feelings of belonging, displacement and starting over”. Combining Eastern and Western musical elements it features English language lyrics containing the phrase “across the sea”, which gives the album its title. Soaring melodies featuring May’s flute and Catarov’s vocals combine with tight rhythmic grooves that mix the sounds of electric bass and guitar with both tabla and kit drums.

“Interlude” introduces the melancholic but beautiful sound of the sarangi and leads directly into “Five Elements” with its konnakol style vocal exchanges and with Mohara featuring on tabla. Elsewhere Catarov adds wistful wordless vocals before the music gathers a joyous momentum, with Fawcett-Tuke emerging as a soloist with a distortion heavy guitar feature.

The street noises of “Scene 5” presage the playful “Momo In My Mind” a song celebrating Mohara’s fondness for the traditional Nepalese doughnut, the momo. English language lyrics sing the praises of this delicacy on an uptempo piece that combines contemporary soul influences with Nepalese rhythms as Santana provides additional percussion and co-producer Knight additional tenor sax.

“Conversations” concluded the Milton Court show and is the final full length composition here. It features a further series of konnakol style vocal exchanged between Catarov and Mohara before going on to establish a bubbling groove that provides the platform for Catarov’s soaring vocal melodies. May features briefly as a tenor sax soloist.

As mentioned previously “Across The Sea” is very much structured in the style of a film and the album officially concludes with “Closing Credits”, a reprise of the main melodic theme from “Conversations” but with the addition of Prince Nepali on sarangi.

But wait, there’s a bonus track, “Solstice”, another, lengthier variation on the “Conversations” theme with the leader’s percussion at the fore and with the sarangi again featuring prominently.

“Across The Sea” represents a very impressive debut from Mohara who excels both as an instrumentalist and a composer. The music is colourful and richly textured and embraces a variety of musical styles both eastern and western. It’s a truly international collaboration but also a joyous celebration of Nepali music and culture. Mohara is an outward looking international musician who also celebrates his roots.

One of the most defining aspects of the album is its joyousness, which shines brightly throughout. Equally distinctive are the sounds of the various South Asian percussion instruments, but Mohara is also a highly accomplished kit drummer and an able vocalist and he performs superbly throughout, as do his colleagues, many of them young musicians who are recent Guildhall graduates. Mohara and Knight also deserve credit for an immaculate production that captures the subtleties and nuances of the playing of what is often a pretty sizeable ensemble.

It’s not jazz as defined by the American model but there’s enough jazz content here to make me, and hopefully most other potential listeners, happy. Of course having seen some of the music performed live on a previous occasion has enhanced my enjoyment of the album, but nevertheless it’s a recording that I feel I can thoroughly recommend to the Jazzmann readership. Anmol Mohara is a distinctive musician and composer, and also an irrepressible personality,  with a big future ahead of him.

“Across The Sea” can be purchased here;
https://anmolmohara.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-sea

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