Indian Traditions | Music Tech Magazine

Presented on a single DVD, Indian Traditions is an excellent source of melodic and percussive loops from the sub-continent. The disc is organised by instrument, style and tempo - which to a native of India will make finding the required loop a breeze; for the rest of us, though, the names of the instruments - like the types of raga - don't provide a great deal of useful information. While some Indian instruments, such as the tabla and sitar, are relatively well known to musicians in the west, many of the others, like the udakai and tutari, haven't achieved the same status.

Thankfully, Big Fish Audio has included a PDF document on the disc that provides a brief description and an image of each instrument, as well as providing a short glossary of the musical terms used - although no light is shed on the different types of raga that are used to describe some of the files. Of course, given the depth and complexity of Indian classical music it comes as no real surprise that the authors felt that users were better off listening to the samples and judging by ear for themselves rather than attempting to better explain the subject.

The percussive loops are considerably easier to fit into traditional western music than any of the melodic loops, although we were able to construct a simple blues/folk arrangement using one of the more rhythmic dotara (a two-string instrument made from a bamboo stem set into a gourd) samples.

The samples on this disc shine with an almost relaxed confidence. They're sure to be of use to anyone hoping to make music with an eastern slant.