Album Artwork JPEGSaddar Bazaar - The Conference of the Birds

Cat No: DELEC CD/LP 034

Release Date: 24th July 1995

[Track Listing] [Credits] [Reviews]
[Saddar Bazaar Home Page]

Go to TopTrack Listing

  1. Sukoon - 5:16 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  2. Arc of Ascent (Part One) - 5:20 (Hyder / Hyder / Sage)
  3. Kiff Riff - 6:26 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  4. Garden of Essence - 8:04 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  5. Sukoon (Reflection) - 2:13 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  6. Shamsa (Sunburst) - 3:24 (R.M. Hyder)
  7. Baraka - 2:19 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  8. Arc of Ascent (Part Two) - 3:50 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  9. Freedom Rider - 4:19 (Hyder / Hyder / Spencer)
  10. Neelum Blue - 4:52 (R.M. Hyder)

Go to TopCredits

Saddar Bazaar are:

  • Rehan Matthew Hyder: Guitars, Percussion, Kubing, Dholak & Agoual on "Shamsa"
  • Shaun Hyder: Sitar, Percussion, Kubing, Duff
  • Dave Spencer: Dholak, Agoual, Tablas, Percussion
  • Terry Banx: Keyboards

Recorded at The Bunker, Bristol during the Summer of 1994.
Engineered by Bob Pierce.
Produced by Bob Pierce and Saddar Bazaar.
Artwork by Harvey Woodward

Praise and thanks to:- Ralph, Tim, Richard, Nick Saloman and all our friends and families - east and west.

Go to TopPress Reviews

Mojo

Stick two psych-crazed kids from Bristol in the studio with Bob Pierce, ex of '60s freak beat legends The Mirror, and the result is a haunting hybrid of transcendental ragas and psyched-out slide guitar. No syrupy tea'n'crumpets English whimsy here, no shimmering digital trickery, just the droning narcotic detachment of the Spacemen 3, the dynamic overdriven fuzz slide of Ry Cooder circa Ceyleib People and some sublime electric sitar. Third Ear Band for the 90s? Blues for Ghandi? Who the hell cares? Just keep taking the tablas boys. (Cliff Jones)

Audion

An unusual combo this new band from Bristol, with sitars, slide-guitar, tablas and all sorts of unpronounceable Indian instruments. Really, could you imagine Ry Cooder jamming in wth George Harrison's Wonderwall, or the sitar ragas of Popol Vuh combined with Rustic Hinge or Cul De Sac? Heady, far-out, totally instrumental. you'd never guess it was recorded summer last year! Nothing much more I can say really as I got spell-bound by it, and before I knew it the album was finished. Superb! (Alan Freeman)

Crohinga Well

The first time I heard about this band was in 1992 when they had a track on the Delerium compilation "Fun With Mushrooms". Saddar Bazaar is a Bristol-based group that was formed in 1990 by Shaun Hyder (sitar and various exotic string instruments) and Matthew Hyder (electric slide guitar). After a few years of changing lineups the outfit was completed with drummer David Spencr and keyboards player Terry Banx. Local area fame was accumulated over the years, supporting gigs by the likes of The Seers, Praise Space Electric and The Bevis Frond, plus a performance at the Ashton Court Community Festival (Bristol). This LP/CD for Delerium is really their debut release, and what a beauty it is. The combination of electric slide guitar, sitar, exotic percussion and sparse floating keyboards works sheer magic on tracks like "Arc of Ascent (parts 1 and 2)", "Kiff Riff" and "Freedom Rider". "Sukoon (Reflection)" is based upon a backwards tape of the original version plus some additional sitar. "Baraka" features a bit of didgeridoo and "Neelum Blue" is a subtle, melancholic Ry Cooder-type of instrumental. The best track in my opinion is the over 8 miutes long "Garden of Essence". It's a very intense piece that builds up to a whirling dervish kind of climax based on intertangled guitar and sitar chords. This first (entirely instrumental) album by Saddar Bazaar is one of the better psychedlic releases I've heard this year. The melodic and mindlifting atmospheres of each composition turn "The Conference Of The Birds" into a real "trip to the Orient" ("All on the magic carpet please; the last one aboard has to do the rolling!"). A relaxing psychedlic album. Very much recommended.

Ptolemaic Terrascope

Last time I heard Saddar Bazaar was when they played a support slot for the Bevis Frond in home-town Bristol some four or five years ago, and I must confess that at the time the only thing I remembered was how forgettable they were. And yet now, with all the grace and favour of the intake of a butterfly's breath, Saddar Bazaar have blossomed into an exotic and breathtakingly diverse instrumental outfit who successfully encompass mythology, restaurants and bean-bags in their search for the ultimate tabla d'hote. Far from being another of Dlerium's novelty acts, Saddar Bazaar are one of their most exciting, original and potential-filled signings to date. What's special about this band is the way they mix Western-styled slide guitar licks with their obviously Eastern instrumentaion, your sitars and dholaks and agouals and other assorted hot side dishes, together making for a heady mixture that's as textured as a tufed rug and just as comfortable to roll around on. "Arc of Ascent (parts 1 and 2)" and "Garden Of Essence" are probably the strongest tracks on here, the latter building to a hearty throb like a BSA at full throttle and splashing just as much oil around in the process, but Saddar Bazaar are right on target throughout and I'm more than happy to admit that I was entirely wrong about the band all along. I have no idea at all what kind of market this album will appeal to, but I like to think a large number of Terrascope readers will be intrigued enough to investigate it. Leave your preconceptions on you bedpost overnight and you won't be disappointed. (Phil McMullen)

Gibraltar

Saddar Bazaar is fairly unique among many of today's current psych bands in that the members use a preponderance of East Indian sitar and percussion instruments, supplimenting these with electric guitar and occasional keyboards. The band is comprised of Rehan Matthew Hyder (guitars, percussion, kubing, dholak, agoual), Shaun Hyder (sitar, percussion, kubing, duff), Dave Spencer (dholak, agoual, tablas, percussion) and Terry Banx (keyboards). The music is driven by the sitar and electric guitar over the various percussion instruments. There are few solos to speak of; the atmosphere of the music is the important aspect. The sitar and guitar usually riff out simple patterns. I do wish the tone of the guitar would have been varied more. The keyboards, when heard near the end of the album, add atmospheric backing. Even though it's a solo of sorts, the keys are down in the mix, not up front in the "solo spotlight". The pace of The Conference Of The Birds is beautifully psychedelic, setting the mood with Sukoon and the driving pace of Arc Of Ascent (Part One), then drifting slowly out to meditative planes with Sukoon (Reflection) and Shamsa (Sunburst). By now, the mind ponders deeply the hidden meanings of life's simplest riddles. The repeating themes in Arc Of Ascent (both parts), and Sukoon and Sukoon (Reflection) give a flowing, conceptual feel to the album. In the case of Sukoon (Reflection), it is a section of the opening track slowed down and played in reverse. The unchanging tone of the two dominant instrumental voices could occasionally get wearisome, but Saddar Bazaar show they know how to craft a good psychedelic album. Given another chance at the studio and incorporating more tonal variety, a follow-up album could be brilliant indeed.

Facelift

Almost two years old this release now, yet still turns out regularly on my personal playlist. With plenty of eastern imagery in their name and CD cover, Saddar Bazaar attempt what many other western-based bands have tried to do since the sixties, and take on board a whole range of Indian instrumentation.

Yet Kula Shaker it is not - Saddar Bazaar are a gentler breed of what is purely instrumental music, and not only are sitars and tablas to the fore, but the sitar forms a highly unlikely partnership with slide guitar. As the two instruments undulate and slide around their respective fretboards, it makes for a unique sound. But just as important is the overall atmosphere: things are taken at a very easy pace throughout the album, and whilst the slide guitar occasionally takes on a much rockier form, with hand percussion exploding around it (Arc Of Ascent) this is essentially music to drift along to. Mellow, simple, uplifting stuff.

I/E

The tightly-woven strains of Carnatic music have had hallucinogenic qualities for centuries. Practitioners such as Shankar and mandolin master Srinivas have brought the musical powers of their native lands to vastly wider audiences - Saddar Bazaar take the essence of Carnaticism bravely into the world of raga rock, beyond even the efforts of such past groups as Third Ear Band or Between. Amongst a collection of the requisite instruments (sitar, tabla, dholak, kubing, guitars, keyboards and sundry percussion) the quartet trade gently cascading riffs of piquant melodies (Sukoon) against hotbeds of strident percussion and trance rock (Baraka, Arc Of Ascent). Saddar Bazaar's psychedelic ragas function as both a reflection of the galvanising power of music's tradition and an re-affirmation of its' cultural identity in the modern world.

Audion

An unusual combo this new band from Bristol, with sitars, slide-guitar, tablas and all sorts of unpronounceable Indian instruments. Really, could you imagine Ry Cooder jamming in with George Harrison's Wonderwall, or the sitar ragas of Popol Vuh combined with Rustic Hinge or Cul De Sac? Heady, far-out, totally instrumental, you'd never guess it was recorded summer last year! Nothing much more I can say really, as I got spell-bound by it, and before I knew it the album was finished. Superb! Alan Freeman

Go to Top [Saddar Bazaar Home Page]

© Delerium 2000.
Delerium Records. info@delerium.co.uk