Tabula Rasā Explained

Tabula Rasā
Type:	studio album
Artist:	Béla Fleck, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Jie-Bing Chen
Cover:	1996_tabula rasa.jpg
Released:	July 2, 1996
Genre:	Folk
Length:	53:53
Label:	Water Lily Acoustics
Producer:	Kavichandran Alexander, Béla Fleck
Chronology:	Béla Fleck
Prev Title:	Tales from the Acoustic Planet
Prev Year:	1995
Next Year:	1999

Tabula Rasā is a collaborative album by American banjoist Béla Fleck together with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (playing traditional Indian slide guitar "Mohan veena") and Jie-Bing Chen, who plays the traditional Chinese two-string fiddle erhu. The unusual combination of Fleck's banjo together with these traditional instruments creates a unique sound on this album, which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album at the 39th Grammy Awards.^[1]

Track listing

1. "Carukesi" (Vishwa Mohan Bhatt) – 6:42
2. "Emperor's Mare" (Traditional) – 1:39
3. "Radha Krsna Lila" (Ronu Majumdar) – 6:42
4. "John Hardy" (Traditional) – 2:29
5. "Tabula Rasā" (Béla Fleck) – 3:06
6. "Geocentricity" (Fleck) – 6:07
7. "The Way Of Love" (Fleck) – 4:15
8. "Earl In Shanghai" (Fleck) – 4:59
9. "Water Gardens" (Traditional) – 4:36
10. "The Jade Princess" (Fleck) – 2:57
11. "The Dancing Girl" (Bhatt) – 10:20

Personnel

• Béla Fleck - banjo
• Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - Mohan veena
• Jie-Bing Chen - Erhu
• Ronu Majumdar - Bansuri
• Sangeeta Shankar - violin
• Poovalur Sriji (Srinivasan) - Mridangam

Notes and References

1. Web site: Official Water Lily Acoustics page. 2011-01-27.