"This program is unique on CD, illustrating the art of padam by perhaps its leading contemporary practitioner. Aruna Sayeeram is a student of the late T. Brinda, the acknowledged master performer of padam.
Sound quality: superlative"

medieval.org

Holy Saturday, two o'clock in the morning. In churches and chapels throughout Christendom, the Passion of Christ is commemorated at the Offices of Matins and Lauds. As this long and fatiguing liturgy advances, the candles are progressively extinguished, until total darkness reigns after the Miserere… This dramatic tableau is that of the Office of Tenebrae, a ceremonial unchanged since the Middle Ages which inspired some of the most moving pieces in the whole sacred repertory, notably settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah - which under the name of 'Leçons de ténèbres' were to become a major genre of French Baroque music. In the sixteenth century, at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the service was sung to the Lamentations of Cristóbal de Morales (1500-53), the 'light of Spain' who himself became a singer in this illustrious establishment. It is this magnificent, uniquely compelling music that Doulce Mémoire use as the basis for a new liturgical reconstruction, following on from their Requiem pour les Rois de France . As Denis Raisin-Dadre says: This music speaks to us of time, of time that is immobile, contemplative, extraordinarily concentrated… We have striven to recapture the emotion it engendered, its spirituality, through a search for absolute sincerity.

In the 1970s, Natalie Cole made a spectacular debut. And, after a number of personal and professional setbacks in the '80s, she bounced back with her splendid 1991 rendition of her daddy's hit, "Unforgettable," where she electronically performed a "duet" with her father. This CD reunites Cole with producer by Tommy LiPuma, who produced "Unforgettable" and was the hit maker behind George Benson and Diana Krall. This collection is a classic blend of jazz-inflected pop, with the best and the brightest in the business. Backed by a plethora of stars, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist Christian McBride, pianist Joe Sample, and drummer Lewis Nash, Cole's lithe, Ella Fitzgerald-tinged vocals are showcased in a number pleasing settings. Whether it's the Brazilian sound of Sergio Mendes's "So Many Stars," the scat-happy "My Baby Just Cares for Me," or the big band swing of "It's Crazy" and "Soon," courtesy of the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Cole projects her aura on these songs once sung by Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Nina Simone, and Dinah Washington. Natalie Cole is a jazzy soul survivor in the literal sense of the term, and this recording represents her finest hour.