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| "Gypsychology" From Inner Gypsy Pop music is becoming ever more corporate, and yet sales are down. Young people are looking for a musical revolution akin to the one their boomer parents experienced. They are seeking something more spiritual, perhaps even more religious. Some Indie bands are bucking the trend to mimic the establishment-type major label pop acts (with their more capitalistic moralities) by allowing creativity to determine their styles. They refuse to compromise their artistic freedom to the cookie-cutter mentality which pervades much of the music industry today. They are at the forefront of a chaotic wave of energy which aspires to usher in the dawn of a new golden age of popular music based in experimentation and having fun at the same time. "For us, music is not just about being number one on the charts..." commented Indian born veteran singer/guitarist Mario Vickram Sen of the world-music pop band, Inner Gypsy, "but about communication, and sharing an independence of spirit which has the capacity to build larger communities of inspired people." "We want people to be able to think for themselves..." added Tiffany Sen, who hails from upstate NY, and is also a singer and flautist for the band, "and not just behave in a way that is expected of them. Music that comes from the soul can help you do that." Their band – Inner Gypsy – has just released its debut album, "Gypsychology, " on (believe it or not) My Pet Goat Records. The husband and wife team claim that the word "Gypsychology, " (which is also the title of the first song on the CD) is one they coined in order to express the psychology of the gypsy-like desire present in all of us, to be free of the never ending constraints of modern civilization. "We're not really Gypsies, " they coyly admit, "but we have a Gypsy heart." "We've also created our own new religion, " laughs Tiffany. "It doesn't have any rules. You can behave however you like." The couple have just published a novel about this new religion – which Mario claims was psychically transmitted to him by the ghost of an author twenty years dead. It's hard to tell sometimes if this fun loving couple are just putting us all on, or if they really mean it. The music certainly sounds like they meant it. It ranges from blistering flamenco-style riffs, to sweet love ballads, to extended passionate Indian-sounding virtuosic improvisations. They even have an updated, funky cover of the Sonny and Cher classic, "I Got You Babe." Meanwhile, the novel, "The High Priest of Prickly Bog" (which Mario insists he merely 'typed' for dead author, Hiram Blunt) incorporates an alternate reality (or two) of Orwellian proportions, which includes time travel, social criticism, a murder mystery, several absurdly funny characters who it is hard not to like, and of course that new religion: The Intergalactic Temple of the Great God Bongo. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Jazz News :: home page |