ArtistAloud.com will be featuing Manooghi Hi’s latest release “Silence” on their home page starting November 21st. This is the biggest promotional effort to date for the band in India. The goal is to follow up this release with a tour of India early 2012

Review: “Manooghi Hi: Silence” – Sea of Tranquility – The Web Destination for Progressive Music!

Manooghi Hi: Silence
Silence, the sophomore LP by Manooghi Hi, is kind of mind blowing. Essentially a hybrid of progressive rock and Indian scales, rhythms, and instrumentation, their music is seductive, bombastic, and hypnotic. From beautiful ballads to fierce jams, Manooghi Hi prove to be equally skilled as musicians, vocalists, and songwriters.

The band formed a few years ago when vocalist and Bombay native Mehnaz Hoosein came to America, eager to produce a new form of rock music. The septet released its eponymous debut album in 2009, and it received critical acclaim nationally. With this sophomore effort, the group has tightened arrangements and improved songwriting while continuing to be experimental and bold.

Opener “My Friends” begins with a tribal rhythm and chant. Eventually more instruments are added as the rhythms become more complex. In a way, it’s as if prog rock version of Led Zeppelin provided the soundtrack for a Bollywood film (although vocalists Hoosein and Ava Chakravarti have more in common with Grace Slick and Ann Wilson than with the mousey singers in those movies). “Everything” is a soulful ballad that complements poignant music and melody with (appropriately) histrionic performances. “Kismet” emphasis another chant, and its usage of strings and dynamics makes it entrancing. Humorously commenting on pop culture, Manooghi Hi mention Jesus, Buddah, Hendrix, and Andy Warhol in the same verse.
“Om Baba” is the most hectic and in-your-face track on Silence, while “Space That Drops In” is the album’s most accessible and appropriate for radio airplay (which isn’t to say that the rest of the album shouldn’t reach as big an audience as possible – it should). “Where India Begins” concludes the album wonderfully due to its sense of nostalgia and closure. Also, paying homage to the aforementioned influence, Manooghi Hi does a faithful and interesting version of “Kashmir.”
Silence is a refreshing and adventurous spin on the genre(s). The greatest rock bands of the 70s recognized the power and complexity of Indian music, and Manooghi Hi simply brings it to the forefront with authenticity and top notch musicianship. Disproving the myth of the “sophomore slump,” the album oozes style, confidence, and quality, and overall, this will be a tough act to follow when the time comes for a third release.

Track Listing
1 My Friends
2 Everything
3 Kismet
4 Silence
5 Om Baba
6 Space That Drops In
7 Kashmir
8 Where India Begins
9 Everything (producers cut)

Reviewer: Jordan Blum

Manooghi Hi will be featured on Bellingham’s KISM 92.9 FM program called “Locals Only” hosted by Pooner Clark on October 16th.

The show will air on 10/16 at 7pm with interviews and possibly some in-studio performances.

You can also tune in via the web at  http://www.kism.com/

dont miss it!

How do you explain a feeling of child like bliss? You know when it makes an unannounced visit, and all you want to do is hush…dreamily drown in the waking experience of the moment.
 
 
 
 
 

By speaking to you in a language that has no translation (yet we know you understand) it bridges the imaginary gap of time & distance and brings us ever closer to you on the other side.
 
 
 
 
 

The universe answers every question if you can sense its presence. Fall for that and reveal yourself to that grand possibility. We see, feel and take in a little bit of everything when we play our song.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Destruction opens the path for a new creation. A silent energy roars in the belly of the earth when you break her. All that has a beginning must have an end. Lift your hands and rock to Om Namah Shivaya Ca!
 
 
 
 
 
 

The feeling of nostalgia is not foreign to anyone and it is amplified when you are so far away from your loved ones at home. Home, a country where in her imperfections lies her perfection.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Queen of Sanskrit Mantras “Gayatri Mantra” is singing and dancing to the spirit of ‘Rock’. A holy mix of Sanskrit words, rhythms and vibrations illuminate all 7 chakras of the 7 Manooghis. We shake the ground and stir some souls each time we hit the stage.

Meaning of the Gayatri Mantra

The individual words and characters of the Mantra have a meaning of their own than can be defined as follows:

• Om: The primeval sound that represents Brahma
• Bhur: The physical world that embodies the vital spiritual energy or ‘Pran’
• Bhuvah: The mental world and destroyer of all sufferings
• Swaha: The celestial and spiritual world that embodies happiness
• Tat: That or God, referring to transcendental Paramatma (Ultimate Spirit)
• Savithur: The Bright Sun or the Creator and Preserver of World
• Varenyam: Best or most adorable
• Bhargo: Destroyer of all sins
• Devasya: Divine Deity or Supreme Lord
• Dheemahi: We meditate upon and take in
• Dhiyo: The Intellect
• Yo: The Light
• Nah: Our
• Prachodayath: Inspire or Enlighten

Thus, the Gayatri Mantra can be translated as follows:

We meditate on the glory of the Creator
Who has created the Universe
Who is worthy of Worship
Who is the embodiment of Knowledge and Light
Who is the remover of all Sin and Ignorance
May He enlighten our Intellect