Salt Rain
If the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" is one of  the classic examples of raga rock (emphasis on rock), fusing the  ancient Indian modal pattern of raga with western rock & roll, Susheela  Raman's entire output on her remarkable debutSalt Raincan well  be called raga blues, (emphasis on raga). Trained to sing classical  Indian music from childhood, the Londoner by birth began experimenting  with the vocal style of American blues in adolescence, finding in her  early 20s a richly exotic multitextured sound. African rhythms, Asian-chordal dissonance, and a deep womanly voice make for an intoxicating  listening experience. Add to this a band of players with origins from  Romania to Greece, Spain, Kenya, and beyond. Rather than run together  as an ineffective mishmash of multicultural styles, Raman and crew  offer up a stunning circus of sound like a masala-Gypsy-klezmer band  with one foot in the Delta. Familiar as the soaring voice of Joi, Raman  is an intensely exciting new voice not in just world music, but in  music as a whole.Salt Rainis both bountiful and devastatingly  beautiful.--Paige La Grone