We're closing a very significant gap in the CCPS collection with this 12" single. Calgary has produced a few big music stars - but Raghav Mathur may be one of the biggest. Sure, he was born in Toronto and moved to California when he was 17, but the global superstar [url=https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/music/raghav-returns-home-to-tell-his-story-at-national-music-centre]has credited his upbringing in Calgary with getting him to where he is today[/url]: [i][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)]“It’s such a unique musical spot, especially when I was growing up and going to junior high and high school and starting to formulate my songwriting chops. Here I was so heavily influenced by Indian music, both classical and in film, and R&B and hip-hop at a time where I was probably in the one place in North America where it was the hardest to hear any three of those three genres. So I listened to a lot of country. I think that helped form what was going to be my songwriting... I think it gave me an edge in terms of writing pop R&B songs, especially at the beginning because it was a little bit different and it did tell a story.”[/color][/i] That Herald article also notes that he spent time with the [color=rgb(25, 25, 25)][url=https://calgarycassettes.org/artist_detail/1733177975022x315206723964502000]Youth Singers of Calgary[/url][/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)], studied music at [/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)][url=https://calgarycassettes.org/artist_detail/sir-winston-churchill-high-school]Sir Winston Churchill High School[/url][/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)], and worked with vocal coach [/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)][url=https://calgarycassettes.org/artist_detail/seth-riggs]Seth Riggs[/url][/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)] in California (we know Riggs isn't Calgarian, but he sang on a Stampede record...), so we're inclined to call that a strong Calgary connection. Oh, and the late [/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)][url=https://calgarycassettes.org/artist_detail/neil-macgonigill]Neil MacGonigill[/url][/color][color=rgb(25, 25, 25)] was one of his mentors.[/color] [color=rgb(25, 25, 25)]One of the things on our to-do list is go searching for a copy of his first album on cassette in the upper NE of the city... and maybe eat a pile of samosas and jalebi while we're at it. Until then, we'll sit back and enjoy this 12" featuring remixes of the second single from that LP. We hear the influences of Indian film music and R&B on this... maybe not so much the country, though.[/color] [center][youtube]bFuZJEJfM_E[/youtube][/center]
