Asha Bhosle, Love Supreme (Times Square)

 

Cornershop paid tribute the voice of Bollywood film, Asha Bhosle, in the 1997 single “Brimful of Asha.” Ears not acclimated to Bollywood can find the music oddly high-pitched and warbly, but Love Supreme and You’ve Stolen My Heart, last year’s tribute by the Kronos Quartet to Bhosle and her husband/composer RD Burman, are good places to start. The instrumentation and production rounds off the highs and puts her voice in contexts we’re more accustomed to. Disc one of Love Supreme is a set of romantic interpretations of classic Urdu and Persian poetry, and the sweet humanity of her voice is in stark contrast against the held synth chords behind it. It prepares you for the exuberant, genre-crossing tracks from Bollywood films on disc two.