From the five-hundred-year-old musical history of the Sufi Fakirs of Bengal to the virtuoso musicianship of Calcutta's guitar master Debashish Bhattacharya and Carnatic violinist Jyotsna Srikanth, this Rough Guide explores India's spiritual connections with its ancient musical traditions. A country woven with spirituality, India has a mystical charm which draws people from all over the world to its colourful mosaic of cultures and religions. The traditional Indian way of life has been instrumental in the evolution and growth of spiritualism, and this is reflected in the mystery and beauty of its unbroken musical forms. As the world becomes increasingly capitalistic and materialist, the quest and urgency for spirituality grows, and this seamless collection offers the perfect soundtrack for an exploration of some of India's most divine cultures. The album opener 'In Between Us' introduces the golden voice of Anandi Bhattacharya on a contemporary exploration of her musical roots. With sublime guitar accompaniment by her father Debashish and other leading instrumentalists, Anandi's outward-looking approach imbues her music with real musical wisdom which belies her years. Likewise, the Guillaume Barraud Quartet reflect the spirit of India, but this time through the prism of jazz. After many years studying with the legendary Indian flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, Guillaume Barraud explores the sound of the bansuri (Indian flute) with his contemporary jazz quartet. Both Babu and Arman are Sufi Fakirs from Bengal, a group of musicians and Islamic spiritual practitioners who have preserved a series of esoteric teachings on breath, asceticism, philosophy and mystical devotion. Sufi Fakirs are also the guardians of an ancient standard of enigmatic songs about love and humanity, underlining their central belief that salvation is found in the present moment and within oneself rather than in a conceptual heaven. The Indian counterpart to the Fakir tradition is that of the Bauls. Paban Das Baul's beautiful 'Kala Re' is taken from his album Music Of The Honey Gatherers. On that record Paban performed songs from the trail of the honey gatherers wandering Baul singers from the very eastern end of the Indo-Gangetic plains. Jyotsna Srikanth is a Bangalore-born violinist and is one of the foremost Carnatic musicians of her generation. The style in which she plays is called g 257;yaki which translates as 'as if sung'. 'Annapoorne' is a composition by one of the most famous Carnatic composers, Muttuswami Dikshitar, and the subject concerns Annapoorne, the Hindu goddess of nourishment. The raga used is sama, one that denotes peace. Jyotsna again features as part of Nordic Raga, whose sublime 'Folk Dreams' beautifully highlights the quartet's unique mixing of the scales and rhythms of Nordic folk with the improvisatory tradition of Carnatic music. Also manipulating string textures, but this time on his own specially modified guitar, Calcutta's Debashish Bhattacharya is heard on the introspective piece 'Aanandam'. Based on Raga Mishra Shiva Ranjani, this simpler piece features the tiny Anandi guitar of his own creation, singing like an innocent child above a six-beat rhythm. One of the world's foremost tabla players, Subhasis Bhattacharya has performed and recorded with his brother Debashish on many classic albums, and on Tablananda, his first international collaboration, Subhasis assembled an incredible line-up of musicians to produce a visionary album that showcases his incredible creativity. 'Blood Of Two Oceans' is a true world music hybrid, which blends musical sensibilities from far flung parts of the world; a celebration of universal music principles which bind all musicians and all music. Likewise, fellow boundary-pushers Rafiki Jazz celebrate unity in diversity with a shape-shifting and mesmeric sound. Rooted in modern Britain yet inspired by ancient musical traditions both near and far 'You Are Light' is based on an 11th century Hebrew poem from the long cosmological masterpiece Keter Malchut. Rafiki Jazz's novel setting invokes a Hindi chandrakauns raag based around a tanpura drone. Bringing things to a close, the acclaimed South African guitarist Guy Buttery teams up with Indian master musicians Mohd. Amjad Khan (tabla) & Mudassir Khan (sarangi) on the beautiful 'Raag Kirwani', taken from their 2021 release 'One Morning In Gurgaon', an album inspired by the trio's shared appreciation of the musical wonders and landscapes of the subcontinent.