MANA CONTRACTOR
VOCALIST | EDUCATOR | PRODUCER
SWEET LAND
MARCH 1 2020
A head-spinning abstraction of colonialism and whitewashed mythology, “Sweet Land” has been described by its creators as “an opera that erases itself.” It achieves an effect not unlike that of traveling back in time to witness the first Thanksgiving, then returning to the present to hear its story warped through the traditional, wholesome retelling.
JUNE 29 2019
Ever listened to a voice so sonorous that it flows with the sound of instruments in an alchemy where it appears that there is no saturation point between the sound of metallic strings and the singer’s voice? It is like the two coexist and sweep through your soul in a perfect harmony. That is exactly how Mana Dhanraj’s voice appeals to me.
CHANDBIBI & THE WASTE CANDIDATES
JAN 15 2015
As Winter chugs along, I need firey vocals, warm guitar and driving bass-lines. I found just the thing on ReverbNation with Chandbibi and The Waste Candidates. Although they’re listed as ‘experimental’, and I usually avoid that, they produce a clean but acidic jazz-fusion. Their album Tidy Funk was recorded in Chennai at Voice and Vision Studios, and they are currently unsigned. Out of Bangalore, India, they aren’t exactly local, but I had to interview them.
