Just a few weeks left before the holidays.

An amazing Christmas collection of carols played on sarod by Amjad Ali Khan. Very pleasant mix of Indian classical music and Christmas carols that bring out the Soleminty of the birth of Jesus with a cool and calm musical arrangement.

A beautiful gesture by Khan to bring out the magic of Christmas in carols from the opening Joy to the World, which is one of the oldest and most popular traditional carols. In 1719, the British intellectual Isaac Watts published a book of poems, each one based on a psalm. One of them was written following Psalm 98 in the Bible. This carol is followed by Silent Night, a well-known hymn sure to be played by many on Christmas Eve. There’s also other tunes like O Come all Ye Faithful and always a holiday favorite, Jingle Bells also one of the most well-known holiday tunes since it is a very old, traditional song, all done majestically on the sarod.

The nine tracks are spelling binding and the versions here are replayable to really get into the mood of Christmas. We Three Kings is also a well played song, as Khan brings his own imitable style to the traditional tunes played at Christmas. Joy to the World (Remix) has also been done very well and the ending We Wish you A Merry Christmas ends this 35 minute classic piece of work.  

This album is guaranteed to see smiles on those gathered around. It also can help to have some actual jingle bells somewhere nearby to chime in with the strings of the sarod.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira