Yorkston/Thorne/Khan will release their new album Navarasa : Nine Emotions on January 24th. At the heart of YTK’s transporting new album is the subcontinent’s navarasa; the nine (nava) emotions or sentiments (rasa) of the arts. This central unifying underpinning is a centuries-old organising principle and on their upcoming record, YTK have paired each song to one of these emotions.
The individual artistic emotions range from Shringara (love, beauty) through Hasya (laughter, mirth, comedy), Raudra (anger), Karuna (sorrow, compassion or mercy), Bibhatsya (disgust), Bhayanaka (horror, terror), Veera (heroism, courage), Adbutha (surprise, wonder) to Shanta (peace, tranquillity).
Having previously shared "Westin Winds", connected to Adbutha, the three-piece now unveil a second song from the album, “The Shearing’s Not For You”.
“The Shearing’s Not For You” is a traditional song James first heard sang by Aberdeenshire Traveller Jeannie Robertson. The song tells a story about a soon-to-be-mother, being abandoned by the itinerant father of their soon-to-be-born child. Many Hindustani musicians instinctively shy away from Bibhatsya because they choose not to soil their art with disgust, but here it clearly informs the story within “The Shearing’s not for You”.
Watch the visualiser for “The Shearing’s Not For You” here
Yorkston/Thorne/Khan are comprised of James Yorkston (guitar/nyckelharpa/vocals), Jon Thorne (double-bass/vocals) and Suhail Yusuf Khan (sarangi/vocals).
There is a bricolage of diverse cross-cultural elements on Navarasa : Nine Emotions and all of what YTK create. James Yorkston weaves in Scottish folk, sangster and literary strands. Jon Thorne is grounded in jazz and groove. What the New Delhi-based, eighth-generation hereditary musician Suhail Yusuf Khan brings to this feast of pulses and cycles is northern Indian classical, light classical (thumri, for example), Sufi devotional musical and literary forms. What binds these diverse musical strands together is, in James’ phrase, “a dark happiness”.
Navarasa : Nine Emotions will be available to pre-order on Dom Mart-exclusive deluxe double vinyl (coloured vinyl with three exclusive songs + patch), double vinyl (with the three exclusive tracks), CD and digitally. Pre-order: Dom Mart | Digital