A Foreign Affair is an album by American jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra. The album is the story of five men and their love affair with music. The album contains a Hindi song Khuda sung by Arijit Singh, composed by Sandeep Chowta and co-produced by Chowta and Spyro Gyra. It is the first time a Western group has released a song with lyrics entirely in Hindi.
Track listing
Release and chart history The album was released on September 13, 2011. Upon release the album was positioned at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.
Release history Region Date Format Label Ref. United States September 13, 2011 CD Amherst India Digital Sony United Kingdom February 13, 2012 CD In-Akustik
Critical reception AllMusic's Jonathan Widran opined that "the most interesting tracks are the beautiful, poignant vocal tracks by Keb' Mo' and Fernandez" and stated the band "still had something fresh to say while fearlessly entering their fifth decade of recording". JazzTimes's Brian Soergel concluded the review stating "this is the CD that many casual Spyro Gyra fans have been waiting for". Howard Dukes from Soul Tracks praised the songs in the album and stated "The ease in which the band amalgamates different international influences on A Foreign Affair is a reminder of why we call music the international language".
Personnel Credits for A Foreign Affair are adapted from AllMusic and Discogs.
Spyro Gyra Jay Beckenstein – saxophones Tom Schuman – keyboards Julio Fernández – guitars, vocals (6) Scott Ambush – bass Bonny Bonaparte – drums, percussion, backing vocals (6)
Additional musicians Pedrito Martinez – congas Sandeep Chowta – duduk (2), tabla (2) Tosin Aribisala – percussion (11) Arijit Singh – vocals (2) Keb' Mo' – vocals (10)
Production Leonard Silver – executive producer Spyro Gyra – producers Sandeep Chowta – co-producer (2) Paul Antonell – engineer Connor Milton – assistant engineer Elijah Walker – assistant engineer Martin Walters – mixing at Big Time Audio (Jonesborough, Tennessee) Adam Ayan – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) Peter Ambush – cover illustration Phil Brennan – design, photography, management
References