Katkhuda
A Long Way From Somewhere
© 2008 Damian Montagu and Damian Katkhuda
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A new band project from Obi frontman Damian Katkhuda and composer & producer Damian Montagu. Marrying together quirky tunes and not letting convention stand in their way, they have created a unique project that carries the listener to a different place.
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'KATKHUDA' is the name of a new band project from Obi frontman Damian Katkhuda and composer & producer Damian Montagu.
Marrying together quirky tunes and not letting convention stand in their way, they have created a unique project that carries the listener to a different place, away from the hubbub of the city where it was created.
The stunning new album ‘A Long Way from Somewhere’ will be released on 16th June.
The Katkhuda project is one of three different albums that Damian has been working on for the last couple of years. The third Obi album is almost finished & produced by Toby Smith (ex jameroquai + producer of the Hoosiers) and a solo project containing everything from totally stripped down song writing to full blown orchestra arrangements has also been written.
As Damian says, “The Katkhuda project fits somewhere in between and contains songs that were not appropriate for either of the above albums. The idea was to create a group of songs which did not adhere to any particular style or trend but drifted more towards cinema sound track, as this was Damian’s (Montagu) area of expertise.
Tracks include ‘Welcome Mariner’ which was written on the roof of the studio on a sunny tea break and is about
temptation, the mermaid sings to the mariner and visa versa, for something as shallow as a "glorious feeling."
’You fell into the stars’ is about what a waste of time it is trying to help someone bent on self destruction.
‘Ghosts’ is the only song not to feature guitar and stems from two piano ideas sewn together and is about two
lovers meeting after death as ghosts who will eternally dance among the places they used to frequent and enjoy
together. "Mr. Wilson's Opus no.45" opened the New York Giants Stadium event at Live Earth on an environmental awareness film and was viewed by over 2 billion people worldwide.
Featured on the album is singer Awsa Bergstrom, who also sings with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, pedal steel player David Ogilvy (“West London’s J.J. Cale” - TheTimes) & cellist Ian Burdge (Lambchop, Elbow, Tom McRae).
Wars in both Palestine and the Balkans have kept Damian Katkhuda's family on the move for generations. Finally settling in England he learnt to play guitar on an instrument belonging to an old uncle, & quickly adapted
the Eastern folk routes of his playing to songs he began writing.
Later forming his band Obi (signed to Cooking Vinyl) from assorted acoustic players who gathered at the renowned Kashmir club, they released the successful debut album “The Magic Land of Radio” with its single ‘Somewhere Nicer’ a-listed on Radio 2 and Virgin. A second album "Diceman Lopez" followed and also met with critical acclaim. Several tours of Europe honed their live skills and it was during a break from one of these that Damian started to think of other outlets for some of his music that wasn't appropriate for the band.
Amongst the many critics who have praised Damian’s work, his Obi albums were described as “keys to the kingdom of lovely ... an almost flawless example of up and downbeat folk pop story telling” in the Times. Mojo described “The Magic Land of Radio” as “utterly charming … a melodic master-class”.
Damain Montagu is a film composer and record producer who operates from his West London studios (www.radial.tv). Other projects Damian is currently working on include ‘World Awareness Recordings’ (www.w-a-r.org) and Ocean Tracks (www.oceantracks.net).
Damian Katkhuda will be travelling to Bosnia to the Pavarotti music centre in May to play at music festival and will combine the Katkhuda project with solo work for shows in the Balkans. The band are currently rehearsing for
UK dates later this year and will be their first live dates since last year’s appearance at Bestival in the UK.