Let me preface by saying I have lot of hopes on Ranjit Barot [and more recently on Gino Banks and Arun Kumar], because they are promising drummers, who have potential to bring change to the current scene on Western drumming in India, currently dominated by Sivamani locally and Trilok Gurtu internationally. My individual taste for these two musicians notwithstanding, I think they have been unduly occupying the place for a long time. Taufiq Qureshitook to drumming, but settled mostly for Djembe and Djembe-like instruments. The other differentiating factor is that people like Sivamani and Trilok are better categorized as percussionists than drummers; the difference being drummers use the standard kit components like the snare, hat, toms, cymbals and bass drums whereas the percussionists use a variety of instruments and props to create appealing sounds.Bada Boom is the first independent album from Ranjit Barot, who has been recently widely recognized within the music fraternity and just getting to be recognized by the listeners. It took a bit of getting used to, but now, Bada Boom treats me musically every time I want to listen to something that is a true fusion of Indian and Western music. Though not as Jazzy as Floating Point or Miles from India (read my earlier posts here, here and here), Bada Boom is a must listen, if you have an ear for fusion music.Lineup includes Zakir Hussain (Tabla), Amit Heri (Guitar), Sanjay Divecha (Guitar), Dhruv Ghanekar (Guitar), U Shrinivas (Mandolin), U Rajesh (Mandolin), Mohini Dey (Bass), Palakkad Sreeram (Keyboards), Harmeet Manseta (Keyboards), Taufiq Qureshi (Percussion), Sridhar Parthasarathy (Mridangam). International collaborators include John Mclaughlin (Guitar), Wayne Krantz (Guitar), Matthias EkLundh (Guitar), Marc Guillermont (Guitar), (Guitar), Matthew Garrison (Bass), Elie Afif (Bass),; Nicolas Fiszman (Bass); Dominique Di Piazza (Bass), Aydin Essen (Keyboards), Scott Kinsey (Keyboards), Tim Garland (Saxophone). I hear Nadaswaram and Sitar in the music, I am assuming those artists are uncredited or those sounds or synthesized. Notably missing are Selvaganesh and Shankar Mahadevan, but its boring to have the exact same set of people play in every album, so that’s ok.