I love these two artists’ work fusing traditional Eastern influences with modern technologies.

Sara Choudrey, based in the UK, describes herself as as an “Islamic Digital Artist”. She combines traditional Islamic patterns with contemporary digital techniques to create really beautiful and mystical geometric artwork. She writes on her website:

“I have had a long interest in portraying the shaped structures we are surrounded by in nature connecting the laws of science and mathematics with that of Islamic theology. I enjoy exploring how humans may contemplate and relate to these structures and the spaces they generate.
Geometry, may sometimes appear chaotic and complicated but upon further exploration one can discover so much that brings understanding and clarity.
I find that these ideas and calculable structures connect to the theme of seeking knowledge of the Divine through the evidence of creation. This is also something I feel can be conveyed through the universally appreciated forms presented in geometry of varying kinds; helping to form a balance in spirituality and rationality.”

Horizon (Hand-cut pattern - reflected and projected)

WarpI (Light Projection)

Pat5_cut (Digital print)

Sanjay Patel is an animator and illustrator at Pixar Animation Studios in California, who has spent four years (mostly in his free time) creating an illustrated version of the Ramayana. In this interview he describes the motivation for the epic project, and the evolution of his unique illustrative style. You can see more of Sanjay’s work on his website Ghee Happy, devoted to “celebrating Indian mythology and culture through design and storytelling in a fun and modern way”.

See more work from Sara Choudrey and Sanjay Patel…

• SaraChoudrey.com
• GheeHappy.com

“Play” featuring Kiran Ahluwalia, Yves Mesnil, Musafirs, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Niraj Chag and Ghazal. Every month we bring you a podcast with full-length tracks that we think you’ll love. All the tracks we choose will link to a theme, and this month that theme is ‘Play’.

In this exclusive interview DJ Ritu reflects on the world music scene as it stands today, and picks some tracks for us to reflect her taste in eastern soul.

Answer before June 1 for a chance to win a £100 amazon voucher. What we want to know is: Which musicians do you think have Eastern Soul? They could be living or dead, someone famous or someone we’ve never heard of. It doesn’t matter. Just add a comment to this post, below. On the 1 […]

On 24 Oct 2009, live in London, Niraj Chag and his band performed a new track especially written just for the concert: ‘Monsoon Rain’. Featuring eighteen musicians, including a western choir, it was rapturously received. It wasn’t an easy song to perform and Niraj doesn’t know whether this track will ever be performed again – […]

If you haven’t heard of Kiran Ahluwalia yet, you’re in for a treat. For ten years she’s been making her own brand of beautiful, classically influenced music. We think there’s no-else making music quite like hers and we were delighted to interview her. (Don’t forget to download our monthly podcast after reading the interview – […]

In this exclusive interview Garry from the Bombay Dub Orchestra talks to us about the declining Indian string orchestras and upcoming soundtrack work. Not heard BDO yet? We suggest you download the April podcast. I’m interested in the process by which you mix live musicians together, but perhaps not in the traditional sense of artists […]

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