The British Asian electric bass player Shez Raja has been lauded for an Indofunk sound that blends East and West with muscular, Mahavishnu-like elán. Previous releases, 2016's Gurutopia and 2019's Journey to Shambala respectively featured jazz-fusion hero Randy Brecker and iconic percussionist Trilok Gurtu, and the sort of finely balanced ensemble work that also shines here. Recorded during a trip to Lahore in early 2020, Tales from the Punjab finds the Wirrall-raised, London-based Raja diving deeper into his South-Asian heritage and creating a sort of garlanded bridge between cultures in the process.

The combined might of an ensemble made up of a who's who of traditional players – tabla maestro Ali Dani; seventh-generation sarangi player Zohaib Hassan; Ahsan Papu, bansuri flute player for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – may have overwhelmed a lesser musician. But Raja's delight in their free-flowing musical empathy is evident right from the opener ‘Angel's Tears', in which his bass provides a foundation over which players showcase their chops, deftly stepping back on the intro to ‘Adventures in the City of Wonders' before weighing in, sumptuous and low-end, alongside flute and tabla.

Throughout, stories are told in ways ancient, modern, spiritual and sustaining. Not for nothing is the closer called ‘Enlightenment.'