Asha Bhosle - Love Supreme (2CD Set] (2006)

She's been an icon for years in the world of Bollywood, but Asha Bhosle's international profile has never been higher, and this double CD capitalizes on it. The first is a new disc, a series of ghazals, or love poems set to music, a common light classical form throughout India and the Middle East. This has a twist -- they're all given a contemporary sound, like "Aawargi," which opens with a Cuban piano riff before moving into light funk and back. But their function is simply to form a frame for Bhosle's supple voice, which is always going to be the star. She can sound like an ingénue or a matron, with a gorgeously seductive sweetness that's impossible to resist. There are soft hip-hop grooves ("Rafta Rafta") and some pieces that fall close to ballads ("Mijhe Tum Nazar Se"). The second CD, if not a best-of, cherry-picks from Bhosle's extensive film duet career. Selected by herself, there are some beauties here, like a pair that team her with sister Lata Mangeshkar, and another two with R.D. Burman. It might not be the thing to win her new converts, but then again, once you've heard her voice, you're instantly a fan. But it's more Bhosle to hear, and that's always a good thing.