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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: DTS 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    French, Spanish, German
  Extras
  • Cast/crew biographies
  • 7 Music video - Individual pieces from production with remixed audio
  • 7 Behind the scenes footage
Music in High Places - India.Arie Live in Brazil
Warner Vision/Warner Vision . R4 . COLOR . 59 mins . E . PAL

  Feature
Contract

This next chapter of the Music in High Places series takes us on a spiritual journey with India.Arie to Brazil. For those who haven’t picked up on the vibe of the series yet, the real deal is that this is an odd hybrid concoction with the ingredients of Getaway and a splash of MTV. Each episode takes the audience to an exotic location around the world, and features a set of unplugged acoustic performances from a specific artist. Previous discs in the series have included the Goo Goo Dolls in Alaska, Shawn Colvin in Bora Bora, The Calling in Italy and Collective Soul in Morocco, among others. As a fan of both music and travel, this series is a great timesaver, merging two shows that could easily be an hour each into one neat 59-minute package. How easy is that?!

This leg of the journey picks up India.Arie who leads us to Bahia in Brazil, where she continues on her spiritual journey through life and generously takes us by the hand and shows us a vastly different culture. Featuring a skimpy seven songs, this DVD may not be as hectic as others in the series have been, however the journey is much more personal, and in this reviewer’s opinion, more worthwhile. Rather than having some ignorant pop star cruising around some rich and colourful region of the world poking the stick at things that are different to their manufactured Western society, this time around we follow Arie as she develops at as a human being, appreciating her surroundings – taking it all in – not making fun of it all. But anyway, this journey is sadly a tad short, only about 40 minutes in total. At Chapter 16 starts a lengthy behind-the-scenes sequence which completes the episode, whereas many other titles in the series have these behind-the-scenes clips on the disc as extra features.

India.Arie’s music is rich, involving and highly spiritual. The guitar plays a huge part in her music, with two supporting guitarists accompanying Arie and her guitar. The raw percussion sound strongly backs up the powerful lyrical quality of this artist, and rich harmonies stream from the songs with so much emotion and heart. The track listing for India.Arie’s journey is...

  1. Always in My Head
  2. I See the God in You
  3. Promises
  4. Beautiful
  5. India’s Song
  6. Video
  7. Strength, Courage and Wisdom

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

Made for television, this transfer is presented in the widescreen aspect of 1.78:1, and is anamorphically enhanced. While not the best example of the Music in High Places series quality-wise, this transfer is still mighty fine. Colours are bright and vibrant, capturing an effervescent quality, and this is masterfully conveyed on screen. Blacks are solid and whites bright, providing a healthy saturation and firm contrast. And to make it even better, posterisation is not an issue at all! The image is consistently sharp, with a pristine clarity capturing every minute detail of the frame.

At the 41 minute mark, when we switch to behind-the-scenes footage, the quality of the video drops significantly when consumer-level digital video cameras are used. Blurs, pixilation and poor colour are all apparent, but they're artefacts of the shooting equipment rather than transfer related issues.

The biggest gripe with this transfer is more to do with the editing. Every few minutes, a Music in High Places logo dances onto the screen and is slightly disruptive. But why whinge? Well earlier discs didn’t actually have these cut sequences in them, so why add them now? But apart from that, it’s a pretty nice transfer.

For those with an audio fetish, this disc is sure to please. Included are two 5.1 tracks in DD and DTS, and a stereo DD one too. So which one’s the winner? In this reviewer’s opinion (and those who have read other reviews by yours truly should already know the answer) the DD tracks reign. The DTS track has one major flaw. And that is that it is DTS. It’s overly harsh and crisp, which, for this genre, is too crisp, loosing the warmth of the music. The DD tracks offer a warmer richness, and sounds more faithful to the actual conditions.

If you have a 5.1 set up, stick on the DD 5.1 track for the optimal performance. If you only have a stereo setup, the 2.0 track is a fine representation of the episode, however it lacks the enveloping fullness of the 5.1 setup. The DD and DTS 5.1 tracks seem to have been built the same way, with a large and solid front, and gloriously enveloping surround channels. Bass levels are decent, providing a solid backing to the music, and treble levels too are spot on. The subwoofer even gives a woof every now and then, but nothing big or boomy, just nice and discrete. Dialogue comes clearly from the centre channel, with the remaining channels used to provide ambience. However, during the songs, the remaining channels lift off as the soundstage broadens and is highly involving and enveloping – perfect for the armchair listener.

The static 16:9 menus load up after a brief series of logos, and give us access to the extra features. As discussed above, most of the behind-the-scenes footage is stuck in Chapter 16 of the main feature to make up the one hour episode.

First up are seven behind-the-scenes featurettes. These provide extended looks at sequences from the edited feature episode, and allow us to get, quite simply, a look behind the scenes. These featurettes are Capoeira - Brazilian Style (2:14), Speed-Os and Tender Feet (2:12), Jammin' with the Pros (4:08), Forrest Does the Gourd (2:53), TV Crews Gone Wild (6:15), Brazilian Clacker Cam (1:15) and Sticks, Machetes, and Drums (6:44), all presented in an anamorphic aspect with Dolby Digital 1.0 audio. Yes, that’s a 1.0. Now after watching these, it makes you wonder exactly what substances are legal in Brazil. Oddly, these are presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. More substances methinks.

The standard Just the Music list is in place giving you the chance to see, funnily enough, just the music. The selections are India's Song (3:20), Video (4:54), Beautiful (3:48), Beautiful Surprise (2:44), Strength, Courage and Wisdom (5:46), Promises (4:30), I See The God In You (3:20) and Always In My Head (3:16). All are presented in a letterboxed 1.78:1 widescreen aspect, and features Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

Finally there's a biography of India.Arie, spanning eight text pages.

The quality of the Music in High Places series is remarkable, taking audiences to beautiful locations around the world and treating them with stunning transfers. For your Music in High Places DVD collection, this title fits in nicely. If you’ve never heard of India.Arie before, do some research on the Internet to see if she’s your sort of thing, then go out and grab this one. It offers a rewarding journey and stunning acoustic performances - where can you go wrong?


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  •   And I quote...
    "This next chapter of the Music in High Places series takes us on a spiritual journey with India.Arie to Brazil..."
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Philips DVD 736K
    • TV:
          TEAC EU68-ST
    • Receiver:
          Sony HT-SL5
    • Speakers:
          Sony SS-MSP2
    • Centre Speaker:
          Sony SS-CNP2
    • Surrounds:
          Sony SS-MSP2
    • Subwoofer:
          Sony SA-WMSP3
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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