Music has always been the soundtrack to Ritesh Das’s life. But now, he’s finally the star of the show.

After more than three decades as founder and artistic director of the groundbreaking, Juno-nominated Toronto Tabla Ensemble, the master musician, composer, producer, performer and instructor is stepping into the spotlight with his first solo album, fittingly titled To Begin With. “My path has shifted,” the personable 66-year-old multitasker says with his typical forthright simplicity. “It was time for me to try something new.”

New doesn’t begin to cut it. Sonically and stylistically, To Begin With is an album unlike anything in Ritesh’s long, storied career — though its origin story is hardly unique. Like countless artists, Das had his hand forced by the pandemic. Unable to travel to Toronto from his London, Ont., home to compose and record with his Ensemble, he turned to technology and his home studio. He taught himself to use composing and recording software. He wrote songs that blended live instrumentation with programmed beats, samples and orchestral instruments. And he collaborated remotely with a diverse slate of world-class talents, crafting tracks that changed, evolved and blossomed as they bounced back and forth. The result is the most inspired, expansive and fully realized album of Das’s catalog — an epic sequence of cinematic cuts that blend man and machine, balance spirituality and technology, and form the soundtrack for a globe-trotting adventure film straight out of Das’s boundless imagination.

“I’m glad you used the word cinematic,” he enthuses. “That’s exactly what I was going for, absolutely. I have always wanted to compose music for films and documentaries, but I have been busy working with the Ensemble. So I never had time to make this music. Normally I would be inspired by the sound of 10 tabla players and write songs from that. But with everybody on Zoom, well, forget it. It just didn’t work. It wasn’t happening. This forced me to learn new things, and todo things that I never would have done. And now, this thing is huge!”

He’s not kidding. Packed with action, tension, momentum and emotion, To Begin With is a roller-coaster ride on the edge of your seat. The title track kicks things off with majestic horn flourishes underscored by Das’s blazing tabla, gradually building in intensity and tension like any good opening sequence. It sets the scene for an international tale of intrigue that unfolds over a series of stunning hybrid tracks featuring a roster of high-powered guests.

• Montreal klezmer outfit Oktopus co-star in the jaunty, seven-minute snake-charmer Ot Azoy. “I’ve always wanted to do something with klezmer,” says Das. “These guys had a fire that attracted me when I heard their music.”

• Japanese-born,Toronto-based shamisen player and folk singer Aki Takahashi of Taiko ensemble Nagata Shachu takes center stage in the enigmatic, eccentric, hip-hop-flavoured Issai Gassai. “She’s a serious, serious person,” Das says. “She’s very strict. But I asked her, ‘Would you do something in a Japanese hip-hop vein, and she did. And i’s fantastic.”

• Egyptian vocalist Maryem Tollar — a former Tabla student of Das — hypnotizes you with Ta Alu Nitabill (Let’s Drum), an ode to the rhythm of life. The track also features the exotic sounds of renowned Sarod player Manik Khan — son of the great maestro Ali Akbar Khan, whose father mentored none other than Ravi Shankar. “I have known her for a long, long time,” Das says of Tollar. “This just came about because I wanted to do something groovy with her incredible voice. And I am honoured that someone from the lineage of Ali Akbar Khan is on this track.”

• And Indian -born Canadian rock queen Bif Naked — who appeared on the most recent TTE album For The Love Of Tabla — returns to deliver a throat-shredding vocal on the environmental lament Forgiveness Of Trees. “She’s a genuine, lovely human being with no ego and a good soul,” Das says. “Somebody interviewing her asked if she would work with me again, and she said, ‘He better work with me again!’ So it’s like that, you know.”

Between those set pieces, Ritesh takes centre stage, showcasing both his well-honed musical skills and his newfound technological expertise on dynamic, standout tracks. There’s the humbly titled but undeniably compelling Just A Groove. The circular and syncopated 5.5. The ominous, darkly tolling Origin. And of course, the outsized and ambitious shape-shifting, show-stopping centerpiece Dance Drama, which moves from raga-style drones to complex Indian bebop over the course of 10 gripping minutes. By the time the album wraps with the contemplative, sombre closing-credits ballad Far Away, you’ll wonder where the story goes next.

Das’s own story is no less epic. Born in Calcutta to parents who owned the region’s first dance and music academy, he began studying the tabla, voice and sitar in 1972. At age 22, he followed his brother Chitresh Das, an acclaimed Kathak dancer,  to San Francisco and Los Angeles, where he joined the Aman Folk Ensemble and toured the United States while broadening his musical horizons. After relocating to Toronto in 1987, he began teaching tabla, and formed the TTE in 1991.

Since then, Das and the TTE have crossed Canada multiple times, and mesmerized audiences in India and Australia with their intricate grooves and modern, high-energy approach. They have released eight original studio albums that have garnered Global Music Awards, Independent Music Awards, Ethnic Media Awards and other honours. They were nominated for a Juno Award for their 2000 album Firedance, while 2020’s Bhumika earned them nominations for Best World and Best Instrumental Group at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.  They teamed with Tea Party frontman Jeff Martin for the 2007 concert DVD Live At The Enmore Theatre. Their compositions have been licensed for commercials, films, and as the theme music for CBC Radio’s daily Metro Morning.

But Das has never rested on those laurels. And isn’t about to start now. The prolific, restless artist is already looking ahead to his next solo release — a radio-station theme is already in the air— along with new orchestral compositions, film scoring opportunities, and a return to the performing world with the Ensemble. “You have to keep moving, you know,” he says. “The amount of composing and the amount of work I’ve got going on is incredible. So much is being done.”

In other words: Stay tuned for the sequel.