Indian electronic fusion

["Paul Marshall" <paul@powerhaus.net>]

> been listening to talvin singh for a few years.
> really like the fusion of cultures there...
>
> >....  This friend has introduced me to some
> > nice Indian-flavored electronic dance music by Talvin Singh and Karsh
Kalai.

Talvin Singh's music and his arrangements are wonderful, I'm a big fan, I
caught on to Karsh Kale (pronounced Kursh Kalay) about 6 months ago,
excellent stuff, not as 'driving' as I had anticipated but great beats and
lovely melodic passages, there are some excellent downloads from Karsh
Kale's site.  Another recommended listen in this vein maybe a touch more
'popular' and varied is Nitin Sawhney, but these guys are all from similar
moulds.  I'd also recommend that anyone interested in electronic or dance
oriented Indian music check out the Dhol Foundation's 'Big Drum Small 
World'
album, they put on a pretty impressive live show too featuring anywhere 
from
5 to 200 drummers.  The second album is about a year, maybe less, away.

Bill Laswell has been instrumental (ouch) in bringing a few of the current
tabla genii together (Zakir Hussain, Trilok, Talvin, Karsh along with the
sarangi master Ustad Sultan Khan in a group called 'Tabla Beat Science' if
tabla and electronics are your thing then check this out, the album is
called Tala Matrix.  Bill's trademark sound and arrangements are all over
it, I love it.

I almost had the privilege of appearing on a track featuring Sultan Khan 
but
bad timing made that impossible before the track was finalised for the next
Dhol Foundation album, had I been in the right place 6 weeks earlier DOH!!
<kicks self again>  The track is stunning, sublime.

This is the area in which I am currently getting lots of my influences in 
my
own writings, I'm not a patch on these guys but I love the sounds and the
tonalities and it's great craic.  I am working on some remix material using
original studio files from the Dhol Foundation, what a joy, great
recordings, isolated instruments, top drawer players, what a buzz :) I'd 
let
you all hear some but I can't for now for (their) record company reasons, 
if
I'm able to make them available I'll do so as soon as I can.

I'm interested in hearing anyone else's recommendations for this type of
Indian fusion music or any from the middle east which is another source of
stylistic fusion although from what I have been able to uncover, electronic
artists don't seem to be having the same impact, maybe it's the next wave,
maybe not given the current political situation of the region.

Anyway, it's good to be able to post on a subject that I'm familiar with

0.02

Paul
----------------------
Paul Marshall
Percussive Artist, Sound Artist
www.powerhaus.net
www.drumdojo.com
NI Facilitator for the Da Capo Foundation
www.dacapo.co.uk