Asian Fusion Music -

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Badmarsh

Well-known member
What do you all think?

Into the sound?

Feeling the vibe? The whole east meets west thing?

Indian music has always been popular in the West - thanks to Ravi Shankar, The Beatles, the hippie scene and trustafarian's going and travelling in India.

Nowadays Indian culture is even more prevalent - with most "boho chic" girls wearing something Indian on them.

Spirituality also is something "souless" westerners look to the east for, for inspiration anyway.

But what about the modern fusion music thats bubbling? Peeps like: Nitin Sawhney, State of Bengal, Talvin Singh, Karsh Kale, Shiva Soundsystem, Eastern Drum n Breaks, etc etc...

What do you peeps think of the sound - have u even heard it?
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
things like Punjabi MC's are huge in Europe but not that big in the US. Bunghra is definitely on my list of things to explore. A friend of mine was saying there was a thriving underground Bunghra scene where it's all tough bass, nasty breaks and grimey acid lines, with snake charming melodies interwoven. sounds good to me!

Talvin Sighn is pure rubbish though. I never heard ANYTHING I thought was good. bullshit artist all the way. the Wire lost 25 percent credibility when they put him on the cover.

I kind of like the Law and Auder label too... they did some interesting eastern tinged stuff in the early 90s.

some of my favorite dancehall tunes have that middle eastern thing going on... wicked.
 
Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
hi badmarsh,

i'd have to admit to being more partial to the straight desi music, though i noticed that Swami, one of my favourite things of last year were being marketed "unblinkingly" as Desi, by the usual outlets and distributors (where one doesnt usually find and "fusion" yet there was a large dose of (for want of a better description) chemical brothers-style rock to their sound. actually within the context of desi (quite strictly focussed on Hip-Hop and Dancehall) that was quite radical. again a group like Tigerstyle seemed to start off more fusiony and end up more straight desi-styled.

what do you think of Desi?
 
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Noah Baby Food

Well-known member
Badmarsh - silly question probably, but are you the guy from Badmarsh and Shri? Mate of mine used to rinse one of your albums, very late 90s, and I really liked it.

Do like a lot of what I've heard of Asian fusion stuff, but I'm pretty badly informed about it all. Would like to know more for sure.

Interesting fact though (and forgive me if you hustlaz know this already): the UK music charts are complete bull, coz they only survey a small selection of shops. Asian pop music regularly outsells mainstream-distributed pop music, but doesn't get in the charts because it's not sold in Woolworth's. If they surveyed all the family-run, small scale shops where the stuff is sold, Asian gear would be topping the "hit parade" every week.
 
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Badmarsh

Well-known member
Unfortunately not, although I do know badmarsh and shri. I'm badmarsh coz im naughty!

Yes there is a deep polarity between fusion and straight up bhangra/rnb.

On the one hand you got nitin, talvin, state of bengal etc and the other juggy d, and other peeps.

It's good to see bobby and nihal getting a good slot on radio 1. Their show is excellent.

Bhangra raves in the UK are live. I remember going to ones back in the day and they were properly properly intense.

Asian music is coming into the mainstream generally, with dre kicking off the sampling frenzy.

I think its excellent - purely because asian's are such a predominant minority - its worth society reflecting that!

Funny how asian music is polarising itself - there's a definite gap between underground fusion and mainstream mtv raghav type stuff.

I tend to go for the whole boho/fusion thing...its definitely a very sexy look :)
 
B

Blackdown

nexKeysound
i check bobby friction and nihal's show now and then. most of it sounds so fresh. some of the stuff they can get away with playing in the early evening is amazing. if only other DJs could be so 'experimental'.
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
desi?

sorry for my ignorance but what is meant by "desi"? any information along the lines of geographic locale, ethnic identification, stylistic description would be appreciated. oh and what are some good artists. thanks

- fiend
 
L

LRJP!

(Between Blank & Boring)
Blackdown said:
i check bobby friction and nihal's show now and then. most of it sounds so fresh. some of the stuff they can get away with playing in the early evening is amazing. if only other DJs could be so 'experimental'.
Click to expand...

there's always a few killer tracks for me. Last night was DJ VIPS feat. Kulbir "Surma" (VIPS Records).
 
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