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Encyclopedia > Asian Underground

Asian Underground is a term associated with various British Asian musicians (mostly Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan) who blend elements of western underground dance music and the traditional music of their home countries. The first well-known mention was the compilation album Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground released in 1997 and masterminded by Talvin Singh. It is not a strict musical genre per se, since the specific sounds can vary wildly (from Cornershops' Britpop to Panjabi MCs' jungle). Most of these artists are the children or grandchildren of immigrants and have grown up in Western culture, but still have a strong Asian background through their families. The term British Asian is used to denote a person of Southern Asian ancestry or origin, or sometimes Western Asian origin, who was born in or was an immigrant to the United Kingdom. ... A compilation album is an album (music or spoken-word) featuring tracks from one or multiple recording artists, often culled from a variety of sources (such as studio albums, live albums, singles, demos and outtakes. ... Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground is a compilation album. ... See also: 1996 in music, other events of 1997, 1998 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 9 - David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert (the day after his birthday) at Madison Square Garden, with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic... Talvin Singh (Matharu) (born in 1970 in Leytonstone, London, England) is a British DJ and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of classical Indian music and drum n bass. ... Cornershop is a British indie band formed in Leicester in 1992 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh (singer, songwriter, and dholaki player), his brother Avtar Singh (bass guitar, vocals), David Chambers (drums) and Ben Ayres (guitar, keyboards, and tamboura), the first three having previously been members of Preston-based band General... Britpop was a British alternative rock genre and movement that was at its most popular in Great Britain in the mid 1990s. ... Panjabi MC (real name Rajinder Singh Rai) is a British Asian punjabi musician. ... Jungle music is one of the most deviant and punkish forms of electronic music, employing fast tempos (150-190 BPM is common), layering extended and mangled breakbeats on top of throbbing, authoritative basslines, originally borrowed from reggae. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ...


In the 1990s, Asian Underground was considered hip and broke through to the mainstream. The genre and other forms of South Asian music began to influence the UK's pop mainstream as acts like Björk, Bananarama, Erasure, and Siouxsie & the Banshees all released singles or remixes featuring South Asian instrumentation. Subsequently, Talvin Singh won a Mercury Music Prize for his album OK in 1999. See also: 1990 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1990 Record labels established in 1990 list of years in music // January 21 - MTVs Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical guest, Squeeze February 6 - Billy Idol is involved in a serious motorcycle accident, resulting in several broken bones. ... Hip is a slang term, an adjective meaning fashionably current, referring to someone who is conversant with or deeply involved in a particular trend or subject. ... Look up mainstream in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the musician. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the a musical group Erasure. ... Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band that formed in 1976. ... The Mercury Music Prize, now officially known as the Nationwide Mercury Prize, is a music award given annually for the best British or Irish album of the previous 12 months. ... See also: 1999 in music (UK) Musical groups established in 1999 Record labels established in 1999 // January 7 After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation. ...

Contents

Primary instruments

Asian Underground uses many traditional and relatively new instruments. Its primary ones are sitar and tabla, and almost all artists use an electronic or acoustic drum kit and/or synthesizer. Some groups like Tabla Beat Science use an electric bass. Various other instruments, including the dholak, sarangi, and bansuri are also sometimes used. Diagram of some sitar parts. ... A typical set of Tabla. ... A drum kit (or drum set or trap set) is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments arranged for convenience playing by a single drummer. ... For other uses, see Synthesizer (disambiguation). ... Tabla Beat Science was founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. ... Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ... The Dholak (sometimes dholaki) is a classical North Indian hand drum. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... The bansuri (Hindi: ) is a transverse alto flute of India, made of a single length of bamboo with six or seven open finger holes. ...


Notable artists

Asian Dub Foundation is a British alternative electronica band, that play a mix of breakbeat, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence. ... Akshai Sarin is a media entrepreneur, composer, producer, performer, and DJ. At 24, he was the youngest Indian producer to have his music played on BBC Radio 1s Alternative Asia program. ... Badmarsh & Shri are an electronic/trip hop duo from London, UK. // Formation Prior to their formation, Badmarsh (whose name means rascal in Hindi) worked at the reggae studio Easy Street; which was hiring PA equipment to a nightclub called Labyrinth. ... Bally Sagoo (born Baljit Singh Sagoo) is a British Asian musician and DJ who was born in Ranjit Nagar, Delhi, India but grew up in Birmingham, England, in a predominantly Black neighbourhood, influenced by disco, rap and Motown music. ... ... The Dhol Foundation is both a dhol drum institute in London and a musical group playing bhangra music. ... Fun-Da-Mental is a radical, multi-ethnic, British, Islamic world fusion and ethno techno band formed in 1991. ... Gurdeep Samra (also known as G Samra) is a British Asian music producer and DJ hailing from Bicester, UK. As a producer, he enjoys a notable presence within the World Music community. ... Jalebee Cartel is one of the most successful LIVE electronic acts nfrom India. ... Joi is a British/Bangladeshi alternative dub/dance music DJ team, originally comprised of London brothers Farook and Haroon Shamsher. ... Jolly Mukherjee is an Indian singer/songwriter. ... Karsh Kale (pronounced Kursh Kay-lee), producer, composer and musician, melds the music of his Indian heritage, with the modern electronic club music of his American upbringing. ... Loop Guru is an New Age Music group consisting of comprised bassist/guitarist Salman Gita (born Sam Dodson) and programmer Jamuud (a. ... MIDIval Punditz is an Indian fusion group consisting of two Delhi-based musicians, Gaurav Raina and Tapan Daj. ... Mission: on Mars, invented in New York City in 1998, is a New York-based performing ensemble and music collective that mixes live breakbeat rhythms, Indian classical sitar melodies, space-jazz guitar, middle eastern drones, into a funk chilled crater of moon walking beats. ... Muslimgauze was the stage name of Bryn Jones (June 17, 1961 - January 14, 1999), an extremely prolific British electronic music artist, strongly influenced by everything to do with the Middle East. ... Niraj Chag is a London-based musical artist and composer. ... Nitin Sawhney is a London-based composer and DJ of various styles of music, including jazz, drum and bass, hip hop, flamenco and modern orchestral compositions. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Panjabi MC (real name Rajinder Singh Rai) is a British Asian punjabi musician. ... Recycler is the tenth studio album by American blues-rock band ZZ Top, released in 1990 (see 1990 in music). ... East London SoundSystem formed by Nerm. ... Saifullah (Sam) Zaman, recording as State Of Bengal (aka SOB), is a British DJ and producer associated with the Asian Underground movement. ... Tabla Beat Science was founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. ... Talvin Singh (Matharu) (born in 1970 in Leytonstone, London, England) is a British DJ and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of classical Indian music and drum n bass. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Trilok Gurtu is an Indian percussionist, widely acclaimed by his unique and awesome approach to music. ...

Notable Labels

Nation Records is a record label set up by Aki Nawaz which released the first new take on world dance music, an album called Fuse. Featuring the earliest appearance by Talvin Singh as Mahatma T, the label went on to feature the early releases of Asian Dub Foundation, Joi, Transglobal... Axiom was a record label founded by musician Bill Laswell in 1989, with the support of Chris Blackwell. ...

Notable Compilations

  • Swaraj
  • Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground
  • Asian Lounge
  • Nasha - eastern drum n breaks volume 1 & 2

Self rule is the term used to described a people or group being able to exercise all of the necessary functions of power without intervention from any authority which they cannot themselves alter. ... Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground is a compilation album. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...

Asian underground DJ's

  • Audio Dakoos... www.myspace.com/audiodakoos
  • Tablahead... www.myspoace.com/tablahead
  • G.U.V... www.myspoace.com/djguv
  • Gholee Wallah... www.myspoace.com/gholeewallah
  • Bobby Friction( Radio 1 / Asian Network. UK)
  • Nihal ( Radio 1 / Asian Network. UK)
  • Mo Magic (Asian dawn recordings)
  • DJ Pathaan
  • DJ Balu ( Tilos Radio/Budapest)
  • Kurian & Petra Klaus (Indian Vibes/Radio X/Germany)
  • Dilen
  • Handzsolo (bopadom)
  • El-Vishio (Sabras Radio)
  • Shiva Soundsystem
  • D code
  • Dushume
  • Talvin Singh
  • Bandish Projekt
  • Abdul Smooth
  • DJ Dulz - www.bazna.com

See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Asian Underground - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (300 words)
Asian Underground is a term associated with various British Asian musicians (mostly Indian or Pakistani) who blend elements of western underground dance music and the traditional music of their home countries.
The first well-known mention was the compilation album Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground released in 1997 and masterminded by Talvin Singh.
In the 1990s, Asian Underground was considered hip and broke through to the mainstream.
:: asian massive :: (1280 words)
Although the Asian Underground (its most common name), in its current form, has only been getting noticed for the past 5 years, the seeds of the movement were sown a long time ago, in the Indian sub-continent.
Young South Asians born and raised in the UK were facing somewhat of an identity crisis; they weren’t considered 'English' enough in their adopted land but on the other hand they would never be accepted at home in India as being truly Indian.
The Asian Dub Foundation (calling their style 'Asian jungle-punk') is repeatedly considered one of the greatest live bands in the world.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

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