Asian Underground
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Asian Underground is a term associated with various British Asian musicians (mostly Indian ,Pakistani and Bangladeshi) 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 Asiatic background through their families.
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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Notable artists
- Alok Verma
- Ansuman Biswas
- Asian Dub Foundation
- Badmarsh & Shri
- Bally Sagoo
- Bedouin Ascent
- Black Star Liner
- Bombay Squad
- DJ Cheb I Sabbah (USA)
- Dhol Foundation
- Earthtribe
- Fuad
- Fun-Da-Mental
- Ges-E + Usman
- Gurdeep Samra
- Habib Wahid
- Joi
- Jolly Mukherjee, (whose latest album "Fusebox" included remixes from various Asian Underground artists)
- Karsh Kale (USA)
- Loop Guru
- Manpreet Singh (Toronto, Canada)
- MIDIval Punditz (India)
- Mirko-Kosmos (Switzerland)
- Muslimgauze
- Niraj Chag
- Nitin Sawhney
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (contributor to many Asian Underground artists, in terms of vocals)
- Panjabi MC
- Quaballa Steppers
- Ravi Bal
- Recycler
- Shahrick (Pakistan-Switzerland)
- Sharaab (USA)
- Shiva Soundsystem
- State of Bengal
- Tabla Beat Science
- Talvin Singh
- Temple Of Sound
- TJ Rehmi
- Transglobal Underground
[edit] Notable Labels
- Nation Records
- Outcaste Records
- Axiom Records
[edit] Notable Compilations
- Vedic Presents Rhythmic Intelligence
- Untouchable Outcaste Beats
- Outcaste - Too Untouchable
- Outcaste Presents: The First Five Years
- Outcaste New Breed UK
- Swaraj
- Stoned Asia
- Sitarfunk
- Quilash- How The West Was Won
- Indestructible Asian Beats
- Fuse3 - Global Chaos
- East-Westercism
- Further East-Westercisms
- Essential Asian Flavas
- Eastern Uprising
- Asian Underground
- ...And Still No Hits: Nation Records - The Story So Far
- Asia Lounge
- Arabesque (album)
- Anokha: Soundz Of The Asian Underground
- Asian Lounge
