Asian Underground

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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 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

[edit] Notable Labels

[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

[edit] Asian Underground DJ's

  • Bobby Friction( Radio 1 / Asian Network. UK)
  • Nihal ( Radio 1 / Asian Network. UK)
  • DJ Pathaan
  • Dilen
  • Handzsolo (bopadom)
  • El-Vishio (Sabras Radio)
  • Mo Magic (Asian dawn recordings)
  • Shiva Soundsystem
  • D code
  • Dushume
  • Tabla Head (Audio Dakoos)
  • Bandish Projekt
  • Abdul Smooth
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