TALVIN SINGH: The Cultural Nomad

He is a classical Indian musician, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, disk jockey, rtrepeneur, conceptual thinker, tastemaker, mystic all rolled into one. Presenting an enigma called Talvin Singh...

It’s difficult to describe Talvin Singh. As an artist who has been creating waves in the international music scene for over a decade, Talvin has moved across boundaries, cultural and geographical, breaking and creating musical genres that have often been hard to define. A trendsetter who takes risks, his career, spanning over 10 years has already left a mark on the consistently evolving music scene.

Born and brought up in East London, Talvin’s first inspiration was the Indian music his parents played at home. He picked up the drum at an early age, taking in all the sounds of the diverse environment. As a teenager he frequented Indian Record Stores in London and Birmingham, picking out back trends and new releases, and then rushing them home to mix and scratch on his father’s turntables.

He realised soon enough that for him life was music and determined to master the tabla, he came to India at the age of 16, in search of a guru. Talvin studied under one of the finest exponents of the Punjab gharana, Ustad Laxman Singh, to whom he owes much of his knowledge.

He returned to London to hone all the musical influences that he was surrounded with. Talvin was drawn into diverse scenarios, exposing him to a carnival experience as far as breakdancing to breakbeat, jazz to jungle, concerts, kirtans, mehfils as well as the growing trends in black roots music, ska and electro.

When Britain’s Indian classical promoters derided his approach and individuality, Talvin decided to make his own progressions. From early experiments with London’s jazz musicians, Courtney Pine, Cleveland Watkiss, Bim Sherman, and touring with the legendary Sun Ra and his Arkestra, to long time collaborations with Bjork, and work with Massive Attack and other genre-defining musicians, Talvin began to amalgamate his experiences releasing his first album Drum + Space and starting his ground-breaking club Anokha.

The resulting Soundz of the Asian Underground compilation triggered off a movement among Asian DJ’s in London’s dance music scene, bringing due recognition to various hybrid forms emerging from the confluence of many cultures and many environments. Talvin had drawn together a host of talent, creating their unique blend of ambient dance music, incorporating universal sounds, harmonised with melody and rhythm. He produced and released the Anokha compilation reinforcing the movement, which was backed up by a lifestyle statement epitomised by Talvin’s phrase, The Cultural Nomad, and cross cultural fashion trends such as Sari and trainers.

His sound and his endeavours brought a whole new dimension into electronic music and the science of beat patterns, one that he mirrored and expressed with Hindustani classical instruments, especially the tabla, which he elevated and established as one of the most modern and versatile musical instruments to be regarded in the 21st century. Anokha flung open the doors for an array of new genre acts to get signed to majors, and Talvin signed to island Records as a solo artist.

His debut solo album OK saw Talvin once again travelling through cultures in search for the sounds that influenced his consciousness. It harmonised a host of eclectic and international sounds. Conceived in London, OK was recorded in Madras, Bombay, New York, Okinawa and completed in the confines of his studio in East London’s Brick Lane. Having worked with over 30 musicians across three continents, OK saw Talvin collaborate with sarangi maestro Ustad Sultan Khan, Rakesh Chaurasia, The Madras Philharmonic Orchestra and veena-player Devi amongst others. Like a jazz album, OK reveals its subtleties and marvels with repeated listening.

OK won The Southbank and the 1999 Technics Mercury Music Prize, an award given to what critics see as the best album for the year in the United Kingdom.
Since winning the Mercury, there has been no looking back. He produced an album for the Master Musicians of Jajouka, which inspired the title music for The Cell, a movie directed by Tarsem Singh, starring Jennifer Lopez. The year 2000 also saw the release of Tabla Beat Science - Tala Matrix, a collaboration with Bill Laswell and Zakir Husain featuring Talvin Singh.

Having completed a new theme for BBC’s Tomorrow’s World, which will run for the next five years, he plans to invite friends to re-interpret the theme musicians who fit into the Tomorrows World genre, and he plans to release thid as an album on his own label.

Besides this Talvin has also been busy working on other albums. His second solo album, HA as well as Anokha’s second compilation are due for release in March.

Talvin, a product of his diverse cultural experiences, the result of an intricate journey from the ancient to the modern, at 30, has achieved a lifetime worth of creative accomplishments. His sound is what is will define Indian world music in the 21st century.

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