 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Talvin Singh" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Talvin Singh OBE | |
|---|---|
 Singh performing in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Talvin Singh |
| Born | 1970 (age 54–55) London, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | Island |
| Website | talvinsingh |
Talvin SinghOBE (born 1970) is a British musician, producer, and composer. Atabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion ofIndian classical music withdrum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with anelectronica subgenre calledAsian Underground, and more recently as Indian and/or Asian electronica.
After collaborating withSiouxsie and the Banshees andBjörk in the early 1990s, Singh released his debut albumOk (1998), which received theMercury Music Prize in 1999.[2]
Singh has since collaborated with a variety of acts includingMadonna andMassive Attack.
Singh grew up inLeytonstone[3] and began playing the tablas as a child. At the age of 15, Singh went to India where he studiedtabla under Sangeet Acharya UstadLachman Singh Seen of Punjab Gharana, he stayed with his Guru till he passed away at 96 in 2022.[4] In the beginning Singh's tabla playing was not accepted by British promoters ofclassical Indian music, as he incorporated too strongly his western influences. By the late 1980s, Singh had decided to turn towards the fusion of sounds. In 1991, he came to prominence by both playing tabla and singing on the "Kiss Them for Me" single bySiouxsie and the Banshees : the single peaked in theBillboard Hot 100 at number 23.[5] Singh then became the sixth member of the Banshees and took part with them as second headliners of the inauguralLollapalooza tour. Two years later in 1993, he was recruited byBjörk to be her percussionist and director on her 1993 album,Debut.
In late 1995, Singh founded the Anokha club night with promoter Sweety Kapoor at East London's Blue Note, where drum'n'bass DJs andSouth Asian punk bands went head to head with the amped-up sounds of his tabla and percussion. Producer and DJState of Bengal (Sam Zaman) soon became the core of Anokha alongside Singh & Kapoor, and his sets alongside Singhs help to inspire a whole generation.
Singh and Zaman would make fresh tracks, cutting them on Vinyl press hours before the Monday Anokha sessions where they would be showcased.
Guest spots by LTJ Bukem and others made Anokha a Monday-night hotspot in London, and Singh signed to Island for an Anokha compilation including several of his own productions. He worked as a remixer, forBlondie on their "Maria" single".
In 1998, Singh released his solo debut album,Ok.[6] The record was critically acclaimed and received the prestigiousMercury Music Prize in 1999.[2] That same year, he also collaborated withDavid Sylvian. In 2000, he worked withMadonna for her album,Music.
On 21 August 2011 he married Calcutta-born, now Bangalore-basedJasmeen Patheja in Gurdwara Jagat Sudhar on Rashbehari Avenue.[7][8][9]
Singh is an accomplished tabla player, electronic musician, music theorist, record producer and DJ. As a solo artist, he is perhaps best known as the father of modern Asian electronica music, though he is also a highly celebrated tabla player, record producer and visual practitioner.
Drawing inspiration from the classical Indian arts, Singh first came to prominence as a tabla percussionist in the 1980s London music scene. Whilst still in his mid-teens, Singh travelled to India to earn pupillage from Sangeet AcharyaUstad Lachman Singh Seen, master tabla maestro of the Punjab school. This period made an indelible mark on the young artist and he has since continued to practice and perform the art form internationally. Singh's collaborations with Indian classical musicians include Ustad Sultan Khan, Rakesh Churasia, Ustad Imrat Khan and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan amongst scores of others.[10]
Singh also became involved in experimental music collaborations beginning in the late 1980s, working with Sun Ra and Courtney, which helped to popularise the burgeoning Asian underground sub-culture movement.
Singh is notable for re-introducing the concepts of Indian classical music to western pop, dance and jazz genres in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Singh's solo album credits include critical and commercial successes Ok (1998)—which won the UK's two most prestigious music prizes, 'The South Bank Prize' and theMercury Prize in 1999.Ok, his groundbreaking 1998 debut release, was recorded in Mumbai, Madras, Okinawa, New York and London, featuring contributions fromBill Laswell,Ryuichi Sakamoto,Ustad Sultan Khan and the Madras Philharmonic Orchestra amongst others.
Singh has pursued several artistic ventures parallel to and in conjunction with his music career, including creating the seminal London club ANOKHA, performing at theTate Gallery in London, creating a sound installation at the Frith Street Gallery in London and composing music for various experimental dance, theatre and film projects. In 1990 Singh conceived the Tablatronic, a hybrid electronic/analog tabla (drum) which uses a rare internal microphone system. However, in a 2017 interview, he said he "did not do fusion music" and disliked the way Indian musicians felt they had to do fusion music.[11]
Singh's debut albumOk (1998) received theMercury Music Prize in 1999.[2]
In 2010, Talvin Singh won an award at theUK Asian Music Awards (UK AMAs) for his "Commitment to Scene".[12] He was awarded anOBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |