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Talvin Singh OBE | |
|---|---|
 Singh performing in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Talvin Singh 1970 (age 55–56) 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 a fusion ofIndian classical music withdrum and bass. Singh is involved with anelectronica subgenre calledAsian Underground, and more recently with Indian and Asian electronica.
After collaborating withSiouxsie and the Banshees andBjörk in the early 1990s, Singh released his debut album,OK (1998), which received theMercury Music Prize in 1999.[2]
Singh has since collaborated with a variety of acts, includingMadonna andMassive Attack.[3]
Singh grew up inLeyton[4] and began playing the tablas as a child. At the age of 15, Singh moved to India, where he studiedtabla under Sangeet Acharya Ustad Lachman Singh Seen of Punjab Gharana. He stayed with his Guru till he died at 96 in 2022.[5] In the beginning, Singh's tabla playing was not accepted by British promoters ofclassical Indian music, as he incorporated too much Western influence. By the late 1980s, Singh decided to turn towards the fusion of sounds. In 1991, he rose 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.[6] Singh then became the sixth member of the Banshees and joined 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, wheredrum 'n' bass DJs andSouth Asian punk bands went head to head with the amplified sounds of his tabla and percussion. Producer and DJState of Bengal (Sam Zaman) soon became the core of Anokha alongside Singh & Kapoor.
Singh and Zaman would make new tracks, cutting them on Vinyl press hours before the Monday Anokha sessions, where they would be showcased[citation needed].
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.[citation needed][7]
In 1998, Singh released his solo debut album,OK.[8] 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.[9][10][11]
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 left an unforgettable 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.[12]
Singh also became involved in experimental music collaborations beginning in the late 1980s, working with Sun Ra and Courtney, which helped to popularize the burgeoning Asian underground subculture movement.[13]
Singh is notable for reintroducing 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 successesOK (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.[citation needed] 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.[14]
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".[15] He was awarded anOBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours.
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