hindi music help!

August 18, 2006 8:36 AM

MusicFilter: Can you recommend some fun, mixed up modern-ish sounding hindi music?

In what I consider a totally odd twist*, my swedish roommate asked me (her completely non-Indian indian-american roommate) for recommendations for songs similar to that chaiyya chaiyya song that's on the Inside Man soundtrack. I know nothing about hindi music except for Monsoon Wedding, Bollywood Dreams and one or two old school mix CDs I listened to after college. I saw that there was some music recommended in this thread (I even did some of the recommending!), but I'd appreciate any other suggestions you might have. Personally, I'm against the whole mixing rap into hindi music thing, but she LOVES that stuff, so recommend away...

*I say odd, because I recently gave her copies of my Dungen and Jens Lekman CDs and she totally wasn't into them. What kind of a swede is she??? Oh wait.

posted by echo0720 to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

Unless you're in the UK, it's really hard to find good mixed hindi music. My approach is desi torrent sites- just google and you'll be able to find what's out there.
posted by unexpected at 9:09 AM on August 18, 2006

Two CDs that I listen to frequently: Rough Guide to Bollywood and Rough Guide to Banghra.

Another option is to find your local Indian/Pakistani grocery - they tend to sell lots of Hindi music, and it's usually pretty inexpensive. Ask for their personal recommendations.
posted by kdern at 9:25 AM on August 18, 2006

Bombay The Hard Way: Guns, Cars And Sitars is a collection of 'gently' remixed Bollywood standards (common movie themes) by Dan the Automator (of Gorillaz). The result is something up-tempo of Thievery Corporation and suitable for dancing/driving/whatever. Surprising how well the sound/style fits into the Western music vocabulary.

(cut/pasted from the other thread. it's all I got, but I think it's plenty)
posted by cowbellemoo at 9:33 AM on August 18, 2006

Best answer: If you have eMusic, go to International > Indian and check what's in the top 10 most downloaded. There's also a Bollywood Soundtracks group on last.fm and you could listen to their "group radio" to see what members are into.
posted by matildaben at 10:40 AM on August 18, 2006

I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but this compilation is a classic of sorts of from the 90s of indian (well, indian subcontinent) electronica.
posted by advil at 10:59 AM on August 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

There's a sequel album to Bombay the Hard Way called (natch) Bombay 2: Electric Vindaloo. Personally, I prefer it to the first one, as they have a whole roster of people doing the remixes. There's also Doob Doob O' Rama and its sequel (again, which I prefer), plus something called Bollywood Funk. That last doesn't seem to be an album of remixes, but it is indeed quite funky. And I'll probably have to get it, dammit.
posted by Vervain at 11:04 AM on August 18, 2006

There's a great radio show here in Houston with some fantastic tabla beat/hiphop remixes: Generasion Radio on KPFT. You can listen to old shows, but no podcasts yet. Really fun and great music, probably right at what she's looking for.
posted by pomegranate at 11:59 AM on August 18, 2006

Theres Chori, Chori by Aneela but its not Hindi - though to someone who doesn't know any better it would sound Hindi.
posted by ASM at 12:15 PM on August 18, 2006

Best answer: Phooey. You don't want gimmicky hipster crap, or musical-appreciation samplers, you want the real stuff that actual Indians dance to -- now, in Common Era.

My stairmaster playlist from a couple weeks ago:

1. Meter Down, from Taxi 9-2-11 (2006)
2. Right Here, Right Now, from Bluffmaster (2005)
3. U 'n' I, from Hum Tum (c. 2004)
4. Ek Look Ek Look, from Aryan (2006)
5. Aashiqi Meri, from 36 Chinatown (2006)
6. Des Rangila, from Fanaa (2006)
7. Dhoom Machale, from Dhoom (c. 2004)
8. Jogi, by Panjabi MC (c. 2003)
9. Soniye nii Soniye, by Juggy D and Punjabi Hit Squad (dunno)
10. Main Vari Vari, from Mangal Pandey (2005)

Here's what I'm listening to these days (albums):

Chup Chup Ke
Aap Ki Khatir
Lago Raho Munna Bhai
Omkara (not really dance music though)

Apparently Indians are digging the Kabhi Alvida na Kehna soundtrack -- it is a super hit there -- but I don't like it at all, for what that's worth.

Some Western rap/Indian fusion:

"Sirf Tum" (vs. Lean back)Punjabi Hit Squad ft. Gunjan
"What's Happening" Wu-Tang Clan
"React" Eric Sermon
"Addictive" Truth Hurts
"Hai Hai," "Aaja Soniya" Ms. Scandalous (not a mash-up: she's a Punjabi rapper)
"Push It Up" Juggy D/Rishi Rich (ditto)
"Mundian to Bach Ke" Jay-Z and Panjabi MC
The entire Beware album by Panjabi MC will blow your mind.

Favorite dance/modern ishstyle albums:

Kismat
Dil Se (chaiya chaiya is from this one)
Where's the Party Yaar?
Murder
Asoka
Yuva
Bluffmaster

You can get all of this at desiest (if you can get a download slot) or probably from Shareaza. Or, I suppose, you could buy it.

Or better, shoot me an email and I will burn a CD of celestial tunes and send it to you.
I am like a Jehovah's Witness with this.
posted by Methylviolet at 3:09 PM on August 18, 2006 [5 favorites]

Methylviolet is spot on, and has given me a ton of new stuff to download. "Mundian to Bach Ke" (I prefer the non-Jay-Z mashup version, even though I usually dig Jay-Z) will rock a party like no other song. Period.

Just one teensy nit to pick: most of the stuff labeled bhangra (Mundian To Bach Ke, some of the stuff on the Monsoon Wedding soundtrack) will not be actually "Hindi" music, but rather Punjabi. I doubt it will bother her, though, but if she's trying to brush up on her Hindi skills, well, then ...
posted by anjamu at 4:50 PM on August 18, 2006

And just to clarify --

Yes, I really am an evangelist with the Bollywood music.
If any of you want a CD, I really will send it to you.

Email me.
posted by Methylviolet at 12:27 PM on August 19, 2006

Unless you are mean, um, in which case I won't -- !?
posted by Methylviolet at 10:35 PM on August 20, 2006