Looking for India in western music.

September 16, 2006 7:34 AM

MusicFilter: Looking for examples of Western pop, rock & so-forth that have a distinct Indian (as in Subcontinental, not Native American) influence, either in instrumentation (tabla, sitar, etc.) or presentation.

For example, "Within You Without You" by The Beatles (rather obvious) or "Rope On Fire" by Morphine (bit more subtle). Any genre will do, though I'd like to avoid parody. Any era is welcome.

posted by grabbingsand to media & arts (33 comments total)

There's a sitar played in Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Don't Come Around Here No More." The instrument was also featured in the video.
posted by christinetheslp at 7:37 AM on September 16, 2006

Lots of stuff by Cornershop, pretty much everything by Talvin Singh.
posted by bunglin jones at 7:38 AM on September 16, 2006

Are you referring to Western artists who genuinely adapt and observe the different scales, tonalities, and traditions of Indian music, or which just sample/apply the superficial traits of such music for aesthetic effect?

There are several million billion examples of the latter, not so many of the former.
posted by mykescipark at 7:39 AM on September 16, 2006

Lots of timbaland produced stuff. Most notably, I guess, get your freak on.
posted by subtle-t at 7:40 AM on September 16, 2006

Are you referring to Western artists who genuinely adapt and observe the different scales, tonalities, and traditions of Indian music, or which just sample/apply the superficial traits of such music for aesthetic effect?

Any of the former would be appreciated, as in examples where for that particular song/album/stage-of-their-career, they just give in to the concept.

As for the latter, I'd still be interested in those that anyone finds especially notable.
posted by grabbingsand at 7:43 AM on September 16, 2006

Badmarsh and Shri are Londoners of Indian descent who do some amazing trip hop. I would say they are a perfect example of what you are looking for; the actual music is very different from traditional Indian music, yet the tone and influences are clear.
In a less perfect example, "Within You Without You" by The Beatles has about 10 too many minutes of sitar noodling.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:54 AM on September 16, 2006

Asian Dub Foundation?
posted by afx237vi at 7:57 AM on September 16, 2006

Nitin Sawhney
posted by tnai at 8:00 AM on September 16, 2006

Karsh Kale ,Bill Laswell / Tabla beat science.
posted by subtle-t at 8:05 AM on September 16, 2006

"Private Psychedelic Reel" by The Chemical Brothers
posted by ed\26h at 8:08 AM on September 16, 2006

Monsoon featuring Sheila Chandra : "Ever So Lonely" This is, I believe, the only Indian-influenced song to be a chart hit in the UK. It was a hit in the early 80s, I think.
posted by essexjan at 8:31 AM on September 16, 2006

The Mahavishnu Orchestra has some definite Indian influences, and the group John McLaughlin started after that (Shakti) is pretty much a 50/50 mix of jazz and Indian (both north and south, which is interesting in and of itself).

As for songs that just borrow instrumentation:

-George Harrison plays sitar in the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood"
-Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam" starts on tabla, and has some Indian melodic ideas in the guitar parts
-Dream Theater's "Home" uses keyboards to replicate sitar and other Indian instruments during its quieter bits, and the outro is a pseudo-Indian polyphony run between the guitar and the keyboards.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 8:33 AM on September 16, 2006

Ack. The Metallica song starts on sitar, not tabla. It's too early in the morning.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 8:33 AM on September 16, 2006

Look up "Dawud Wharnsby Ali" - he's done quite a bit with the Sitar and guitar.

As well, believe it or not, Shania Twain's released a green CD, a red CD, and a blue CD featuring all the songs from "Up"..The blue CD is with east indian instruments.
posted by burhan at 8:51 AM on September 16, 2006

Kula Shaker
posted by pieoverdone at 8:58 AM on September 16, 2006

check out the long, beautiful tabla jams between Danny Carey and Aloke Dutta in Tool's live versions of Pushit. The album Salival had a very good edition and I'd be happy to email you some decent bootleg versions.

Most of Danny Carey's drumming is a musical represenation of Indian "sacred geometry" [dig around here for more info]. It's a little mystical for my taste these days, but it's still some of the most intricate and complex work out there. I think the influence also pops out a lot in the last half of the Lateralus album, particularly with "Reflection"
posted by trinarian at 10:02 AM on September 16, 2006

"Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones
posted by kirkaracha at 10:15 AM on September 16, 2006

Lebanese Blonde by Thievery Corporation
posted by mattbucher at 10:16 AM on September 16, 2006

"Signal to Noise," on Peter Gabriel's fabulous Up album.
posted by theredpen at 10:23 AM on September 16, 2006

DJ Cheb I Sabbah
posted by box at 10:54 AM on September 16, 2006

The Cyrkle was a 60s pop rock band who used sitar on maybe 1/3 of the songs over their two-album career. Their general sound is more bouncy bubblegum with three-part harmonies, and in fact they opened for The Beatles for part of their final US tour.
posted by rhizome at 10:55 AM on September 16, 2006

Indian Vibes
posted by scody at 10:59 AM on September 16, 2006

Macha
posted by nathan_teske at 11:21 AM on September 16, 2006

Jay-Z and Panjabi: "Beware of the Boys": amazing hip-hop infused with exotic Indian rhythmelody & lyric
posted by mynameismandab at 11:26 AM on September 16, 2006

Actually, anything by MC Panjabi is a safe bet.
posted by mynameismandab at 11:31 AM on September 16, 2006

Heart Full of Soul by the Yardbirds is one of my favorite examples. They originally wanted to use a sitar, but they opted instead for fuzzing up the guitar.
posted by apple scruff at 11:37 AM on September 16, 2006

Mike Patton's Peeping Tom has a song or two with a bit mixed into it. Also Mr. Bungle's California does as well.
posted by jmarq at 12:19 PM on September 16, 2006

"Bhindi Bhagee" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.
posted by solid-one-love at 12:21 PM on September 16, 2006

Kula Shaker, absolutely. Also Jai Uttal. And for more vintage sitar sounds from the Yardbirds/"Paint It Black" era, the first Traffic album (the one with "Mr. Fantasy").
posted by Rash at 1:05 PM on September 16, 2006

Basement Jaxx's "Romeo"
posted by heeeraldo at 2:37 PM on September 16, 2006

Andrew Bird's "Fake Palindromes" had a huge bit of Indian bombast right at the opening and the close. A band called Shark Quest (Especially in the song "Monsters") were fond of indian instrumentation
posted by GilloD at 3:16 PM on September 16, 2006

A few of the answers to this question that I asked a few weeks ago might be relevant, but I was also asking specifically about music that was hindi/punjabi/rap mixed, which you said you didn't like, so not all of them.
posted by echo0720 at 6:44 PM on September 16, 2006

Phil Cordell, Red Lady recently posted on Office Naps, is a rollickin' slice of sitar obscura.
posted by einekleine at 2:15 AM on September 17, 2006