Contemporary music with elements of Indian styles?

February 8, 2008 2:01 PM

I'm looking for artists, albums, or single songs that mix in elements of Indian/Hindi music and other various contemporary styles.

Some songs that I enjoy like this are M.I.A.'s "Jimmy" and Pepe Delux's "Numa."

What else would I like?

posted by c:\awesome to media & arts (29 comments total)

Cornershop
posted by SBMike at 2:04 PM on February 8

Sheila Chandra/Monsoon - "Ever So Lonely"
posted by essexjan at 2:09 PM on February 8

Talvin Singh.
posted by subtle-t at 2:10 PM on February 8

Kula Shaker (their first album, "K" was much, much better than their second. I haven't listened to their new album after getting back together recently).

We Tigers (Saw them on Saturday. They have sitar.)
posted by andrewraff at 2:11 PM on February 8

Here's the version of "Ever So Lonely" that was a chart hit in the UK.
posted by essexjan at 2:12 PM on February 8

Perhaps too obvious, but Panjabi MC.
posted by dersins at 2:12 PM on February 8

Rudra
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 2:35 PM on February 8

Apache Indian
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:39 PM on February 8

Similar to the very great Talvin Singh - Karsh Kale and State of Bengal - all very awesome trance/drum & bass artists. Enjoy!
posted by Craig at 2:43 PM on February 8

What you're looking for is frequently called bhangra, but I've also heard it called Asian Underground. Karsh Kale, Cheb i Sabbah (who's Algerian but has 3 albums with a similar sound to what you're looking for), DJ Rekha, Bally Sagoo, MIDIval Punditz and remixes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The best will be live, of course, but I think Bar Bhangra is my favorite. I like to blast it when the neighbors are playing gangsta rap.
posted by fiercekitten at 2:49 PM on February 8

Punjabi By Nature. Asian Dub Foundation.

The Beatles. Donovan.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:59 PM on February 8

Bill Laswell's City of Light and Hear No Evil.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 3:01 PM on February 8

Madlib gracefully joined his style of hip-hop production and Indian music on Beat Konducta vol. 3 & 4.
posted by carsonb at 3:27 PM on February 8

Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars, and Sitars, and its sequel, Bombay 2: Electric Vindaloo
posted by matildaben at 3:41 PM on February 8

DJs / Producers Dan the Automator and DJ Shadow built the excellent albums Bombay The Hard Way: Guns, Cars And Sitars and Bombay 2: Electric Vindaloo from Bollywood movie soundtracks. "Third World Lover," featuring Kid Koala on turntables, is an outstanding track if you want a sample.
posted by churl at 3:49 PM on February 8

And that's what I get for not previewing.
posted by churl at 3:50 PM on February 8

Also check out Cheb i Sabbah.
posted by kenzi23 at 3:52 PM on February 8

Dave Pike's Mathar?
posted by juv3nal at 3:56 PM on February 8

Tabla Beat Science has released two wonderful albums and a DVD. It is very much a meeting of east and west: Zakir Hussein, the extraordinary tabla player & Ustad Sultan Khan singing and playing sarangi & Karsh Kale on drums & Bill Laswell on bass & Gigi (from Ethiopia) singing & dj disk on turntables. If you are ever so lucky to see them live, there may be wonderful guest musicians, e.g. Pharoah Sanders on saxophone or Sussan Deyhim singing too.
posted by conrad53 at 4:17 PM on February 8

Check out Madlib's Beat Konducta in India . Great stuff.
posted by wigglin at 4:31 PM on February 8

Lots of Suns of Arqua
posted by Abiezer at 4:43 PM on February 8

Midival Punditz have been creating some great music in this genre. Two released albums are Midival Times and the self titled Midival Punditz. They have also done a great soundtrack for Let's Enjoy. They have often played with Cheb I Sabbah and Karsh Kale. Bhangra is just one of the styles sampled in these. A lot of Drum 'n' Bass is mixed with traditional and popular indian music.

"Numa" actually has more middle eastern influences, although the sample in "Jimmy" is from a very popular 80s hindi disco song, also called "Jimmy, Jimmy" ! If you are looking for more like "Jimmy", you would do well to listen to modern remixes of old hindi songs, done by people like DJ Suketu and DJ Aqeel (search on youTube). Popular hindi music in the 60s, 70s and 80s had lots of influences (in some cases, direct copies !) from the disco genre, making them very susceptible to excellent remixes.

Enjoy ..
posted by zergot at 5:09 PM on February 8

There is a DJ Spooky album/track that is named Bollywood, which is freaking phenomenal. It's not released as a proper album, and I received my copy as a demo at an event he spoke at...it's certainly worth looking for, but if you can't find it, feel free to let me know.
posted by furnace.heart at 5:36 PM on February 8

ah! i almost forgot DJ Anjali! SO GOOD.
posted by furnace.heart at 5:44 PM on February 8

Many of the artists listed above are on the Six Degrees label (discogs). They release compilations and samplers pretty regularly, and they're mostly not too obnoxiously world music-y.
posted by plant at 6:36 PM on February 8

If you like the dancehall elements in M.I.A.'s music, give Kush Arora a listen. I recommend the songs on "From Brooklyn to SF" that feature Juakali, and the album "Bhang Ragga".

The drum kit + Middle Eastern hand percussion in the Pepe Delux song reminds me of Barra Barra by Rachid Taha.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 7:46 PM on February 8

The Harvey Girls used sitar on Resh Day Lo (link goes to Resh Day Lo in Metafilter Music)
posted by micayetoca at 11:08 PM on February 8

Seconding Cornershop / Clinton. And if you like "Jimmy," may I recommend MIA's remix of Cornershop's Topknot?
posted by EL-O-ESS at 12:07 AM on February 9

The college radio station here, KCSB, has a great show of Indian Music Saturday afternoons called "The India Show" (looks like 12:30-2:30 on the schedule, pacific time). They play lots of different styles, and you can get the station streaming from the first link.
posted by SBMike at 2:05 AM on February 11