for Nitin Sawhney fans

Bruce,

In a recent World Music phase I'm glad I picked this one up (Salt Rain). Have you sampled anything else by her?

Thanks to you and Graeme A for the rec.

Stewart

I'd agree the album is excellent, but it's one of those ocasions where (IMO) it'd have been better if she'd missed off the rather flat version of Song To The Siren, which can't hold a candle to the wonderfully eerie original version by Tim Buckley (from "Star Sailor" - an altogether one-off unclassifiable classic) or indeed the splendid version from the first This Mortal Coil album.

Now, if there was ever a deserving cause for a thread of it's own, it's This Mortal Coil - in the wasteland that is much of the late 80's, these were truly excellent.

If you like her voice she is the singer on the Joi albums. They are not my thing really but I have heard parts which are OK.
I think Salt Rain was her solo debut

Bruce

Bruce,

You're right about Susheela and Joi - she sings on four tracks on their first album, which is uniformly excellent, but on only one of their second, which is markedly less exceptional than their first.

If there are any Joi fans out there, or like Talvin Singh, then can I post another recommendation for an album by The Dum-Dum Project "Export Quiality"? High quality up-tempo/dancey Asian Underground that no-one seems to know about....

Bruce,Nick et al.,

Saw Mr.Sawhney on television a few weeks ago and bought Broken Skin.It's very good but a bit on the mellow side.Could you give me more titles that would be interresting for me,as in Holland this kind of music is totaly unknown.

Regards,Rob.

Sawhney has made a few albums, easiest to look through his output on Amazon.

Look at Talvin Singh too, bit more dance orientated but varied and interesting. His Mercury award winning album 'OK' is a fine test of a HiFi system!!

I am not a dance fan but check out Asian Dub Foundation and also a great album of modern asian music dedicated to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on RealWorld records called 'Star Rise'. This features a bunch of artists you might like and may also get you into Nusrat-a genius!

Bruce

Bruce,

Many thanks for your recomandations.I'm also not much of a dance fan but my wife is...I'will check it out.

Rob.

Robbie,

I'm not an expert on this stuff (if Dev B's finished globe-trotting he can probably give you a better run-down) but here's my view of this sort of thing.

If Nitin is at the "softer" end of Asian Underground, then in approximate order of getting "beatier":

Joi: "One And One Is One" (their first) is better than "We Are Three", which is still rather good.

Talvin Singh: His first "OK" is excellent, his second "Ha" is very good

Suns Of Arqa: "Un1verse City". Great beats and packed from beginning to end with wonderful Tibetan growling!

The Dum-Dum Project: "Export Quality" as mentioned in previous post. Not to be missed.

Black Star Liner: "Yemen Cutta Connection" and "Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!" are both excellent as is their re-mix album "Twelve Inch Confrontation Mix"

Badmarsh & Shri: "Dancing Drums" and "Signs". Brilliant.

Beyond them lie Asian Dub Foundation, which I know Dev really likes, but are a bit too uncompromising for my tastes.

Outside of this lot lies Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Until his recent death he was the leading Qawwali (religious singing) exponent - he has to be heard to be appreciated. It really is a wonderful experience. He recorded a series of CDs for Realworld, using western sounds, and they're all excellent.

If you were to try one I'd start with Musst Musst (features a remix by Massive Attack). Alternatively he recorded a couple of albums with the ambient composer Michael Brook, which make great chill-out music.

Not quite Asian Underground (I think):

Transglobal Underground: Take sounds from Asia, the Middle-East and the Caribbean and of course feature the magnificent Natacha Atlas. There are five albums, my favourites being "Dream of 100 Nations" and "Psychic Karaoke", though their newest "Yes Boss Food Corner" has the world's finest ever sitar solo on it.

Loop Guru: Their many albums go from ambient to being packed with beats. My favourite (and more hard-edged) is "Loop Bites Dog" featuring the marvellous track "Single Orphan First Year Camel"!

Sorry for the length of post. Once I'd got started...

There are others that I'm sure I've missed or I just don't know about. If anyone else has recommendations, I'm afraid I can't get enough of this stuff....

Nick,

Also many thanks!I've got a lot to check out now.

Rob.

...there is a whole world of classical ragas and other work to explore.

I posted a thread about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan a while back-i am sure the search engine will find it for you. Musst Musst is indeed a good place to start.

Bruce

Bruce,

Thanks again !

Rob.