Asian underground is a term associated with various British Asian and South Asian Canadian musicians who blend elements of Western underground dance music and the traditional Asian music of their home countries in South Asia. The sound has roots in the South Asian Diaspora, and many notable musicians within the genre are immigrants or children of immigrants.The first well-known mention was the compilation album Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground released in 1997 and masterminded by Talvin Singh and Sweety Kapoor. It is not a strict musical genre per se, since the specific sounds can vary wildly.
Joi is a British alternative dub/dance music DJ team of Bangladeshi origin, originally composed of brothers Farook and Haroon Shamsher. Haroon died on 8 July 1999, and the remaining brother has continued Joi alone.
Nitin Sawhney is a British musician, producer and composer, as well as former comic actor. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among several other awards throughout his career, Sawhney's work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and spirituality. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions.
Badmarsh & Shri are an English electronic dance music duo who hail from London, England. The members who comprise the band are DJ Mohammed Akber Ali, aka Badmarsh, who was born in Yemen, and tabla player Shrikanth Sriram, aka Shri, who was born in Mumbai.
Visionary Underground are a technology driven, audiovisual collective from London. At VU's core, DJ Feelfree's distinctive, driving beats are laced with UK hip hop, ragga, soul, dub and Asian flavas and accompanied by VJ Coco's vibrant, interactive visuals. Damion Mulrain's soaring vocals are a perfect counterpoint to the fluid delivery of rapper Duane Flames. Collectively, they ably demonstrate that they have a finger on the pulse of the nation's psyche. Their live performances are delivered with energy and passion.
Reena Bhardwaj is a British Indian singer, songwriter and recording artist best known for her collaborations with A. R. Rahman and Nitin Sawhney. Versatile to genre and language, her repertoire includes a variety of Indian Traditional, Bollywood, World and Popular styles sung in various Indian languages and English.
Susheela Raman is a British musician. She was nominated for the 2006 BBC World Music Awards. Her debut album Salt Rain was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001. She is known for energetic, vibrant, syncretic, and uplifting live performances built on the sacred Bhakti and Sufi traditions of India and Pakistan.
Kevin Mark Trail is a British R&B, soul, reggae and hip hop singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to fame by appearing on two tracks on The Streets debut album Original Pirate Material, including the hit single, "Let's Push Things Forward", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.
Nothing Can Stop Us is a compilation album by Robert Wyatt released in 1982.
Samuel Lloyd "Sam" Duckworth is an English musician who performs as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. He is also sometimes referred to as Get Cape, Cape, GCWCF and Slam Dunkworth. According to Duckworth, his original stage name came from Retro Gamer magazine, from an article about superhero games such as Batman containing the heading "Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly", although a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon by Bill Watterson has also been cited. In addition to the Get Cape name, and his given name, Duckworth has released music under the moniker Recreations.
Shri is a British multi-instrumentalist and producer. Shri specializes in acoustic, electric and electronic based live performances. Shri incorporates traditional Indian instruments into his music.
Cameron Sinclair is a Scottish composer, conductor and percussionist based in London. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the University of Sussex, studying composition with Martin Butler and Jonathan Harvey. In 2004 he won a British Composer Award for The Secret of the Universe. He works with orchestras including the Philharmonia, Glyndebourne and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Beyond Skin is an album by English musician Nitin Sawhney. It was released on the Outcaste label in 1999. The album focuses largely on the theme of nuclear weapons; Sawhney states in the booklet that the album "has a timespan that runs backwards", beginning at "Broken Skin" with the India-Pakistan nuclear situation and ending at "Beyond Skin" with Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita – "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".
Sandhya Sanjana is a singer from Mumbai, India. She is one of the first Indian singers to have experimented with combining Indian classical vocals with contemporary western styles. Her career began at a young age and she has appeared on over 30 albums of various genres.
Andrew Catlin is an English photographer, artist, director, cinematographer and filmmaker. His work has been widely published, and is included in numerous collections, books, exhibitions and archives.
Anuj Rastogi, is a Toronto, Ontario, Canada based film composer, producer, musician, spoken-word artist, writer and live event producer. He is an active collaborator, and founder of independent music label Omnesia Records.
David McEwan is an Australian record producer, engineer, composer, and a member of the band The Safires. He is the co-owner of The Sanctuary Recording Studio in London and is best known for his work on the award-winning Plan B album The Defamation of Strickland Banks. He has also had long time production connections with musician Nitin Sawhney. David McEwan is also the son of the Australian actor Colin McEwan.
Traces of You is the seventh studio album by Indian sitarist Anoushka Shankar. It was released on 4 October 2013 through Deutsche Grammophon. The album, which is Shankar's first release since her 2011 Grammy-nominated album Traveller, was produced by British composer and multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney. Traces of You features vocals by Norah Jones, Shankar's half-sister, on three tracks. In December 2014, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best World Music Album category.
Aruba Red is a British, London-based alt-soul and trip hop musician, named after a female pirate legend. Aruba Red's music has been said to cross traditional boundaries, she has described her sound as "Alternative Soul music centred around themes of transformation and healing, influenced by trip hop, minimalist electronica, glitch, soul, acoustic folk and dub". She is also the daughter of Cream bassist, vocalist and songwriter Jack Bruce and recorded backing vocals for his last album Silver Rails which was released on 24 March 2014 on Esoteric Records. Her lyrics have been said to be passionate and intelligent, dealing with emotive subject matter. and "providing a campfire for anyone who needs to feel the warmth".
One and One Is One is the debut studio album by English dance music group Joi, released on 23 February 1999 by Real World Records.
