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Talvin SinghOBE (born 1970) is a British musician, producer, and composer. He is a tabla player known for combining elements of Indian classical music with drum and bass. Singh has been associated with the Asian Underground movement, with later projects incorporating other Asian electronic music influences as well as Indian.
Singh grew up in Leyton[4], and began playing the tablas as a child. At the age of 15, Singh moved to India, where he studied under Sangeet Acharya Ustad Lachman Singh Seen and remained associated with him until Seen’s death in 2022 at the age of 96.[5] In the beginning, Singh's tabla playing was not accepted by British promoters of classical Indian music, as he incorporated too much Western influence. By the late 1980s, Singh decided to turn towards the fusion of sounds. In 1991, he rose to prominence by both playing tabla and singing on the "Kiss Them for Me" single by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The single peaked in the Billboard Hot 100 at number 23.[6] Singh then became the sixth member of the Banshees and joined them as second headliners of the inaugural Lollapalooza tour. In 1993, he was recruited by Björk to be her percussionist and director on her 1993 album, Debut.
In late 1995, Singh founded the Anokha club night with promoter Sweety Kapoor at East London's Blue Note, which featured drum and bass DJs alongside South Asian musicians and performers. Producer and DJ State of Bengal (Sam Zaman) soon became a central influence of Anokha alongside Singh & Kapoor. Singh and Zaman would make new tracks, cutting them on Vinyl press hours before the Monday Anokha sessions, where they would be showcased[citation needed]. Guest appearances by LTJ Bukem and others contributed to the club’s visibility within London’s music scene.
In 1998, Singh released his solo debut album, OK.[8] The album received positive reviews, winning the South Bank Prize and the Mercury Music Prize in 1999.[2][9] That same year, he also collaborated with David Sylvian. In 2000, he collaborated with Madonna on her album Music.
Personal life
On 21 August 2011, he married Calcutta-born, Bangalore-based Jasmeen Patheja in Gurdwara Jagat Sudhar, India, on Rashbehari Avenue.[10][11][12]
Style and influences
Singh first came to prominence as a tabla percussionist in the 1980s London music scene and was influenced by classical Indian arts. Whilst still in his mid-teens, Singh travelled to India to earn pupillage from Sangeet Acharya Ustad Lachman Singh Seen, master tabla maestro of the Punjab school. This period influenced his later musical development. Singh's collaborations with Indian classical musicians include Ustad Sultan Khan, Rakesh Chaurasia, Ustad Imrat Khan, and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, among other musicians.[13]
Singh also became involved in experimental music collaborations beginning in the late 1980s, working with Sun Ra and Courtney, which contributed to the development of the Asian Underground movement.[14]
Singh is notable for reintroducing the concepts of Indian classical music to Western pop, dance, and jazz genres in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His 1998 debut release OK was recorded in Mumbai, Madras, Okinawa, New York, and London, featuring contributions from Bill Laswell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ustad Sultan Khan, and the Madras Philharmonic Orchestra.
In addition to his music career, Singh has undertaken many projects, including founding the seminal London club Anokha, performing at the Tate Gallery in London, creating a sound installation at the Frith Street Gallery in London, and composing music for various experimental dance, theatre, and film projects. In 1990, Singh developed the Tablatronic, a hybrid electronic/analog Tabla (drum) which uses an internal microphone system.[citation needed] However, in a 2017 interview, he said he "did not do fusion music" and disliked the way Indian musicians felt they had to do fusion music.[15]
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