Bollywood meets Bukem: Talvin Singh returns

November 3, 2006

Bollywood meets Bukem: Talvin Singh returns

Talvin Singh, master of the tabla, creator of the Asian Underground sound and winner of the coveted Mercury Prize for music, is returning to New Zealand.

No stranger to New Zealand audiences, touring with Massive Attack in 1995 and selling out Wellington’s Opera House for this year’s International Festival of the Arts, Talvin will DJ for the first time ever in New Zealand.

Playing what can be described as a Bollywood meets Bukem style of drum’n’bass, Talvin’s DJing set is yet another progression for the man that won the Mercury Prize for music in 1999, beating out other nominees the Chemical Brothers, Blur and the Manic Street Preachers and joining the likes of Franz Ferdinand, the Arctic Monkeys and Portishead as fellow-winners of one of the world’s most sought-after musical prizes.

Helping create the Asian Underground sound, Talvin fused modern electronica with elements and nuances of the East, mixing the melodic structures and complex intensity of Indian classical with the gritty sound of UK jungle and drum 'n' bass. Working with celebrated acts such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bjork, Madonna and Massive Attack, Talvin has elevated the unique sounds of India to millions of ears throughout the world.

British-born Talvin’s story is one of prodigious success and driving ambition. A child of punk rock, Talvin travelled to India to learn tabla at age 15 with Punjabi grand master Gurudev Pandit Laxman Singh Ji, and by age 23 he had formed his own label, Omni, further developing the Asian Underground through concept albums Anokha – Soundz of the Asian Underground (1997) and Calcutta Cyber Cafe: Drum + Space (1995).

His subsequent club night Anouska fostered the emergence of Asian Underground luminaries, the Asian Dub Foundation, Joi, A.R. Rehman and The State of Bengal.

With a global influence that most people could only dream of, Talvin returns to New Zealand. New Zealanders, for the first time ever, can dance with the man who has always marched to his own beat.

TALVIN SINGH – DJ SET:BUKEM MEETS BOLLYWOOD

WELLINGTON: Friday, December 8th @ Sandwiches

AUCKLAND: Saturday, December 9th @ Studio

TICKETS (both shows): $22 adv +b/f from Ticketek and Real Groovy

ENDS

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