Google News... and Cool Music.

As a huge fan of Google, it dawned on me to see how I could connect Google News to my worldwide exploration of hip-hop/South Asian fusion music.

Google News is fantastic, incredibly efficient, and sociological in that it delivers the most up to date news from virtually every perspective.

I typed in "hip-hop india" (not in quotes in the actual search) and boom.. look what I see.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/12/putting_her_spin_on_south_asian_musical_invasion/

Here are some excerpts from The Boston Globe:

"Putting her spin on South Asian musical invasion
College radio show finding 'Desi' fans

College radio show finding 'Desi' fans



By Elizabeth Ross, Globe Correspondent | August 12, 2007
BRIGHTON -- Fueled by a cup of hot chai, Komal Trivedi is blasting out bhangra beats from a claustrophobic basement radio studio at Boston College. The disc jockey likes her music loud, so loud that the bass booming from the two large speakers above her head sounds as if it could burst her eardrums at any moment.

The 31-year-old Brighton resident swivels her petite frame up to the microphone just after 7 a.m., and in a thick Cockney English accent announces: "Yeah, that's right -- you heard it, no excuses. Get up! Get up and out of bed! I've already been awake for a couple of hours, ya know."

Then with a giggle she continues: "Good morning! Welcome! You're listening to 'Bricklane Beats' right here on WZBC, 90.3. My name is Komal, bringing yeeeeeewwww the best of the global South Asian music scene for the next couple of hours. Got any shout-outs, requests, what 'ave ya, do gimme a call, would love to hear from you."

The music Trivedi features on her Thursday morning show is an infectious mix of modern dance beats, and experimental electronic sounds and classical Indian rhythms. Until now, South Asian music in Boston had "been confined to the AM radio international music ghetto," says DJ Brother Cleve, a local musician, producer, Bollywood music fan, and mentor to Trivedi. "Her show is really one of the first local FM shows to feature a wide variety of what's available and what's happening."

Trivedi's broadcasts are helping expand the audience for South Asian -- predominantly Indian -- music in the area. Perhaps more significantly, she and her fellow Desis are also looking at the prospect of exponential growth through the Internet. "Desi," which means "motherland" in many South Asian languages, refers to people of the region and their diaspora.

One fast-growing website is San Francisco-based desihits.com, whose CEO, Anjula Acharia-Bath, is convinced that South Asian music is about to explode into the cultural mainstream, in the same way that Latin music did a few years ago. "Everyone's looking for the next big thing," she says, "and lots of people think that Desi culture is the next big thing."

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I highly suggest checking out the rest of the article. This project is happening within a half an hour of me, yet I did not know about it until I searched on Google News. This shows the incredible power of online marketing products in shaping amazing cultural phenomena that connect not only different sides of the globe, but different generalizations.

Flute Beatboxing?!

I am totally blown away by this.. speechless.

Nathan "Flutebox" Lee & Hanif Khan on the Tabla:





More information on these incredibly innovative, fusion-based artists and similar artists can be found at the Swaraj Music MySpace... lots of awesome music on the MySpace page, be sure to check that out:

http://www.myspace.com/swarajmusic

The RISE music festival tomorrow showcases Flutebox Lee (who is half Scottish and half Indian) and other similar artists:
RISE Music Festival

These guys are what this blog is all about. Mad props to all of you.

"I hope my CD will make orphans smile"

Now here's a project that sounds really dope.

From icCoventry:

"A BHANGRA artist from Coventry has recorded an album to help raise money for orphaned children around the world.

Ranjit Jassal, known as Desi Dark Child, financed and produced the record Sleepwalking, which is released on August 20.

He will donate all the profits to the SOS Orphan Children's Villages Charity, which provides aid to more than a million abandoned children in 124 countries."

[Jassal] has worked in the studio alongside mainstream artists like Punjabi MC, Surinder Shinda, Kuldip Manak, Mohamed Sadiqe and Taz, from Stereo Nation.

He said: "The artists who have worked on this record have brought a new sound and beauty to Bhangra with their great vocals.

"The sound is unique, nothing is copied like many of the tracks you hear currently in the industry.

"I feel that many Bhangra artists have recently lost their way and I hope this is a return to real Punjabi music."

The Asian News has another article here on this genuinely musical project that has a great cause

If you want to see what Desi Dark Child is all about musically then check this out:

UndergroundHipHop.com

This is a great store located in Boston. They often have artists representing all subgenres of hip-hop come into their storefront (which is loaded with merchandise) and chill and talk about their experiences and perceptions. Their selection of clothes, CDS, DVDs, mixtapes, posters, and pretty much everything hip-hop is off the chain. Their site is located at UGHH.com and they have a popular forum over there as well.

They sell a few intriguing India-themed CDs. Here are a couple that might be worth buying for producers and fans:


UGHH.com states:

"Following the success of the first Sitar Beat compilation CD, a collection of Indian and Indian-inspried European funky selections from the 60s and 70s, the crew knew they had to come deep for the sequel. So for Volume 2, they go straight to heart of India with some of the rarest, and best tracks recorded between the years of 1970 and 1984. Nearly all of these tracks are appearing on CD for the first time.

Sixteen tracks of rare and funky Indian flavor, blending heavy beats with the sounds of the sitar and the inimitable vocal sounds of beloved Indian singers such as the ubiquitous Asha Bhosle and producers/songwriters like Kalyanji Ananji and R. D. Burman. Most of the tracks are culled from Bollywood sound tracks from the 70s and early 80s. Enormously popular, often wild and packed with action and romance, these films put the intense music of star composers like Burman and Kalyanji & Anandji at the forefront. The strange, psychedelic sounds possess their own cultural mish-mash of flavors – combining traditional Indian instrumentation and melodies with film music’s intensity, and incorporating styles from American/Western music from about 5 years or so behind the trend.

All this to say – expect funk, psychedelic rock, disco and proto-electro to jump out from the grooves of Sitar Beat Volume 2 and hit you harder than a mouth full of spicy masala. This is soul from the Sub-continent at it’s best!"

order this hot curry at UGHH


UGHH.com states:

"The Sitar Beat series was built with the DJ in mind - collecting some of the wildest, heaviest and most psychedelic Indian Funk recorded and presenting it loud on wax, ready for the turntable. Now, due to popular demand, we’re collecting the heaviest cuts from this vinyl series and presenting them on a limited edition CD.

The first four volumes were lessons in just how ahead of their time India’s Bollywood composers were in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. They dug into Indian deep funk and psycho-psychedelic masterpieces recorded for the Bollywood film industry. Alongside full length killers like the funkiest track from the rare “Qurbani” soundtrack, there were Bollywood funk fiestas by acclaimed composers such as Kalanji Ananji and R.D. Burman, with extended breakbeats and re-edits that upped the funk to the boiling point. Together with Ravi’s nephew Ananda Shankhar’s instrumental Sitar freak outs were diva Asha Boshle’s soulful wailings.

Culling its music from rare vinyl and utilizing tasteful restoration and remastering, Sitar Beat was the first time that many of these songs are heard by the record-buying public - at least in this form. Edits remove any bobbing and weaving, leaving funk that only flies straight ahead!"

order it at UGHH

Here are a couple mysterious albums.. no descriptions given, but the tracknames seem on point.


get more info at UGHH


get more info at UGHH

Madlib - Beat Konducta Vol 3

From Wikipedia:

"Madlib (Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats)[1] (born Otis Jackson Jr. on October 24, 1973 in Oxnard, California, United States) is a California-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and producer. Known under a plethora of pseudonyms, he is one of the most prolific and acclaimed hip hop producers of the 2000s and has collaborated with myriad hip hop artists, including The Alkaholiks, De La Soul, Talib Kweli, MF DOOM (as Madvillain) and the late J Dilla (as Jaylib)."

From DustyGroove.com:

"Hazy beatcraft steeped in Indian soundtrack style funk, strings and percussion from the indefatigable Madlib -- Volume 3 in the increasingly adventurous and conceptual outings of the Beat Konducta! This time out Madlib, er, Beat Konducta is conducting beats, strings & things from India and/or otherwise East -- but the way in which the beats bluntly thump is quintessential Madlib -- you know it and love it from the first beat! 'Lib really breathes fresh life into this approach -- going miles deeper than anyone out there doing the Bollywood-hip hop hybrid -- coming up with a sound all his own. Masterful! "Onthanewthing", "Indian Deli", "Rumble", "Dancing Girls Theme", "Piano Garden", "Dark Alley Incidental Music", "Early Party", "Fifth Chant", "The Rip Off (Scene 3)", and "Sitar Ride"."

This looks really dope. A hip-hop musical exploration into many intricate areas of Indian music.

I also love the effort put into the album cover, which does resember old school Bollywood movie posters:



Here is an example of what I'm talking about:



Madlib's Myspace, with song samples: http://www.myspace.com/madlib


Interested in ordering the album? check out The UGHH Store

Welcome

This is the beginning of what will hopefully become an important resource for fans and creators of hip-hop music. There is a prevalence of South Asian samples in hip-hop music today, and also the incorporation of hip-hop culture into music IN South Asia. There are also exciting things happening everywhere in between as these two vibrant and intricate cultures fuse their sounds and mentalities.

This site will not just contain information about artists who blend these two cultures into a new culture, but also South Asian songs, old and new, that feature sounds marketable to producers. This site is a resource.

If you are a fan and/or a producer who has some cool music or thoughts to share, get up with me and I will post your stuff on my site.