Talvin
Singh is a world famous composer, producer and tabla
player. He was born in East London and began playing
hand drums "tablas" at an early age. As a teenager he
journeyed to India where he stayed for 2 and a half
years studying tabla under one of the great masters.
Back in London, Talvin experienced the conservatism
that plagued the British classical Indian music establishment.
This antagonism pushed him to explore other music and
other worlds, where his talents as a tabla player could
be appreciated.
Talvin
is a classically trained percussionist. He
is also the innovator of the first digital tabla and
is viewed as the architect
of Britain's Anglo-Indian dance.
The Beat Goes On, featuring
vocals by Cleveland Watkiss and Samar Estaphane, is
from his recent album HA, in which he continues
Singh's fusion of traditional Asian music with electronic
breakbeat culture, although the flavor is more Indian
and Arabic this time. Its Not
Over is also from HA, and it is an atmospheric
number that highlights his fascination with electronic
instrumentation and tablas. Tracks 3 & 4 are from
his previous album OK, for which he won the South
Bank and Mercury Music Prize in 1999.
Internationally
known by the name Kitaro, Masanori Takahashi is the
pioneer of the Japanese New Age music and has a universal
audience from all over the globe. He first came to public
attention in 1980 when his soundtrack for the Japanese
Television documentary, Silk Road, captivated an international
audience. Kitaro had begun playing acoustic guitar in
1970. Musically, his style started with a sound that
was ambient and used native instruments. His love for
the synth made his music more dramatic but he retained
an original and natural flavour by playing some traditional
instruments with it. Kitaro, being a self-taught multi-intstrumentalist,
plays the keyboard, guitar, flute and taiko drums among
many other instruments, besides doing his own orchestra
arrangements. About 10 years ago, he moved to USA, and
since then, he has produced about 30 albums with amazing
music, which has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide.
He was honored with "The Golden Globe Award" for the
soundtrack of "Heaven and Earth", an Oliver Stone movie,
and has been nominated for the "Grammy Award" several
times.
Trilok
Gurtu is considered to be one of the greatest percussionists
in
the world.
He comes from Bombay, India, and lives now in Germany.
He is
a multiple
percussion wizard, and has credits in his native folk
music,
creative
improvised music, as well as fusion, rock and jazz.
Recently a
member of
Oregon and the John McLaughlin Trio.
