Talvin Singh: Policies need to change in the UK

Talvin Singh UKbased tabla player of Indian origin at a performanceWhen Talvin Singh the UKbred tabla player of Indian origin approached British programmers for work in the late 80s he faced rejection His style of playing was dismissed for having Western music influences Soon he turned to Fusion and reaped benefits In 1991 he collaborated with the English Rock group Siouxsie and the Banshees for the song Kiss Them For Me which made him an overnight starThe 46yearold created a new genre called Asian Underground a blend of Indian Classical with drums bass and electronica Since then Singh has been an avid collaborator working with bigwigs like Madonna and Duran Duran His debut album Ok received the Mercury Music Prize in 1999Currently in India for The Exchange a conference between UKs Department of International Trade and Indian promoters for future musical collaborations and concerts he will perform in the city on Friday Edited excerpts from an interviewIndia still exerts an emotional pull on many Indians residing abroad If given a chance which Indian artiste you would want to collaborate withThere are so many good musicians here At times I feel lonely in the UK as an Indian artisteI would love to work with Bengalurubased producer Rahul Giri Sulk Station He is making great music and is a brilliant mind What kind of artistes from India do you think would succeed in the UKTo start with policies need to change in the UK There is platform racism all of a sudden It wasnt there in the 90s Immigration is also a problemI remember Indian artistes being invited by the Southbank Centre a major art establishment in London but they didnt get their visas You can be talented and you can be invited but theres no guarantee you will make it If I were living in India with a British passport I could travel for concerts anywhere in the world Its sad that an Indian musician doesnt have the same privilege Its only going to get more difficult Indian audiences are open but their tastes are diverse Identify the right crowd and get them to come to listen to you Do you ever consider moving hereLiving in India is possible but my studio facility is in Suffolk I will be here for work when needed You need vibrations to make art and music At times I fly in for a couple of concerts I have also started teaching music back in the UK I will continue splitting my time between the two countries What are the tunes for the Mumbai gigI will play music from three decades of Asian Underground People dont need to bring earplugs they will be nourished I want to play tracks like an anthology similar to what Gilles Peterson does What are your current projectsI am working on a couple of films One of them is called Once Again which is based on the story of a Bollywood actor in Mumbai I cant speak about it but it has been amazing because it has given me a chance to write and compose songs Kanwal Sethi the director encouraged me to make music that does not sound Bollywood There arent too many dialogues and the story flows with the music I have always been into Indian cinema and followed the works of Ritwik Ghatak and Satyajit RayIncidentally Ive started a label called Matra that will focus on recording Indian Classical music in a sonically focused manner We are setting up a sister studio in Delhi while we have a recording and mastering studio in Suffolk It will be exciting to record Indian Classical music in high definition