`T' never tires

`T' never tires

Call him messiah, if you will. It’s not a tag he shies away from. The Asian Underground -- the label he coined for the assorted medley of music coming out of London’s Asian scene -- has grown to include everyone from Cornershop to Nitin Sawhney to the Asian Dub Foundation to himself. "I realise that I carry the credit and baggage of the collective," he admits, about halfway into an early morning interview in a bungalow opposite Jogger’s Park -- early morning by his standards is 10.30 by our work watches.

Talvin Singh looks like he has woken up to open the door, for he potters about the kitschy-Indian-decorated rooms (paisley-shaped cushions and dupattas -- stuck with mirrors -- doubling up as curtains), picking up a mobile-in-the-charging to check late-night calls.

The house is just about waking up too. T, as he is called, slides the corner stereo system into the remixes of Ha, his latest magnum opus and only his second solo album -- although calling Talvin’s solos ‘solo’ is a misnomer, for his mixing and matching talent is bound to introduce you to some spanking talent far out of your ken. Which is where the messiah bit comes in.

The first full-length album he put out, Anokha: The Soundz of the Asian Underground, brought together a whole variety of Asian talent from (and out of) London -- among them was A R Rahman, State of Bengal, Future Soundz of India and DJ Amar. With it, he introduced a new sound: drums ‘n’ bass meeting Indian roots. It was for that bringing together of Asian music, some say, that he was actually given the British Mercury Prize in 1999, although the awardees insist it was for OK, his solo debut. "I guess it just happened," says the King of Asian expression scene. "It was a product of frustration on an industry level, and it was time that we were recognised. That everyone’s been clubbed together, when our music doesn’t sound anything like each other, is upsetting. But it can’t be helped. Record companies will look for a genre and try to categorise you.

The good thing is that the music is now recognised." Of course, artistically, Talvin and his music have already found a niche, being plugged into by Bjork and Massive Attack as far back as the mid-90s, and more recently by Madonna, Tarsem Singh (in The Cell) and the title music for BBC’s Tomorrow’s World (slated to run for the next eight years). The sound is now pulsating all over. The sound of his music... "I have twisted a lot of natural sounds in the creative process. I have not been so restricted this time -- my palette is bigger and brighter, a space where my music breathes, and it’s probably the best I’ve ever done. It’s a combination of technology and performance level, and I mean performance that respects the sensibilities of Indian classical music -- you know, free style, yet composed to make it more accessible. Buy the album and help pay my mortgage," he beams about OK’s consistency.

What’s also remarkable about OK is that there’s a lot more of him in the album -- more tabla, more rhythmic sensibilities, more dreamscape. And yet, collaborating with him this time around are the like of Ustad Sultan Khan, old pal Cleveland Watkiss, flautist Rakesh Chaurasia and well-kept playback secret Mahalxmi Iyer. After the album will be out in India late next month (Island/ Universal Records), T will wing back to London immediately to open the doors to his new club, in East Brick Lane, to launch the second Anokha compilation of Asian underground music, and to kickstart the promotional tour for Ha (Europe, America, Japan, and back to India by year-end).

Life after fusion? Bollywood is an option, but only with someone like Shyam Benegal or Mahesh Bhatt. "Someone who has an established language, maybe the 21st century Ritwik Ghatak." Breaking out and working with a new genre is no challenge anymore, our man says.