Potato music. What a description for someones own art. Talvin Singh commented his own work this way during an interview with Swiss television in about the year 2002. At this time he was the recent winner of the Mercury Music Price, UKs most prestigious award for independent music productions. His solo albums, OK and ha!, were the founding of a whole new musical style that combined traditional Indian music with Breakbeat and Drum&Bass. His completed mastering of traditional Tabla playing was the fundament of his creative work, and there was no doubt about the fact that such a rhythmical talent would have been as successful in producing ordinary Drum&Bass without traditional influences.
His public profile got lower with the time, and he hardly published for the last 10 years. So what to expect from an announced gig at Kaserne Basel, after having seen him at Frison in the year 2005 for the last time in Switzerland? Still a big sound or a more intimate atmosphere?
We found the second. He invited Ken Zuckerman, one of the most renowned Sarod virtuosos of our time, and a resident of Basel. The tracks they played together were based on the Sarod, related to the Sitar instrument, and therefore very meditative and traditional. Talvins solo performance showed off more of his eclectic capabilities and built some connections to his groundbreaking work back from the millenium. Altogether it was a technical high level performance tending to the traditional realm. Perfect for fans of traditional Indian music. For fans of the music that made Talvin renowned worldwide, it kept a promise. But who knows, perhaps he will also perform his very own Anokha style again.
I would go anywhere for that potato.
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