This article is available in English here.

Author: ElJay Arem

(IE-m/HH -03022010) – Nach unserer Premiere von Indian E-music im Januar (05.01.) mit einem Streifzug durch die ersten 10 Jahre der indisch elektronischen Musik von 1996 bis 2005 möchte ich heute einen Ausflug in den Punjab unternehmen. Diese Region liegt im Grenzgebiet zwischen dem nordwestlichen Indien und Pakistan.
In den 70er Jahren wurde die Folk- und Tanzmusik des Punjabs in den Westen, zunächst nach London, exportiert. Von dort stammen Musiker, die ein neues Musikgenre begründet haben: Bhangra.

Bhangra hatte in den 80er und 90er Jahren massgeblichen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung und das Klangbild der indisch-elektronischen Musik.

UK Bhangra… Post-Bhangra-Ära…
Channi Singh wird in seiner Fangemeinde und unter Musikerkollegen als der “Gott-Vater des Bhangra” genannt; Channi war Frontman der Gruppe Alaap. Die Alaap-Group veröffentlichte ihr Debutalbum “Teri Chunni De Sitaray” im Jahre 1982. Besonders unter den britischen Studenten mit Herkunft aus Asien fand diese Musik grossen Anklang.

Der UK Bhangra setzte sich mit der Gruppe Heera fort, die in England als die populärste Band der 80er Jahre meist auf indischen Hochzeiten spielte. Der Stil dieser Gruppe mit einem Mix westlicher Trommeln, rockbeeinflusster Rhythmen, Synthesizer und traditionellen Instrumenten aus der Punjab-Region hat zu einer neuen Identifikation und Community innerhalb der südasiatischen Diasporas, besonders in England maßgeblich beigetragen. Gruppen aus dieser Zeit, wie Apna Sangeet, die sich 2009 wieder zusammengefunden hat, erfahren besonders als Live-Acts ein Revival.

Eine bedeutende Figur der Bhangra-Szene ist der Folkhop-Künstler Bally Sagoo, in Delhi / Indien geboren und aufgewachsen in englischen Birmingham, in einem Viertel, das von einer schwarzen Rap-, Motown-Kultur und Soul-Musik geprägt war.

Mitte der 90er Jahre, die man als Post-Bhangra-Ära bezeichnen kann, in der sowohl in England und den USA diese Stilrichtung an Popularität verlor, hatten Bally Saggo und Formationen wie Apache Indian eine neue Welle in der Club-Kultur ausgelöst. Traditionelle Folk-Beats und südasiatische/indische Instrumente werden mit zeitgenössischen Musikgenres kombiniert.

Bally Sagoo schafft eine Art Bollywood-Remix mit Funky-Jazzigem Touch, während Apache Indian aus einem traditionellen Bhangra-Background Raggamuffin-Musik kombinieren, eine Subkultur des Reggae, die mit eletronischer Musik gesampelt wird.

Das Bhangra-Instrument: DHOL – Keyfigure Johnny Kalsi…
So wie die postbhangra-Ära Mitte der 90er Jahre mit Hinzunahme zeitgenössischer Musik einsetzte, entstand gleichzeitig der künstlerische Spielraum für die indisch-elektronische Musik.

In unserer ersten Sendung (05.01.2010) stellte ich den Musiker Talvin Singh vor und sein im Jahre 1997 veröffentlichtes Compilationalbum “Anokha – Soundz of the Asian Underground”. Die Jahre 1996/1997 können wir datieren als den Beginn der s.g. Asian-Underground-Bewegung, die aus einem Kulturmix als die eigentliche Quelle der indisch-elektronischen Musik gilt.

In dieser Zeit tummelte sich in London der Drummer Johnny Kalsi. Kalsi war schon Ende der 80er Jahre in Sachen Bhangra unterwegs, als Bandmitglied der Alaap Group mit ihrem Frontman Channi Singh. Johnny Kalsi gründete 1989 in London das Dhol-Drum-Institut.

Die Dhol ist eine Basstrommel. Sie ist beidseitig bespannt und wird mit zwei Stöcken angeschlagen. Der durchdringende Beat der Dhols gibt dem Bhangra seit Mitte der 90er Jahre einen unverkennbaren Charakter, neben verschiedenen indischen Saiteninstrumenten, wie der Sarangi oder der Tumbi, einem 1-saitigen, schwierig zu spielenden Instrument aus der Volksmusik des Punjab.

Johnny Kalsi veröffentlichte mit den Studenten seines Musikinstitutes in 2001 die CD “Big Drum Small World” bei Shakti Records. Diese Musik fand später Einzug in Hollywood-Filmen wie “Incredible Hulk”. Johnny Kalsi arbeitete bereits Ende der 80er Jahre für die Filmindustrie, zusammen mit Peter Gabriel komponierte er zu Martin Scorsese’s “Last Temptation of Christ”. Ihre Musik wurde auch zur Eröffnungszeremonie der Commonwealth-Spiele in Melbourne, im Jahre 2006 gespielt.

Den Sprung in Richtung indisch-Elektronische Musik schaffte Johnny Kalsi als Mitglied und Dholspieler von Transglobal Underground. Transglobal Underground – oder einfach nur TGU fusioniert westliche, orientalische und afrikanische Elemente, als Genre bisweilen als Ethno-Techno klassifiziert. TGU ist ein wichtiger Eckpfeiler der indisch-elektronischen Musik mit der Sitarspielerin Sheema Mukherjee und dem Shenaispieler Larry Whelan. Als Musikerkollektiv wurde TGU bereits im Jahre 1990 von Alex Kasiek, Hamid Mantu und Count Dubulah gegründet, in dieser Szene häufig verwendete Pseudonyme für Tim Whelan – Percussion, Hamilton Lee – Gitarre und den Bassisten Nick Page. Whelan und Lee kommen ursprünglich aus dem Brit-Pop.

Musikalischer Nachwuchs…
Die bisherig genannten Musiker präsentierten die 1ste Riege aus dem Bhangra, prägende Figuren, meist mit indischer Herkunft wie Channi Singh oder Johnny Kalsi, die zur älteren Generation gezählt werden dürfen. Wie steht es nun um den musikalischen Nachwuchs ?

Der indische Bhangra-Sänger Malkit Singh, 1962 in Hussainpur, im Punjab geboren, war und ist weltweit ein indischer Exportschlager in Sachen Bhangra. Singh ist auch ein Beförderer des Nachwuches, wie das Rishi Rich Project und der britisch-indische Musiker Panjabi MC.

Zunächst zu Rishi Rich… dieser Musiker und Produzent mit bürgerlichem Namen “Rishpal Singh Rekhi” wurde in Croydon, England geboren und ist heute in London ansässig. Er gilt neben seinen Aktivitäten im Asian Underground auch als Pionier des s.g. Indian-R&B-Fusion.
Seit 1992 aktiv, entdeckte dieser “headhunter der Musik” eine Vielzahl von Britisch-Asiatischen Talenten. Dafür wurde Annfang 2003 das Rishi Rich Project aus der Taufe gehoben. Es etablierte sich schnell in der der Asian Underground-Szene. 2007 gründete man die Rishi Rich Productions Ltd., um Nachwuchskünstler unter Vertrag zu nehmen.

Zu den herausragenden Talenten mit Bhangra-Einschlag, die unter Rishi Rich künstlerisch tätig wurden, gehören der R&B-Rapper Jay Sean und Juggy D. Jugwinder Sing Dhaliwal, seit seinem 14. Lebensjahr auf der Bühne hat mit Rishi Rich für Bollywoodfilme wie Hum Tum den musikalischen Anteil geliefert. Das Debutalbum Juggy D wurde 2004 veröffentlicht.

Jay Sean stammt aus einer Sikh-Familie, die aus dem Punjab emigrierte. Sean wurde 1981 in West London geboren. Er etablierte sich als Rapper, Sänger, Songwriter und Beatboxer. Sein Debut im Asian Underground gab Jay Sean als Mitglied des Rishi Rich Projects 2003 mit der Single “Dance with You”. Für den s.g. Bhangra-R&B-Fusion-Stil wurde er besonders innerhalb der Süd-Asien-Diaspora sehr beliebt.

Der Bhangra-Star Malkit Singh hat neben dem Rishi Rich Project auch Panjabi MC promoted. Mit bürgerlichem Namen Rajinde Singh wurde dieser Künstler besonders für seine Remixe bekannt. Panjabi MC legt dabei das klangliche Gewicht auf die Verschmelzung von Bhangra und Hip-Hop. Weltweit verschaffte er sich zusammen mit dem amerikanischen Rapper Jay-Z Gehör. In Deutschland griff das Label “Superstar Recordings” Panjabi MC’s Remix zur TV-Serie “Knight Rider” auf, der zu einem Hit wurde.

Tradition & Moderne…
Den Kreis zwischen Moderne und Tradition schliesst der Bhangra-Sänger “Jazzy B”. Wie kaum einem Anderen gelingt diesem 1975 in Indien geborene, und in Vancover, Kanada aufgewachsene Künstler der Spagat zwischen Progressivität und Rückbesinnung auf die Traditionen im Bhangra.

Auf seiner Website bezeichnet sich “Jazzy B” selbst verwegen als der “Kronprinz des Bhangra”. Ob dies nur Marketing-Strategie ist, sei dahingestellt.

Gewiss ist aber, dass Jazzy B seit 1993 mehr als 17 Studioalben aufgenommen hat, zwei davon mit religiösen Themen. Als sein grosses Vorbild bezeichnet er selbst Kuldeep Manak. Dieser 61-jährige Sänger, der in der traditionellen Form des Punjabi-Gesangs, im Kaliyan ausgebildet wurde, ist bis heute sehr aktiv. Kuldeep Manak veröffentlichte seine erste LP “Ek Tara” bereits im Jahre 1976. Es ist nicht verwunderlich, dass es kaum einen Nachwuchsmusiker im Bhangra gibt, der für Kuldeep Manak keine grosse Bewunderung hegt. Seinen jüngeren Kollegen steht er in nichts nach.

Sendehinweis: Die nächste Sendung Indian E-music… gibt’s am 1. Dienstag, den 2. März – um 21:00 Uhr auf Tide 96.0.

Wer sich für die indisch klassische Musik interessiert, jeden 3. Dienstag im Monat, gleiche Zeit. Also nächster Sendetermin für IMC – India meets Classic am 16. Februar 2010.

Author: ElJay Arem

(IE-m/HH -03022010) – After the premiere of Indian E-music in January (01/05/10) with an excursion through the first 10 years of Indian electronic music from 1996 to 2005 I would like to undertake today a trip to the Punjab. This region lies in the border area between North Western India and Pakistan. In the 70′s the Folk and Dance music of the Punjab were exported into the West, first to London (U.K.). From there come musicians who founded a new music genre: Bhangra.

Bhangra had relevant influence onto the development and the sound of Indian electronic music in the 80′s and 90′s, and still has.

UK Bhangra… Post Bhangra era…
Channi Singh is called within his fan community and among music colleagues as the “God father of the Bhangra”; Channi was front man (singer) of the group Alaap. The Alaap Group published its debut album “Teri Chunni De Sitaray” in the year 1982. Particularly This music appealed to the British students with origin from Asia.

The UK Bhangra continued with the group Heera, which played in England as the most popular band of the 80′s usually on Indian weddings. The style of this group with mix of Western drums, rock influenced rhythms, Synthesizer and traditional instruments from the Punjab region considerably contributed to a new identification and community within the South Asian diaspora in England. Groups from this time as Apna Sangeet, which found together in 2009 for a re-union experience a revival particularly as live acts.

An important figure of the Bhangra scene was born in Delhi and has grown up in Birmingham in a quarter, which was coined by black rap, Motown culture and Soul music (U.K.). Its the Folkhop artist Bally Sagoo.

Midth of the 90′s, which one can designate as post Bhangra era, both in England and USA this style lost it’s popularity. Bally Saggo and formations like Apache Indian triggered a new wave in the club culture: the combination of traditional Folk beats and South Asian / Indian instruments with contemporary music.

Bally Sagoo creates a kind of Bollywood remix with funky Jazzy touch, while Apache Indian – coming from a traditional Bhangra background – combines Raggamuffin music, a sub culture of the Reggae, which is sampled with electronic music.

The Bhangra instrument: DHOL – key figure: Johnny Kalsi…
As the post bhangra era began in the middle of the 90′s with inclusion of contemporary music at the same time the artistic space for the Indian-electronic music came into existence.

In our premiere (01/05/2010) I presented the musician Talvin Singh and his compilation album “Anokha – to Soundz OF the Asian Underground” published in the year 1997. We can date the years 1996/1997 as the beginning of the so called „Asian Underground movement“, which is valid from its cultural mix as the source of the Indian electronic music.

These days the Drummer Johnny Kalsi cavorted in London. Kalsi had been away on music business already end of the 80′s with Bhangra as member of the Alaap Group with the front man Channi Singh. Later in 1989 Johnny Kalsi created in London the Dhol Drum Institute.

The Dhol is a bass drum. It is „stringed“ reciprocally and beaten with two sticks. The penetrating beats of the Dhols gives an unmistakable character to the Bhangra music since midth of the 90′s beside different Indian stringed instruments are typical like the Sarangi or the Tumbi, a one-string instrument in the folk music of the Punjab, which is very difficult to play.

Johnny Kalsi published with the students of his institute in 2001 the CD „Big Drum Small World” (label: Shakti record). Later this music was introduced into Hollywood films like “Incredible Hulk”. Johnny Kalsi worked already end of the 80′s for the film industry, together with Peter Gabriel he composed the film score for Martin Scorsese’s “Last Temptation of Christ”. Their music was played also for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in the year 2006.

The leap towards Indian electronic music Johnny Kalsi managed as a member and Dhol player of Transglobal Underground. Transglobal Underground – or simply TGU is a fusion of Western, Eastern and African elements, sometimes classified as the category „Ethno Techno“. TGU is an important cornerstone of Indian electronic music with the Sitar player Sheema Mukherjee and Larry Whelan on the Shenai (Indian fiddel). As a musician collective TGU was created in the year 1990 by Alex Kasiek, Hamid Mantu and Count Dubulah. In this music scene frequently aliases are used. These names stand for Tim Whelan – Percussion, Hamilton Lee – guitar and the bassists Nick Page. Whelan and Lee originally come from the Brit Pop.

Newcomer…
The musicians presented till now are the top league of Bhangra, central figures usually with Indian origin such as Channi Singh or Johnny Kalsi who may be ranked among the older generation. How does it face of the musical new generation?

The Indian Bhangra singer Malkit Singh, born 1962 in Hussainpur (Punjab) is world-wide an Indian export hit of Bhangra. Singh is also a carrier of the newcomers like for the Rishi Rich Project and the British Indian musician Panjabi MC.

First about Rishi Rich… this musician and producer with civil name “Rishpal Singh Rekhi” was born in Croydon, England and resides today in London. He is the pioneer for Indian R&B apart from his activities in the Asian Underground. Rishi Rich is active since 1992 discovering as „headhunter of music“a multiplicity of British-Asian talents. Herefore at the beginning of 2003 the Rishi Rich Project was launched. Fastely it was established in the Asian Underground scene. 2007 was founded the Rishi Rich Productions Ltd. in order to take new generation artists under contract.

Some of the outstanding talents with concrete Bhangra impact who became active under the wings of Rishi Rich are the R&B rapper Jay Sean and Juggy D. Jugwinder Sing Dhaliwal is on stage since his 14^th year of life. He delivered together with Rishi Rich tunes for Bollywood films such as Hum Tum. The debut album Juggy D was published in 2004.

Jay Sean originates from a Sikh family, which emigrated from the Punjab. Sean was born 1981 in West London. He is established as rapper, singer, songwriter and beat boxer. Jay Sean gave his debut in the Asian Underground as a member of the Rishi Rich Projects with the single “Dance with to You” in 2003. For his Bhangra R&B Fusion style he is favored particularly within the South Asian diaspora.

The Bhangra star Malkit Singh has promoted Panjabi MC beside the Rishi Rich Project. With civil name Rajinde Singh this artist came to prominence by his remixes. Panjabi MC puts together the sound of Bhangra and Hip Hop. World-wide he received attention together with the American rapper Jay-Z. In Germany the label “Superstar Recordings” picked up Panjabi MC’s remix for the TV series “Knight Rider” which became a hit.

Tradition & Modern trend…
The Bhangra singer “Jazzy B” closes the circle between modernity and tradition. Like hardly another this artist – 1975 in India born and grown up in Vancover – succeeds the balance between progressiveness and recollection the traditions in Bhangra.

On his offcial website “Jazzy B” calls himself as the “Crown Prince of the Bhangra”. We let unacknowledged the question if this might be only a marketing strategy.

Certain however is that Jazzy B recorded more than 17 studio albums since 1993, two of it are with religious topics. As his role model Jazzy B names Kuldeep Manak. This 61 year old singer who was trained in the traditional form of the Punjabi vocals, the Kaliyan, is till today very active. Kuldeep Manak already published his first LP “Ek Tara” in the year 1976. It is not astonishing that there is hardly no musician of the new generation in Bhangra who does not preserve large admiration for Kuldeep Manak as he is acclaimed in equal measure to his younger colleagues.

Take notice: The next broadcasting of Indian E-music is set for 1st Tuesday, 2nd March at 09:00 pm on Tide 96.0 FM and via Internet stream.

Are you interested in Indian classical music ? – IMC – India meets Classic is scheduled every 3rd Tuesday in the month, same time. Next show: 16th February 2010 – 09:00 pm (via Internet stream).

The 2010Primavera Sound Festival has made a big addition to its lineup, including names like Tortoise, Grizzly Bear, Built To Spill and Condo Fucks.

Frog Eyes are ready with a new album that's been perk-perk-percolating over last three years and will be released on April 27th. Find out more and download a track from the new album.

The Dead Weather are hitting the road for a self-styled 13 gig tour of the U.S. this April, starting with Coachella and ending up at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Stevie Wonder and Muse look set to this year's Glastonbury Festival, joining previously announced headliner U2, according to organizer Michael Eavis.

The FCC has proposed amending its rules governing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) in order to test and improve the effectiveness of the system.  In particular, the Commission has proposed that all EAS participants be required to join in a nationwide test -- to be scheduled by the FCC in consultation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) -- to ensure that the system will function properly to inform the public in the event of a national crisis.  The FCC proposes to implement the national test on a yearly basis and seeks comment on the specific language of the proposed rule.  A copy of the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) was recently published in the Federal Register establishing the deadline for Comments on the proposed rules as March 1, 2010, with Reply Comments due on or before March 30, 2010.

In issuing its NPRM, available here, the Commission acknowledged the shortcomings of the current rules and its belief that a national test -- and the data gathered from such a test -- is critical to ensuring consistency and reliability in a system that has actually never been used to deliver a national Presidential alert.  Under the current system, an EAS message is initiated, which is then passed via specially encoded messages to a broadcast-based transmission network, and then on to broadcast stations, cable operators, and other EAS participants in a daisy-chain distribution to the final end users, i.e., the public who is listening, watching, or reading, on radio, television, cable, or other services.  This daisy-chain structure leaves the system, in the Commission's estimation, vulnerable to a significant failure if the message distribution is severed or delayed at any one point.  By proposing an annual national test, the Commission seeks to test the system in an organized, controlled manner, gather data from the EAS participants, and apply what is learned.  Under the Commission's proposed rule, the annual test would replace one of the required monthly tests and participants would have at least two months advance notice of the nationwide test.  EAS participants would be required to log the test results of the test and provide information on the results to the Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau within 30 days of the test.  The Commission seeks input on the proposed rule, including whether once a year is sufficient, and what the costs would be attendant to the testing and reporting.

The NPRM suggests that the following test-related diagnostic information would be provided by the EAS participants for each alert received from each message source monitored at the time of the national test:  (1) whether they received the alert message during the designated test; (2) whether they retransmitted the alert; and (3) if they were not able to receive and/or transmit the alert, their ‘best effort’ diagnostic analysis regarding the cause or causes for such failure.  In addition, the Commission would require participants to provide information regarding the station, date and time of the message and relay, information on the source of the message, and make and model number of they EAS equipment that they utilized.  The Commission proposes to make the information publicly available, but seeks input on whether it would be more appropriate to limit availability to other authorized governmental agencies. 

The final issue the NPRM raises is the fact that different encoder/decoder manufacturers may program their devices to receive and transmit emergency alert notices differently, which could impact the proper relay of an emergency message.  The Commission seeks input on the issue and what costs would be involved or options available to ensure that a legitimate emergency alert notification is passed along the network. 

The Commission has stated that it intends to "move quickly to adopt any and all necessary rule changes to ensure that the Commission and other federal, state, local, and non-governmental EAS stakeholders have the necessary diagnostic tools to evaluate EAS performance and readiness nationwide."  So interested parties should similarly act with alacrity to get comments in by March 1st (or reply comments by March 30th) to inform the Commission's rule making process.  Comments can be submitted in paper or through the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System. 

In two just released cases, the FCC fined television stations $8000 each for failing to publicize the location of their Children's Television Programming Reports for an entire license renewal period (the cases can be found here and here).  The FCC found that any remedial steps taken by the licensees after they discovered their failures at renewal time did not excuse the failure to comply during the license term.  The Commission, in the orders, cites a survey that found "virtually all of the stations in the sample complied with the requirement to publicize the existence and location of the stations' Children's Television Programming Reports", thus dismissing arguments that the rules were vague and unclear as they do not spell out how much publicity must be given to the location of these reports.  Based on these decisions, it's obvious that not all stations in fact got the message.

These cases remind all television broadcasters that they do in fact have obligations to publicize the location of their children's television reports and the contact person at their stations for information and comments about programming directed to children.  For more information on a television station's Children's Television obligations (or, as many broadcasters know them, the Kid-vid rules) under the Communications Act and the FCC rules, including the periodic notice that should be given by television stations, check out the Davis Wright Tremaine Quarterly Reminder, the most recent of which can be found here.