New and different music source

[Spudman]

I've been looking for some great Punjab, or Indian, raga, or Asian music but I'm clueless where to start. Any body know of anything good outside of the Bollywood pop scene from India?

[Tone2TheBone]

How about....India?

*duck*

Ravi Shankar is always a good start.

[Spudman]

I have Ravi and his daughter's stuff but am looking for something else. India is pretty big and I have no idea where to begin.

[Tone2TheBone]

I was surprised to find out that sNorah Jones is Ravi's other hot daughter. Both are flat out babes. Makes me wish I was English. Almost. :AOK: Say don't they have any of those transcendental hippie camps out there in Idaho or something? You're sure to find great raga music lovers there.

Came up with this interesting site at any rate...

http://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=35

[SuperSwede]

I listen to various world music radio stations, but I usually dont get the names of the artists.. Check out the world music section in iTunes internet radio.

I also want to recommend checking out the etiopian artist Fela Kuti if you enjoy 70´s african funk.

[R_of_G]

Spud, I have a very sizable collection of Hindustani classical music, which is the Indian classical which originated in the north of India and what is now Bangladesh. Aside from the obvious starting point of Ravi Shankar [who I highly reccomend to anyone], here are some other artists you might want to check out...

Vilyat Khan & Nikhil Banerjee- other sitar players of legendary status

Ali Akbar Khan - master of the sarod. he is easily the most influential non-western musician on my own playing. if you have seen or heard The Concert for Bangladesh, it is Khan who plays with Ravi in the opening piece. He is a major influence on many western musicians, most specifically Derek Trucks.

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - he plays an instrument of his own creation, a modified spanish style guitar on which he put sympathetic drone strings. if you want to hear indian classical style music on a guitar, you should DEFINITELY check him out because he is amazing.

Ustad Sultan Khan - plays an bowed string instrument called a sarangi, which creates haunting tones similar to a violin. his music is very compelling.

These should provide you a pretty good basis from which to appreciate Hindustani music. Just to note, there is another style of Indian classical music called Carnatic, of which I know very little. Perhaps someone else who knows this style can rec some artists of note.

[R_of_G]

I also want to recommend checking out the etiopian artist Fela Kuti if you enjoy 70´s african funk.

+1 for Fela Kuti, SuperSwede. If you are a fan of his, let me reccomend two current bands for you...

The first is Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. The last time I saw them they were at least a 12 pc band. With a singer that sings in English and Yoruba, they make a sound very much in the Fela Kuti tradition. They are an incredibly tight band, and definitely know how to bring the funk both live and in the studio.

The second band is Budos Band. They are a smaller, instrumental-only band, but they are strongly grounded in the Afro-Cuban funk beat that Fela made famous. Like Antibalas, they are all very skilled musicians, and can lock into a groove like nobody else. Both bands are based in New York and are currently on Daptone Records [though Antibalas has several earlier albums on another label that are all worth checking out]. :AOK:

[warren0728]

recommended to me by an indian friend of mine...

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/

ww

[Spudman]

Say don't they have any of those transcendental hippie camps out there in Idaho or something? You're sure to find great raga music lovers there.

Came up with this interesting site at any rate...

http://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=35

I think the camp you are thinking of is just north of Yellowstone Park in Montana.

Thanks a ton for the Progarchives link. I don't know why I didn't think to check there. I visit it every other day or so.

RofG - that's is plenty to get me going too. Thanks. There is some contemporary mainly instrumental stuff that I heard in an import shop one time that really grooved. It had a heavier sound than much of the traditional stuff. I'm hoping I can find something like that as well. The grooves were incredible.

[aeolian]

I have been listening to stations on www.live365.com for several years now. I just now typed in search for "Indian" and it return over 350 matches. I figure that may be a good place to start.

Live365 is not a true radio in a sense. Individuals create their own "radio station" by putting up a bunch of songs. The stations comes in just about every genre imaginable. My favorites are several downtempo stations and a couple of oldies stations. The one annoyance is if you are not a paying subscriber, every hour or so it will 'ding' you with a reminder, unless you click to continue listening it will disconnect you from the radio station you're listening to. But for being free I have gotten great value out of live365 and I have found (and bought) a lot of newer music over the last several years.

[SuperSwede]

+1 for Fela Kuti, SuperSwede. If you are a fan of his, let me reccomend two current bands for you...

The first is Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. The last time I saw them they were at least a 12 pc band. With a singer that sings in English and Yoruba, they make a sound very much in the Fela Kuti tradition. They are an incredibly tight band, and definitely know how to bring the funk both live and in the studio.

The second band is Budos Band. They are a smaller, instrumental-only band, but they are strongly grounded in the Afro-Cuban funk beat that Fela made famous. Like Antibalas, they are all very skilled musicians, and can lock into a groove like nobody else. Both bands are based in New York and are currently on Daptone Records [though Antibalas has several earlier albums on another label that are all worth checking out]. :AOK:

Thanks for the recommendations! I will definately check out those bands.
I really love the classic Fela Kuti style beat, especially the extremely funky intro of "Expensive Shit".

[R_of_G]

There is some contemporary mainly instrumental stuff that I heard in an import shop one time that really grooved. It had a heavier sound than much of the traditional stuff. I'm hoping I can find something like that as well. The grooves were incredible.

One thing I can highly rec as far as that goes is checking out Zakir Hussain & Bill Laswell's "Tabla Beat Science" releases. Dub-Indian is basically the best way to describe it, though that doesn't explain much. It's highly enjoyable music however one wants to classify it, with elements of Indian classical and many styles of western music.

[Big_Rob]

Have you checked out any usenet groups that are Indian music specific?

I dont know if the groups are active but I saw some the other day when I was browsing the MP3 groups