South Asian-Western Fusion Music.
History of Fusion Music
1. Introduction
While Eastern influences in Western music began to appear in the 19th century, South Asian-Western fusion music took on a distinct form in the context of the rising globalization of the 20th century. The increasing interconnectedness of the world due to colonialism, global wars, and rapid transportation led to strong intercultural connections between the East and the West, giving rise to fusion music forms.
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The root of the fusion music was Indian colonialism, which lasted well into the 20th century. During the colonial era, Indian classical music began to incorporate elements of Western instrumentals, such as piano and violin, leading to the rise of new genres like Indo-jazz (Indiatezone).​
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Studying South Asian-Western fusion music is important because it gives us insight into the cultural encounters between the West, as well as stories of the South Asian diasporic community around the world.
2. Indo-Jazz
One product that emerged from the fusion of traditional South Asian music with Western-style music in the mid 1950s was Indo-jazz, a music genre consisting of a combination of Indian ragas with Western jazz and improvisations. Ragas are collections of notes that are meant to be played in certain patterns to construct a melody, a central concept in Indian classical music.
Related to Indo-jazz fusion, L. Subramaniam led a new music movement in the early 1970s, called “neo-fusion.” The movement rapidly gained popularity as Subramaniam released albums collaborating with various Western musicians, including Stephane Grappelli, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell, and Emil Richards.
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Ashwin Batish, a popular Indo-jazz musician, reflected the concept of South Asian-Western fusion music through his upbringing in both types of music. While he was trained by his father from childhood in North Indian classical music, his upbringing in the West, in both the UK and the USA, exposed him to Western music (Baine). For the last 35 years, Batish has been a prominent figure in combining the traditional sitar with Western jazz and rock. He is critically acclaimed by jazz musicians and audiences from around the globe.
Another indo-jazz musician, sitar player Ravi Shankar, was a key figure in the popularization of Indian music in the West. For example, he taught George Harrison of the Beatles how to play the sitar in the mid 1960s. Harrison then incorporated the sitar into some of the Beatles’ songs, including ‘Norwegian Wood,’ introducing the traditional Indian sound to the Western crowd. The spread of the influence of Indian music in the West in the 1960s had an impact on the counterculture and psychedelic movements of the time. Shankar further contributed to the spread of Indian-Western fusion music through his collaborations in the 1970s with British violinist Yehudi Menuhin and American composer Philip Glass (“The Shankar Legacy").
Other prominent musicians that contributed to the Indo-jazz movement of both Indian and Western origin include the Harriot-Mayer duo, John McLaughlin, Shakti band, Anoushka Shankar, Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Debashish Bhattacharya.
3. Asian Underground
One notable example of fusion music that came out of the South Asian diasporic community is the Asian Underground. This movement began in the 1990s and early 2000s, and, through this creation of hybrid music forms, gave “a generation of young British Asians a vibrant new voice” (Kalia).​
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​Leading the movement were the children of Asian immigrants to the UK in the early 1960s. This society was full of contradictions – racism by the National Front, the rise of decolonization movements, and the rise of hybrid cultures in the Caribbean and West Africa. As such, the music of the Asian Underground, which combined Eastern melodies from traditional Indian classical music, catchy Bollywood tunes, and Punjabi Bhangra music, with the jazz, pop, and drum’n’bass of the West, was full of internal tension (Kalia).
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​Notable musicians of the Asian Underground were Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney, who released famous albums like Beyond Skin and OK (Kalia). Beyond Skin, a critically acclaimed album by Nitin Sawhney, asks questions that revolve around the concept of identity and centers around the theme of nuclear weapons (Sawhney).
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Unfortunately, the Asian Underground movement quickly faded. Sawhney said, on the topic, “I always disliked the term Asian underground. The whole idea of the movement was that cultural change could occur and that Asians would feel they have a relevance and identity within the wider culture – that’s what was exciting. Not this idea that we were underground, but that we were part of music” (Kalia). Despite the end of the movement, its legacy lives on. The musicians of the Asian Underground continue to produce fusion music, and their work has inspired numerous Asian artists to explore the intersection of Western and Eastern music.​
4. Bollywood
Bollywood, a combination of the names of the city Bombay and the American Hollywood, is India’s largest film industry, playing a major role in popularizing Indian-Western fusion globally. Bollywood movies are widely known for their Shankar-Jaikishan, a famous film composer duo active from 1949 to 1971, popularized Indian-Western fusion music in Bollywood. Along with their Indian classical influences, such as the use of ragas, they included Western beats and techniques. The duo was pivotal in popularizing the use of the orchestra in Bollywood composition to enhance the overall feel of songs rather than as a filler (“Shanker Jaikishan").
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In 1996, Penn Masala, the first college South Asian a cappella group was formed, consisting of a blend of popular Western music with Bollywood film songs (Muffitt).
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Popular composer AR Rahman, who has composed many songs for Bollywood films, has collaborated with multiple Western artists throughout his career (“Indian Fusion Music).
5. South Asian hip-hop
South Asian hip-hop is a popular genre of South Asian-Western fusion music today. It began in the 1990s with Baba Sehgal, who tried exploring the genre of rap, albeit unsuccessful in bringing this music to the wider Indian audience. However, in the early to mid-1990s, UK-native Steven Kapur, better-known by his stage name Apache Indian, was born into a family of Indian origins. His ability to fuse reggae beats with rap lyrics made his music popular worldwide (“50 Years of Hip Hop And Its Influence on South Asian Music”).
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In the late 1990s, South Asian hip-hop started to find a community in the West Coast. One notable example of a Desi rap group was Karmacy, which was known for its creative use of various Indian languages in its songs to highlight Indian multiculturalism (“50 Years of Hip Hop And Its Influence on South Asian Music”).
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The genre of Desi hip-hop grew immensely in the early 2000s, especially in the UK. Hip-hop was popular because it delivered a certain level of power and ownership to marginalized communities; particularly, it allowed South Asian youth to experience and share their struggles of growing up in a community in which they were the minority, as well as balancing the tensions of traditional culture with the society around them (“50 Years of Hip Hop And Its Influence on South Asian Music”).
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Punjabi artists have played a key role in building up the genre of Desi hop by blending Punjabi folk melodies and beats with components of trap, 90s, hip-hop, and R&B. For example, popular artists among the Indian and Indian diasporic populations today include Yo Yo Honey Singh, Karan Aujla, AP Dhillon, Ikky, and Fateh. Many artists of Punjabi origin have collaborated with artists from around the world – one example being Diljit Dosanjh collaborating with American rapper Saweetie, and Hitesh Sharma, better known by his stage name Tesher, collaborating with American singer Jason Derulo. Additionally, Punjabi hip-hop received global recognition in 2023 with Diljit Dosanjh’s performance of his song GOAT at Coachella (“Punjabi Hip-Hop”).​​​​​
References
Indianetzone. “History of Indian Music.” Medium, Medium, 13 Feb. 2024, medium.com/@inz_30074/history-of-indian-music-dabffb13d744.​
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Baine, Wallace. “Sitar Master Ashwin Batish at UCSC.” Good Times, 13 Nov. 2018, www.goodtimes.sc/sitar-master-ashwin-batish-ucsc.
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“The Shankar Legacy: Fusion and Expansion of Indian Music - Tigresounds - Music Platform for the Global Citizen.” Tigresounds - Music Platform for the Global Citizen, 19 Feb. 2024, tigresounds.com/travel/world-music/the-shankar-legacy-fusion-and-expansion-of-indian-music.
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Delucchi, Santiago. “The Shankar Legacy: Fusion and Expansion of Indian Music - Tigresounds - Music Platform for the Global Citizen.” Tigresounds - Music Platform for the Global Citizen, 19 Feb. 2024, tigresounds.com/travel/world-music/the-shankar-legacy-fusion-and-expansion-of-indian-music.
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CulturoAdmin. “Indian Fusion Music - Collaborative International Music - Culturopedia.” Culturopedia, 4 July 2020, www.culturopedia.com/indian-fusion-music.
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​Kalia, Ammar. “The Birth of Asian Underground: ‘This Music Was for Us and by US, and That Was Very Powerful.’” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Jan. 2019, www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/11/asian-underground-music-eastern-electro-drumnbass.
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Sawhney, Nitin. “Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin Revisited.” Beyond Skin, www.beyondskin.net/nitin-sawhney-beyond-skin-revisited.
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​“Shankar Jaikishan.” Cinemaazi, www.cinemaazi.com/people/shankar-jaikishan.
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Muffitt, Nicole C. “Fusion Sign-Vehicles: A Semiotics Analysis of Social and Musical Behavior in South Asian Fusion a Cappella.” Excellence in Performing Arts Research, vol. 6, 2018, oaks.kent.edu/sites/default/files/journals/2/articles/57/submission/stamped.pdf.
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“Indian Fusion Music - Collaborative International Music - Culturopedia.” Culturopedia, 4 July 2020, www.culturopedia.com/indian-fusion-music.
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News, Rukus Avenue. “50 Years of Hip Hop And Its Influence on South Asian Music.” Rukus Avenue, Rukus Avenue, 11 Aug. 2023, www.rukusavenue.com/news/2023/8/11/50-years-of-hip-hop-and-its-influence-on-south-asian-music.
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​“Punjabi Hip-Hop.” SoundCloud Stories, SoundCloud, 26 Aug. 2024, soundcloud.com/stories/post/punjabi-hip-hop.​