OK (Standard Version)

Fusions of Indian music and Western dance have generally been lumped under the catch-all term "Bhangra" (actually a specific style of popular dance music traditionally associated with wedding parties in Pakistan and Northern India). However, tabla player Talvin Singh's solo debut OK shares a much stronger affinity with the musical structure of a classical Indian raga. Singh doesn't simply add Western club beats behind previously existing Indian music through sampling or remixing. Rather, he exploits the inherent tendencies of "intelligent" drum-and-bass and classical Indian music (ethereal chords and complex time signatures respectively) to find a natural point of intersection between the two, thereby developing an entirely new style. more...

Much more than any contemporaneous examples of "world-dance", this style recalls the fusion tablaist Badal Roy explored on records like Miles Davis' ON THE CORNER. OK echoes those notorious sessions of Miles' fusion era not only in its moments of brilliance and spirit of unedited improvisation, but also in the occasional self-indulgent mess. But while much of the material here cries out for editing, it also retains Miles' capacity to open countless new doors for the genres of music it touches.