India is going the international way in terms of music. The Indian sound has not only captivated audiences in the homeland, but overseas market, be it Bollywood music or even Carnatic and Indian classical music. Indian World music has also made a huge impact with some unknown artists taking in the limelight from nowhere.

Take the case of world music artist and Bengaluru born Amit Heri who grew up listening to all kinds of Western and Indian classical music, from the blues, rock and pop. Heri has put in most of his musical influences into the music he is making today. His latest album ‘Jhoola – A World Music Yatra’ is all set to rock your senses. The artiste previously conquered the hearts of millions of music lovers through his music for the movie ‘Morning Raaga’ and his last music album ‘Elephant Walk’.

Says the distinguished musician and composer, “Through ‘Jhoola’, I want to showcase modern India and what is happening around us, while ensuring that we don’t forget our true culture and tradition .It blends traditional Indian folk melodies, stylized with contemporary music forms and translated into a modern, international sound. The album expresses my love and respect for the music of India and it is my attempt to bring together tradition and freshness brought by change”. Amit’s main objective is to share a personal journey through music that highlights the commonality between cultures and people.

Taking a leaf into his album you have ‘Hills of Grace’ a rendition of the popular gospel hymn ‘Amazing grace’, and while the melody is familiar, the composition and arrangement is a unique Indian interpretation. This song was collected on his travel in the North East and is from the state of Mizoram. There’s also the melodic ‘Gai Re Sayba’ from Goa, a song about courtesans working to convince a local boatman to taken them across the river, which he resists doing. This musical arrangement reflects the spirit of Goa, which with its traditional folk culture and Western influence, has evolved into a lighthearted, liberal, laid back slice of India.

Delhi musicians Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj who make up MIDIval Punditz and who have been together since 1994, is an Indian fusion group. Their style revolves mostly around bhangra, jungle, electronica and North Indian classical music. Their songs commonly feature traditional Indian instruments, such as the dhol, tumbi, sarangi, sitar, and the bansuri, but it also features more modern instruments such as the synthesizer and drum machine. In addition to recording and producing, Raina and Raj regularly hold dance parties (which they call Cyber Mehfil parties) from time to time at various New Delhi venues.

Their latest album ‘Hello Hello’ is inspired from their search for a universal sounding title that does not give a narrative of what kind of music is inside. Says Raina “The whole world understands the meaning of the word ‘Hello’. The phone booth was the idea of the album photographer who saw this vision on how the album should look visually.  It’s our favorite cover so far.” The duo love collaborating with other artists and experiment with different styles. That according to Tapan is one of the most exciting parts of music making. “Each guest artist brings in their own sensibilities and takes our sound to another level” feels Tapan “All the guests that feature on ‘Hello Hello’ were short listed by us keeping in mind their original musical styles and how that would work along with ours. The difference is very apparent in the album. We would specially like to mention the collaboration with Karsh Kale as a co-producer who helped us see our own music from an outsider's perspective and therefore allowed us to see a bigger, holistic picture which is very important for an artist who wants to recreate themselves with every album”.

For years, this instrument has been at the centre of a courtesan’s performance, following her voice, her heart and her poetry. The remarkable resemblance to the human voice can only come from one musical instrument and that is the Sarangi, one closest to the human voice. And who better than Kamal Sabri who wishes to bring the Sarangi back to life. Kamal Sabri is the seventh generation of a distinguished family of traditional musicians that boasts of names like his father, Ustad Sabri Khan of the Senia Gharana. Sabri has traveled with his music across the world to showcase his talent and also reveal what a marvelous musical instrument the Sarangi is.

Through his latest album, ‘Sarangi Funk’ the musician shares his love affair with the Sarangi. The soft spoken Sabri says “The Sarangi can be used to showcase different genres of music such as Dhrupad, Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Kajri, Chaiti, Hori, Tapp, Tarana, Bhajans, Ghazals, folk and most recently jazz and world music. Through ‘Sarangi Funk’, I wanted to bring out a different flavour of music for the audience and present Sarangi to them in a whole new way where, people don’t just associate Sarangi with traditional classical art form or music that expresses sad emotions, but attempt to present to the world the Sarangi in a more contemporary way. So you have ‘Sarangi Technology’ a funk of drums ‘n’ bass; ‘Sarangi Espania’ an Indian style melody mixed with a Spanish guitar and tap dancing sound, and ‘Sarangi Romance’ that has a lounge feel to it and one can just sit back chill out to this track So if you see, I have mixed Sarangi with different genres of music to create different energy and give it a more upbeat tempo, that of New Age music or more popularly known as World Music.”

Sabri has recorded with famous groups like Massive Attack and One Giant Leap, toured with musicians from Scandinavia, performed with Jan Garbarek, the King of Norway and among other international and national festivals, participated as the youngest Indian musician in “Les 24 heures du raga” (the 24 hours Millennium concert) in Paris. Besides, he has also played for both Hollywood and Hindi films. Sabri wants to bring the instrument which is also considered the Indian version of the violin, to the ears and heart of the Indian youth. His new album displays a great promise in starting off a new chapter in the history of the instrument.

Another band from Delhi is the now famous (their music video ‘My Life’ is on Vh1) indie band Them Clones who is soon releasing their album ‘Love.Hate.Heroes’ which they have been planning for the last eight years. The track listing for their album will depend solely on votes received through their official website, a combination of live performances, and networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

This is a shark contrast to the usual manner in which music is forced upon music lovers where record labels select songs for their albums. Here it’s the votes received for their songs that will make their way to their album which is scheduled to be released at the end of the year. However this ploy has been also be used by Mumbai based Zero when they used peer-to-peer (P2P) to share and promote their tracks. It probably began with international alternative rock major, Radiohead who released its album online before its physical release.

The band Them Clones consists of comprises Prithwish Dev (vocals), Joseph L (Guitars), Gucci Singh (Guitars), Clarence Gonsalves (Bass guitar) and Surojit Dev (Drums). Them Clones was formed at the turn of the new millennium and their music consists of compact arrangements, tight grooves and a smooth melody with sharp vocals.

Them Clones has been a part of various concerts, gigs across the country and were also the chosen ones at Channel [V] Launch Pad 2005.They were also voted as the ‘Best Band’ at JD Rock Awards in 2006 and 2007.

Lastly we have multi-instrumentalist and composer, German born Prem Joshua, a pioneer in the field of world music, exploring and creating a new synthesis in music beyond the borders of East and West. This has earned him the title of the “Fusion Guru”. Prem Joshua’s international band – formed in the lively and chaotic witches’ cauldron of an Indian metropolis, today stands out as one of the most refreshing multi-cultural musical experiences to be found between Bombay and Berlin. On his new album released early this year, Prem Joshua & Band present the highlights of their 2007 concert tour. These live recordings feature seven new versions of Prem Joshua “classics” and two brand-new tracks. With originality, virtuosity and confidence the quartet creates a musical masala of Indian classical, jazz, funk and chill out… a music so masterly yet playful blended, that it has found a place in the hearts of listeners from the East, the West and beyond.

Says an ecstatic Joshua who has his base in Goa. “My original band was formed in India, in Pune, in the late 80ies, when I studied sitar with Ustad Usman Khan. However, the band members were all different; I am the only survivor of the first band. Over the years band members kept changing as we kept exploring more and more the field of Indo-Fusion music. The sound also changed drastically with our musical development and change of members. How did I get the other members together? Music is a mystery! How do 4 international musicians from completely different countries suddenly meet? It just happens and we are equally surprised! Maybe destiny?” feels the musician whose band consists of Raul Sengupta, who is half-Bengali, half-German.

Joshua is a disciple of Tabla Maestro Pandit Shankar Gosh and creates real 'groove-magic' on the tablas, but also masters the oriental darbouka, the Peruvian cajon, the congas and a large assortment of ethnic percussion. Chintan Relenberg, from Munich, is another strong pillar of my international quartet, who sets a clear counterpart to the ethnic rhythms and sounds of the band by adding elements of Urban Lounge, Trance, Chill Out and Jazz. Chintan is a wizard on loops and keyboards but also is a singer and percussionist. Satgyan Fukuda, bass player from Tokyo, made himself a name as one of the finest Reggae and Jazz bass players of Japan. With his laid-back bass adds just the right groovy low end to the band’s unusual sound. Joshua as a musician plays sitar, bamboo flutes, dilruba, soprano sax and sing. The basic compositions are mostly his but new song ideas always pass an intense creative period with the band before they really call them 'new songs'.

With not many bands existing such as the Prem Joshua band, Joshua feels his band has many USPs. He states. “Every track of our music is somewhere based on Indian raga; from there it is taken around the globe and 'exposed' to different influences from other contemporary musical directions. We delight in fusion! Done properly it is not confusion at all, good fusion has to do a lot with respecting different musical cultures, being very sensitive and then creating something new, unique, fresh. Music has to remain contemporary, it has to unite people! And you will be surprised! A lot of people discover Indian classical music through listening to fusion music by Prem Joshua!”

Ask Prem Joshua his real name and he says, ‘It’s Prem Joshua” (laughs aloud). I chide him further. “This name was added in India. Prem means love. And I believe I would rather give more love and music to this world than more violence and religious fanaticism.”

By Verus Ferreira