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Talvin Singh.
 Talvin Singh is one of those artists who has captured both global recognition and global respect. His music has opened many people's eyes to the joy of sounds from his ancestral lands in India by putting these sounds in the modern context of electronica, and without the cheesiness of a hundred copycat artists that have filled many a soulless chill-out compilation. After a long wait, Singh and his fellow performers visual artist Soichi Matsumoto and studio partner Oscar Vizan are bringing their live performance Tabtek to Adelaide as part of the Festival of Arts. The performance promises to be a heady and intoxicating mix of live tabla, electronic beats and stunning visuals and for many is certain to be a highlight of the Festival.
Talvin Singh has amassed a great deal of praise in his time as a DJ and artist. His seminal club Anokha in the 90's gave birth to a new genre in music, Asian Underground, which spawned bands like the Asian Dub Foundation. Held at the Blue Note club in London, live Asian bands and DJs blended their raw sounds with his prodigious tabla playing to forge a new style of music which is continuing to evolve today. Singh then stunned the music world by winning what is arguably the UK's most respected music prize for his debut album 'OK', the Mercury Music Award. This fame and respect has not changed Talvin's outlook on life or his music.
"I am constantly looking for new inspirations, new sounds and new formats in how I express myself through my music," he describes. "Inspiration for my music can come from anywhere, be it visual, aural or emotional." To this extent, Tabtek is an extension of what inspires and invigorates him and his music.
"Tabtek is a very organic and improvised performance, much more so than anything I have done previously," he explains. "The whole idea for the performance came from me and Oscar messing around in the studio, making sounds and bouncing ideas of each other. Then we thought why don't we take what we are doing in the studio and perform it live for an audience." Singh asked Japanese visual artist Soichi Matsumoto to join them and the idea of Tabtek was born: he describes what the performance involves. "Basically when I arrive wherever I am performing I will use my camera to video random images of maybe the airport, my hotel room, the city, trees, parks... Basically whatever inspires me about the place.
"I then give the video to Soichi who then plays, manipulates and changes the images while we are performing. Oscar and I then take inspiration from the visuals, as well as from the audiences reactions to the music and the visuals. And as all of the music is improvised, each performance is totally unique and special to those who attend each performance."
This unique connection of performance and audience are of the utmost importance to Singh. While he understands why many artists' performance will consist of banging out their hits again and again, he relishes the connection he has with his audiences during the performance of Tabtek. "I think that people appreciate something that is totally unique and special to just them and the other people present at the performance that night," he explains. "So much information is available to us today, with the internet, email, cable and the like, but we hardly ever get that feeling that we are experiencing something new, unique and special to us. That's what I try to achieve with Tabtek, to give people a unique performance that is special to them, something they know will never be repeated."
And really that's what the Festival of Arts is all about. Challenging, thought-provoking, unique and sublime performances that reiterate to us what is really important us, finding joy wherever it may be. As Singh describes when asked what he would like audiences to take from Tabtek, "It can be as simple as the smell of coffee in the morning, or the seeing an old friend after many years apart, or having someone give you a CD of an artist doing something fresh and unique with their music. Those are the inspirations and joys that I try to express in my music and in my performances. Hopefully the audience will share in this joy and inspiration with me, that's what I hope that people will take away from Tabtek."
Ben Moroney
 | Talvin Singh performs for one night only at Thebarton Theatre on Fri 17 March as part of the Festival of Arts. |
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