MyBindi Radio Session 3.0   with Mohamad Click Here to listen to myBindi Radio

Playlist

01 Intro (Vedic) / TS Soundz
A Vedic prayer: May the gods smite those who leave the show halfway through. (Aameen.)

02 Eclipse / Talvin Singh feat. Shankar Mahadevan
Gayatri mantra + tablatronic sonic bliss. In this awesome track from Talvin Singh's debut solo LP OK, the British Asian tabla master dispenses with the loops and displays his dynamic drums/tablas n' bass. Mahadevan obligingly provides an equally spontaneous vocal performance, begin and ending with verses from the Rig Veda. T.Singh is coming to TO (we hope) in December, following the cancellation of his gig at The Phoenix in October.

03 Punjabi Munde Paun Bhangra / Punjabi By Nature
Local bhangraheads paun boliyaan and rip out the reggae riddims. If anybody knows what happened to the Toronto bhangra scene, please let me know.

04 Interlude (Geela Geela Paani) / Vishal feat. Lata Mangeshkar
Lata ji ki reshmi awaaz from the Mumbai mafia film Satya. What's with Gulzaar's obsession with paani?

05 Feeling Better / Swami
Big beats by Swami (Simon & Diamond Duggal and Frantic Kam Bura), with vox by Tarsem Singh AKA Taz AKA Johnny Zee(!) How can you go wrong? Swami's label, Sub Dub, is unfortunately no more. However, Nation Records has recently picked up the debut album, Desi Nu Skool Beats, and has re-released it. You can now buy it at their website.

06 Sabir Ki Jai Ho / Rizwan-Muazzam
While you're toiling away to get that Engineering degree, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's 20-year-old nephews Rizwaan Mujahid Ali Khan and Muazzam are riding on the success of their debut album, Sacrifice to Love (Israar-e-Mohabbat) out on RealWorld, the record label that made their uncle famous across the globe. The young qawwals may not have the skills of their elders, but they do have tremendous potential - and lots of time to learn. "Sabir Ki Jai Ho" is a panegyric in praise of Sabir, the nephew of the great Sufi saint Baba Farid Shakarganj, whose shayari can be found in the Shri Guru Granth Sahib.

07 RAFI / Asian Dub Foundation
Check it out, check it out, without a doubt, Asian Dub Foundation should use more of those Bollywood samples ("Shut up!") ADF point out some Real Areas For Investigation on the title track from their second LP. RAFI (the album) was wildly popular in Europe, and its success led to the release of a third more widely distributed LP, Rafi's Revenge. With their political and culturally conscious lyrics, the panchaayat soon broke through to a mainstream audience. Check out the lyrics; "equal opportunity denied to us" - on the latest album, Community Music, you'll hear them claim, "opportunity's no longer denied". Are things really changing for the better?

08 El Harba Wine / Khaled feat. Amar, Karsh Kale, Jolly Mukherjee
Don't know what he's saying, but to answer your question, I doubt the title has anything to do with "herb" or even "wine". That's not what Khaled was exiled from Algeria for. Besides vocals from the King of Rai, Amar (Jaan) provides some Urdu vocals, making it a bilingual Arabic/Urdu song - how often do you hear that? Also featuring NYC tabla nawaaz Karsh Kale, a rising star in the American South Asian music scene, and Madras' own Jolly Mukherjee.

09 Interlude (Herecica Latino) / Nitin Sawhney
Flamenco guitars and qawwaliesque vocals. It's Nitin Sawhney; what else do you need to know?!

10 Jungle Sitars / Badmarsh
Snatched from a conversation I overheard on the subway: "Can you imagine Indian music mixed up with electronica? *Laughs* What would it be like? Would they play sitars and jungle loops? *Guffaw* Yeah right!" On the first Outcaste Untouchable compilation, Mohammed "Badmarsh" Akberali shows off his junglisms and funky sitar samples.

11 Chocolat / Cornershop
Ingrédients: chocolat au lait (sucre, substances laitières, beurre de cacao, pâte de cacao, lécithine de soja, arome artificiel), sucre, farine enrichie, (farine, niacine, fer, mononitrate de thiamine, riboflavine, acide folique), shortening d'huile végétale, sirop de maïs, substances, laitières, dextrose, sel, cacao, bicarbonate de sodium, arome artificiel. PEUT CONTENIR DES TRACES DE FUNK.

12 Put Sardaran De / Amar Haldipur feat. Balwinder Safri
Classic Indo-Pak grocery store fare; and zabardast goods too. Mail me if you know where I might find the Safri Boys' "Dil Mutiaraan De". Balwinder wasn't voted best Punjabi vocalist by his fellow Brits for nothing.

13 Hai Hai (Triple Time Tablastic Mix) / Kenz Desai; remix: Simon Storer/Gurpreet Chana
An beat-laden instrumental version of Kenz Desai's "Hai Hai", with local tabla nawaaz Gurpreet Chana providing the main taal. The story goes that Gurpreet paid a visit to Bally Sagoo in Birmingham the night before the Hai Hai single was due to be finished. That same night, Bally asked Gurpreet whether he could do anything with Simon Storer's remix of the track - before the next day. The two stayed up all night to produce this track; you can judge the result for yourself. Kenz Desai's Hai Hai is out on Bally Sagoo's label, Ishq Records.

14 Wandering Star / Portishead
How do I justify putting a Portishead track in a playlist filled with South Asian tunes? Well, unbeknownst to many, Portishead's trip-hop classic was inspired when Liz Gibbons developed a taste for evergreen Bollywood films, and discovered Raj Kapoor, our own Awaara Sitaara. "Gardish mein hoon, aasmaan ka taara hoon / Awaara hoon...." Sorry.

15 Interlude (Downtown) / Mo Magic

16 Soz-e-Dil Bhi Nahin / Musarrath Nazir
A ghazal from the golden age of Pakistani disco.

17 Kal Nahin Tha Woh / AR Rahman feat. Sujatha
It's not Mustafa, but it sure is something. A sweet Bollywood tune from a rather bakwaas film; Vishwavidhaata, with Jackie Shroff. It was performed during the unplugged portion of the AR Rahman concert, without the bhansuris or the strings (veena?), unfortunately. Khair, koi baat nahin; AR Rahman zindabaad.