How Bollywood influenced Björk’s experimental electronic music

Björk Guðmundsdóttir, who turned 59 this twelvemonth connected November 21, is champion known for being 1 of the world’s archetypal pioneers of this avant-garde style. Debut itself combined physics music, house, jazz, and more, and would acceptable a precedent for samples, cultures, and genres from each implicit the satellite that would find a spot successful her enactment implicit the years. Critics person struggled to specify her sound, too the oft-repeated words “electronic”, “unconventional” and “experimental”, but galore inactive respect her arsenic a earthy unit of emotion that binds each of these seemingly disparate elements together.

India and its civilization were besides weaved into Björk’s cornucopia of influences. We instrumentality a look.

Björk discovers the “chaos” of Bombay, Bollywood

A twelvemonth earlier the iconic Bollywood movie Judaai (1997) was released, the filming of immoderate of the pb histrion Sridevi’s takes was intently witnessed by nary different than Björk. Luke Kenny, manager of the now-lost documentary Björk Goes to Bollywood, remembers however backmost successful the day, the Mumbai movie workplace that the “two giants” met successful lacked cardinal air-conditioning. In the sweltering heat, they exchanged “pleasantries successful breached English, which was superbly cute to watch,” helium told The Indian Express.

An actor, shaper and director, Kenny was the archetypal antheral VJ for Channel V, 1 of India’s astir iconic music-centred channels successful the ’90s. He besides starred successful the movie ‘Rock on!!’. Björk Goes to Bollywood (1996) was a 30-minute documentary aired connected Channel V’s ‘Music Video Request Show’ called ‘Mangta Hai’. The thought was to bring Björk connected to spot Bombay’s Filmistan and Mehboob Studios due to the fact that she was a “big fan” of India’s films.

Kenny describes himself arsenic being Björk’s “Raju guide” (referencing RK Narayan’s The Guide) backmost then. “There was constricted clip with her. But she was quiet, funny and amused astatine the chaos of the city,” helium says. The documentary and astir of the contented from the amusement were “purged” during a digitisation process, portion Channel V was unopen down successful 2021.

Sampling Satyajit Ray, collaborating with Tavlin Singh

While Björk’s fame would yet sprout up arsenic 1 of the world’s astir celebrated alternate artists, earning her millions of plays and planetary accolades, she has often cited a emotion for the satellite of underground euphony clubs.

Back successful 1993, erstwhile Björk was assembling a set for Debut, she met trained tabla subordinate Tavlin Singh. He’d aboriginal beryllium considered by immoderate arsenic the laminitis of the Asian Underground sub-genre of physics euphony successful the clubs of London. He had conscionable finished touring with the stone set Siouxsie and the Banshees then, aft rebelling against the Indian classical musicians who were “judgmental” astir however helium played the tabla, arsenic told to The Guardian successful 2018.

Raised by Sikh parents successful eastbound London, Singh was utilized to Indian classical euphony evenings and had travelled to India to specifically larn the tabla. He became the manager and pb percussionist for Björk’s album, lending a subtle, heartbeat-like tabla dependable connected tracks similar ‘Venus arsenic a Boy’. Singh aboriginal co-founded Anokha, a nine dedicated to physics euphony that fuses South Asian instruments, and released an medium of the aforesaid sanction featuring artists specified arsenic A R Rahman.

Notably, Bollywood vocalist Jolly Mukherjee besides provided the drawstring arrangements for Björk’s opus ‘Verandi’ (2001). The aforesaid opus sampled a short, blink-and-you-miss-it information from the archetypal 10 minutes of legendary Indian manager Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977).