ARIA win for Bobby Singh

BY DEEPA GOPINATH

What do you get when you put an England-born, Mumbai-trained and Australian-based tabla artist in a room with a Malian kora player and an Australian songwriter/guitarist?

The answer is a surprisingly smooth blend of rich sounds that warms the soul and goes down better than hot chocolate on a chilly winter day. And the effect of this union is an exciting one as we realized when the 2010 ARIA for Best World Music Album was awarded to Djan Djan, the musical brainchild of Bobby Singh, Mamadou Diabate and Jeff Lang.

Bobby Singh is one who was born to play the tabla. After an early childhood in England, he spent many years under the tutelage of the great tabla maestro Pandit Nikhil Ghosh at Sangeet Mahabharati, an institute of classical music in India. After this early training, it was the highly sought after Guru Aneesh Pradhan, a senior disciple of the same school, who would nurture and refine Bobby’s great talent into an incredibly skilled and sophisticated tabla player. Bobby is now based in Australia, but makes frequent trips to India to further his training with his guru.

Creating inroads on the Australian music scene and winning an award is just the beginning for this talented Indian-origin musician

An idea was born and blossomed into a dynamic collaboration which, two years on, has been recognised by what is perhaps Australia’s most prestigious music industry award

Djan Djan is one of several fascinating collaborations in which Bobby Singh is involved, and is a result of a very fortunate houseshare between the three artists during the 2008 Adelaide Guitar Festival. The early beginnings of the band started with a series of casual ‘jam sessions’ in the living room, between the artists’ performances at the festival. An idea was born and blossomed into a dynamic collaboration which, two years on, has been recognised by what is perhaps Australia’s most prestigious music industry award. While Bobby appreciates the importance of winning an ARIA, the true honour lies in having his music recognised and enjoyed by the greater audience, including his own community.

“Although this formal and highly prestigious recognition by the industry is valued, my true drive lies within my passion for the art and in exploring where this musical journey takes me,” says the talented musician.

Bobby Singh’s sensibilities are deeply rooted in Indian classical music; however he feels that living in Australia provides him with tremendous opportunity to explore many different genres and to be involved in the marrying of his style with that of other cultures to create unique musical fusions. Some of the other diverse artists that this tabla expert has joined forces with include the John Butler Trio, Cat Empire, and artists of flamenco, jazz and south Indian classical styles.

“Both aspects of my music - the purely classical as well as fusionare equally relevant,” says Bobby vehemently, and he is inspired by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s words that a musician has a “duty to make music for the time”.

With so many demanding projects simultaneously in the pipeline, Bobby somehow finds time to study a Masters in Contemporary Improvisation at Macquarie University, which he enjoys immensely. Musically, the world can look forward to a fusion of his style with flamenco musicians in the trio Rasa Duende, a complex and very exciting collaboration with many varied artists for the upcoming Bobby and Friends, and several other innovative projects.

Bobby Singh is one of the most exciting Indian-Australian musicians of our time, and he is rapidly proving to be instrumental (pun intended!) in globalising and popularising Indian classical music. Stay tuned, music-lovers!