We are experiencing a weird phenomenon here in LA and I was curious if it was also in NY. Our hip-hop stations are playing Hindi music. I don't mean sampling Hindi music in a hip-hop song, I mean just plain Hindi music. DJ Quik seems to be doing it the most, but every time I turn on the radio I feel like I am at an Indian wedding where the DJ switches between Hindi music and hip-hop. My favorite was on Saturday night, where they played a semi-slow Hindi film song and then played 'it ain't no fun if the homies can't have none'. Is this happening in NY?
So, does your local DJ throw some masala in the mix?
]]>This isn't unusual, the affluent young Indian population has integrated itself into the gangsta-rap and Hip Hop culture more so than any other race. So seeing commercialized rappers like Jay Z ride the Indian beats to tap the desi market was only expected.
I think NY's KTU is the first radio station to play a pure Indian song, without any English voiceovers to add a (if translated) nonsensical meaning to the song.
KTU recently just finished pumping Angelo Venuto's "Tiamo", sung entirely in Italian (and remixed by the Sicilian Assassins).
If you're on Kazaa, I recommend Tiamo and Punjabi MC to anyone with an open mind.
]]>Of course, all attempts to get Daler Mehndi on TRL have failed so far...
]]>Here in Toronto, still no Lata Mangeshkar on popular radio, but she's becoming regular rotation in the clubs (remixed, of course). Popular urban radio stations are using bhangra as intro and background music, and you even hear the occasional Daler Mehndi pop up from time to time.
It's just a matter of time.
]]>You must know, that this can only mean that Disco will come back into vogue?
**shudders**
]]>Greetings from Seattle where it's a three hour drive to Vancouver. As such we're used to Bollywood and Indian videos. Proximity to BC makes that stuff pretty available here.
Isn't this taking Corner Shop to the next logical step?
]]>I do not lie to you, KROQ played Hindi music as an intro to one of the promos the other day.
On another note, I saw the Asian Dub Foundation a couple of years back at SXSW at Stubbs and was very impressed.
Great cultural mixing!
]]>You don't need to understand the words to feel what the artists intends. Let the music play and rejoice with your world neighbors.
Mohandas Gandhi:
I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stiffled. I want all the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible.