Karsh Kale

Karsh Kale (Hindi: कुरश कले "Kursh Kah-lay") is an Indian producer, composer and musician, known for melding the music of his heritage with the modern electronic club music of his American upbringing. Growing up in Stony Brook, New York, Kale showed significant promise as a traditional drummer as well as an Indian percussionist from an early age. While still attending high school, he played in a number of local bands, specializing in classic rock especially with a bent towards progressive groups such as Rush and Kansas. Kale often creates a unique blend of Indian percussion with techno music and drum & bass. Kale's compositions are often strident, loud, and energetic; they are heavy on the percussion and more focused on instrumental arrangements than vocals. In the style of Indian Fusion he is closer to Talvin Singh or State of Bengal than Bally Sagoo or Bill Laswell.

Kale is also a member of Tabla Beat Science, an "Asian Underground" type of group. He has collaborated with renowned artists such as the Madras Cinematic Orchestra and tabla masters, such as Zakir Hussain. One of his most famous compositions was entitled "Milan", named after his daughter, whose Sanskrit name means "meeting of two rivers".

Kale is a prolific artist, willing to lend a hand, and drum, to a range of musicians from Herbie Hancock to DJ Spooky. He has become a mainstay in Six Degrees Records' expanding series of compilation CDs of which six have been released so far.

Kale's third studio release, titled "Broken English" was released in the US on March 21, 2006 also under the Six Degrees Records label.

Kale is currently composing the original score for the film "ODE" (2007) based on the novel "Ode to Lata" by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla.

Early years

Karsh spent his early years in New York City. He often played tabla with Vishal Bakshi (Vishal Vaid) and Brent Arnesen.He also formed a band named 'Bhoom Shankar" with long time allies Ajay Naidu,Shahid Siddiqui and Vishal Vaid.Though they didn't released anything officially but the Bhoom Shankar and Future Proof(A monthly party started by Karsh at Joe's in NYC) happened to be the early sounds of "Asian Massive" referred as a Sub-Genre of Electronica.

Discography

Albums
* Breathing Under Water (joint release with Anoushka Shankar), Blue Note Label Group (2007)
* Broken English, Six Degrees Records (2006)
* Liberation, Six Degrees Records (2003)
* , Six Degrees Records (2002)
* Realize, Six Degrees Records (2001)

EPs
* Bright Like This (Mighty Junn Records, 1999)
* Classical Science Fiction from India, Mighty Junn Music (2000)
* Play (Mighty Junn Records, 1999)
* Pause (Mighty Junn Records, 1999)
* Back Seat Lavni (Mighty Junn Records, 1999)
* Distance Remixes (Six Degrees Records, 2000)
* Beautiful Remixes EP (Six Degrees Records, 2007)
* Manifest Remixes EP (Six Degrees Records, 2006)

Remixes

Kale has remixed:
*Cheb i Sabbah
*Anoushka Shankar
*Sting
*MIDIval Punditz
*Paula Cole
*Prem Joshua
*Rohan
*i.N.D.I.aN.S. The Band

Kale has been remixed by:
*Bill Laswell
*MIDIval Punditz
*Yossi Fine
*Banco de Gaia
*Gaurav Raina
*DK Pyar
*Navdeep
*DJ Spooky
*Ming and FS
*Bone Cruise
*i.N.D.I.aN.S. The Band

Trivia

* Two songs by Karsh Kale, "Distance" (in collaboration with i.N.D.I.aN.S. The Band, The i.N.D.I.aN.S. Revolution) and "One Step Beyond" are included with Microsoft Windows Vista sample music
* Karsh Kale performed a live soundtrack to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon in Brooklyn's Propsect Park on July 19th 2008; the music was co-produced by Midival Punditz and was played live with the film playing on screen, watched by several thousand people

ee also

*Indian pop

External links

* [http://www.karshkale.com Official website]
*" [http://smallworldpodcast.com/?p=371 Interview with Karsh Kale] " - [http://smallworldpodcast.com small WORLD Podcast] 2006