Talvin Singh
The musician who composed the original soundtrack for Incarnations is Talvin Singh.
“Some of the pieces were so good that I didn’t want to give them to the BBC”
Talvin Singh is an accomplished Tabla player, electronic musician, music theorist, record producer, visual practitioner and DJ.
He is best known as the father of modern Asian electronica music. Drawing inspiration from the classical Indian arts, Singh first came to prominence as a Tabla percussionist in the 1980s London music scene.
Singh has collaborated with several musical pioneers in various genre’s including Bjork, Blondie, Sioux & the Banshees, Madonna, DJ Spooky, The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Jay Z and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan .Singh is notable for re-introducing the concepts of Indian classical music to western pop, dance and jazz in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Singh’s solo album credits include critical and commercial successes OK (1998) - winning the UK’s 2 most prestigious music prizes, ‘The South Bank Prize’ and ‘The Mercury’ in 1999 - and HA (2001).
“I have been studying traditional Indian music for many years so composing for Incarnations was a good chance to draw on that. In the soundtrack I tried to evoke a tribal sound with the raw, hypnotic beat of the Tabla. A sound that would transport the listener’s imagination back to the India that people in the series inhabited. Writing music for a series has been a really interesting departure for me. When I make an album I’m very conscious that it will be reviewed whereas a project like this where I’m further behind the curtain allows me to let go of my ego and just concentrate on coming up with fresh ideas. Some of the pieces were so good that I didn’t want to give them to the BBC.” says Talvin of his involvement in Incarnations.
In October 2014, Talvin was awarded the OBE by the Queen for his service to the music industry.
