Beat Master Talvin Singh

An exhibition of photographs, a new album for the Indian market.... Arati Menon Carroll finds that the originator of Asian underground has moved on to fresh challenges.

For someone who is seen as the founding architect of fused Asian-electronic sound, Talvin Singh is amusingly vexed by the word "fusion". "Growing up, fusion meant jazz-fusion, so if fusion existed as a genre already, it's absurd to create another," he says sullenly.

Okay, so let's say instead that he successfully created an astonishing hybrid of traditional Indian classical sounds and cutting edge dance beats, now recognised as the British Indian music collective "" Asian Dub Underground.

That, mind you, was the 1990s when bhangra was still only heard at Punjabi wedding gigs in Birmingham. From his East London establishment, Singh "" a disciple of Ustad Laxman Singh of the Punjab gharana "" took his innovative musical expression of forging classical and club cultures from the periphery to the mainstream.

Today, Asian underground is no longer confined to the underground. Hybrid is hip and the open acceptance of the British Asian "scene" (a repeated utterance with Singh) is as much a political statement as it is a sign of a liberalising world. To Singh's credit though, while Indian classical music promoters in Britain rejected him, he still managed to snag a big record label (Universal) for his first major album release. The album, OK, went on to win the 1999 Mercury Prize and was acclaimed by the British press as "staggeringly ambitious".

Singh's latest ambition, however, involves photography. A photographic art installation titled "Everyone is a camera" by Singh and curated by Bose Krishnamachari opened at the Bombay Art Gallery this week.

This exhibition of photography and sound installation, drew attention to the democratisation of the image making process with the increasing use of video cameras, mobile cameras and sound recorders.

"Today nobody owns an image, it gets captured and goes out into the public domain," says Singh. His work, he points out, is more lomography than photography. Lomography emphasises casual, spontaneous photography, where over-saturated colour and blurring are as much accidental as purposefully constructed.

It was in the late '90s that Singh first met Krishnamachari at Anokha, an East London nightclub started by Singh where each week tabla beats, electronic and drum-n-bass sounds went head to head. Subsequently, Singh began nurturing an interest in Indian contemporary artists, even collaborating with sculptor Anish Kapoor.

"Contemporary artists in India are doing explosive work," he says. However, buying Indian art at current prices, he says, is out of the question. "I am skint so I chose to jump on the art bandwagon with my exhibition," he half-jokes.

Krishnamachari, who has been involved with identifying and curating unexpected artistic talent in diverse mediums, believes Singh's abstract, minimalist photography will not need to hinge on his musical successes.

"He has this tremendous ability to translate sound-scapes into visual experiences," attributes Krishnamachari, who says he identified Singh's artistic talent when he noticed the powerful visuals that always accompanied his musical performances.

Meanwhile, on the music front, Singh is back after a brief hiatus from the limelight. He is due to release his first India-exclusive album, Sweet Box, with the Music Today label. He reveals that the album is a toned-down Talvin, that is more about "nice melodies" than "screeching electronica".

His jugalbandhi performances in India that were always well-attended are rarer now although he would love to work with progressive artistes like Niladri Kumar who snubs purists with his five-string sitar that he calls a zitar. Singh is also collaborating with producer Bobby Bedi on his upcoming Mahabharata cinematic venture.

Singh's talent as a DJ and music producer is legendary. And although his attire for the interview "" a demure Nehru-collared waistcoat and severe spectacle frames "" disguises his "hip" status, Singh really is considered the figurehead for other "Asian" artistes and DJs.

"I don't know what it is to be hip," he says, even as he admits that people react to meeting him by crying out, "Out of control man, you're Talvin Singh".

In fact, Singh constantly surprises. Despite the fact that his work is so strongly influenced by the Internet and other developments in digital technology, he doesn't much fancy the iPod and hates using the mobile phone.

"Digital music will never compare to the physicality of the LP," he says, "Nothing like creating a maahaul for music "" pouring yourself a whisky, putting the needle on the record and listening to Bade Ghulam Ali Khan."