Like his name suggests, Digging in India has made a name for himself for making sonic archives sound like a thing of beauty. A musical explorer of everything that might seem eccentric he knows exactly how to make music sound like he’s just found it - and often he has. Just step into his record store in New Delhi - or if you can’t quite make the flight, lock into his NTS Radio show immediately. For now, he selects 10 tracks from his vault for Loka.
Hariprasad Chaurasia - Shrishti
Pandit Chaurasia’s futuristic experiment from 1985 of fusing the Indian bamboo flute, complete with synthesizers and an electronic machine, results in a 21 minute cosmic ambient downtempo journey.
Paul McCartney - Mrs Vandebilt
Maturity is realizing that Paul is the Beatle with the great solo catalog and not John, not George, and definitely not Ringo. I’ve lost count of how many times I play this record.
Usha Iyer - Good Times & Bad Times
A beautiful track by Indian pop pioneer Usha Iyer (now known as Usha Uthup) from the soundtrack of Bombay Talkie from 1970.
Helen D'Cruz & Henry D'Souza - Gharacho Divo
A bit of jazz, rock, some folk melodies and what you get is the sound of Goa in the 70’s. Gharacho Divo is a beautiful mellow melody that doesn’t leave my mind. I don’t understand a word, but it doesn’t matter.
Lifafa - In Hi Ko
It’s hard to put this song in a box, some may call it alt-pop, some may call it shoegaze-ish, some may admit that they have no freaking clue what to call this and all of them will be right. Released in 2014, the EP has been deleted by the creator with only this song remaining to stream on YouTube with a very cool video collage (by Utkarsh Raut).
Shiv Kumar Sharma - Ballad
I love the top comment on this song on YouTube:
“WHEN I ARRIVED AT HYDERABAD AIR PORT THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE WAS MESMARISED BY THIS MUSIC ....THAT REALLY MEANT TRUE INDIA.....”
Jai Paul - Jasmine
I love Jai Paul. I love the flower jasmine. I love that the record for Jai Paul’s Jasmine smells like the flower. It’s dope!
Soreng Santi (สรวง สัันติิ) - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng
Black Sabbath’s Iron Man covered in Thai by the great Thai rocker Soreng Santi. The kind of musical crossovers and oddities that I live for.
Trilok Gurtu & Shobha Gurtu - Shobharock
Shobha Gurtu - the mother, a Hindustani classical singer. Trilok Gurtu - the son, a jazz percussionist. Shobharock - a song fusing the best of both worlds.
Ko Shin Moon - Jamileh
Ko Shin Moon’s electrifying cover of Lebanese artist Ihsan Al Munzer’s track Jamileh from 1979. I’ve been in love with Ihsan’s track ever since I found it on vinyl around 7 years ago. Ko Shin Moon took it to another level with their cover.
