Tabla & tonic

The one-time leading proponent of the genre - loosely titled the Asian Underground - had, in the past five years, ironically, gone underground himself. Until he showed up for a one-off gig in Mumbai last year. “The photography kick started other processes like designing album covers,” says Singh, describing his preoccupation with discovering new ways of delivering music. His new album Sweet Box will hit stores later this year; Universal Music is also set to launch a retrospective of the Anokha nights in East London. “As a deejay, I listen to a lot of records. Yet when I make my own records, it’s personal. That’s the great aspect of contemporary art,” he says.

One of Singh’s photographs that will go on display at Everyone is a Camera at the Bombay Art Gallery on Monday captures the Southall tube station signage. “I was brought up in East London so I see things that people there take for granted. Here is Southall translated into Punjabi and Great Western (the rail company) inscribed below that. It had so many associations,” he says.

“I hate the whole Photoshop deal. I don’t do that to any of my images. Of course, you can create art with the tool but I prefer not to,” he says. The tabla proponent is no stranger to marrying art and sound. Singh’s previous experiments include performing at the Tate Gallery in London, creating a sound installation at the Frith Street Gallery in London and composing music for various experimental Dance, Theatre and Film projects. He also recently created an Indian Classical touch screen installation in Brisbane, where children were allowed to loop various instruments to create their own sound.