Travelling With My Portable Electric Phonograph Vol. 1

Although colonialism is never a good thing, there are always some positive outcomes when two cultures collide, especially when it comes to music. In the 1940s Zulu musicians in South Africa began fusing traditional Zulu choral music with Western jazz. A continent away in India, we see that the same kind of musical revolution was taking place during this same period. Calcutta in particular became a musical hotbed beginning in W.W.II. The jazz scene was dominated by house bands from British hotels and social clubs. An influx of refugees in 1942 from Burma also brought new blood to Calcutta, like Reuben Solomon who once had the hottest band in Rangoon. Batuk Nandy was a steel guitar player who rose to fame by making music for Bollywood films, while Bismillah Khan was an Indian shehnai (a traditional flute-like instrument) master.

Travelling With My Portable Electric 1 / Various (Vinyl)