I recently saw a music review in Mojo magazine for an album by a Luke-Sital Singh called ‘The Fire Inside’. What first attracted me to the review was the name ‘Singh’ as this is also my middle name. All Sikhs have the middle name of Singh so I naturally assumed him to also be a Sikh.  I have searched many sites to learn more about this artist but have yet to find any any information that confirms he has any Sikh heritage at all. There is a strong possibility that he has nothing to do with Sikhs as Singh is also a surname used in many other Indian communities such as Gujars, Rajputs, Kurmis, Bengali Hindus and Ahirs.

Once I had given up trying to discover more about this artist I decided to listen to his music and was half expecting to hear an Indian influenced album full of sitars, tablas and harmoniums. To my surprise and I must add a little disappointment this was a standard modern day singer songwriter album filled with guitars and heartbroken lyrics.

With the seed of disappointment planted in my head I started to list down those songs that I knew of that had crossed that divide between eastern and western music. The first song that popped into my head was Brimful of Asha by Cornershop. A delightful pop song from 1998 that paid tribute to the Indian singer Asha Bhosle. In contrast to Cornershop the band Babylon Zoo that was fronted by Jas Mann did not have any western influences in their one hit wonder ‘spaceman’. Unfortunately I have not been inclined to listen to any more of their songs to check if they used Indian instruments in any of their other songs.

Other songs to have Indian influences include Ton Petty and the Heartbreakers – ‘Don’t come around here no more’, The Rolling Stones – ‘Paint it Black’ and the Kinks – ‘See my friends’.

A favorite band of mine from the 90’s was Kula Shaker who had a very successful album called ‘K’ and had hit singles called ‘Govinda’ and ‘Tattva’ featuring lyrics in Sanskrit. The heavy Indian influence in the bands music was down to the lead singer Crispian Mills. After a spiritual pilgrimage to India he found a deep interest in Indian culture. He even named his band after one of the twelve saints of South India, King Kulashekhara.

The Indian instrument the harmonium has also been responsible to introducing me to one of my current favorite artists. Listening to absolute radio one day a heard the intro of Anna Calvi’s ‘Desire’ and thought mistakenly the station had started playing an Indian track. The fusion of the eastern and the driving rock sound gave the song a mystical quality that pulled me in and led me to discover more of her music.

As yet I have avoided naming the obvious but no article on the eastern influence within rock music is complete without mentioning the Beatles. George Harrison was the instigator and the main driver for the Indian influences into the Beatles music. It all stated during the recording of the video for ‘Help’ when some Indian musicians were playing in the background. For me the outstanding Indian influenced track from the Beatles was Sgt Peppers ‘Within You Without You’.

The song although from a Beatles album was played on by only George Harrison and a group of Indian musicians. Another George Harrison composition heavily influenced by India is ‘My Sweet Lord’ which was written as praise for the Hindu god Vishnu. Interestingly this track does not actually include any Indian instruments but creates Indian aspects by using slide guitars to represent the Indian musical instruments The Sarangi and the Dilruba.

On a final note there is one other popular piece of music that most people around the world will recognize and had its origins in Indian music. The James Bond theme started life as a musical composition called ‘Good Sign Bad Sign’ by Monty Norman. The song was part of a musical called ‘A House for Mr Biswas’ telling the story of an Indian community living in Trinidad. Monty Norman also wrote all the music for the first Bond movie ‘Dr No’. The producers of the James Bond movies were not happy with the theme from Dr No so conscripted John Barry to re-arrange the tune. This has caused all kinds of libel issues over the years on who actually gets credited for the theme.

If anyone does have any information about Luke-Sital Singh and his ethnic origin please post a comment below.

UPDATE 15/11/14

Just heard a song from a band called ‘Bombay Bicycle Club’ called Luna. I have heard songs from the band before but never before noticed the Indian influences. The Band are a British based band and use many styles of music but are predominately a guitar based group. I will infidelity be checking out more of their music. Check out the below video which is influenced by Bollywood.

Hotel India is a four part documentary currently running on BBC 2 that follows the lives of people working and living around one of the most famous hotels in India – The Taj Mahal Palace situated in Mumbai.

The most fascinating part of the first episode for me was the attitude of both the people working at the Taj and those that rely on its existence. The employees there felt privileged to work at such as prestigious hotel and it filled them with great pride. For them it was a way of earning respect from their friends and relatives. This was the case no matter what the position of the employee – Porter or General Manger. The motto for all employees was that the guest was ‘God’ and should be treated as such. This attitude I find in direct contrast to my experiences of working in the UK. In my role as an Operations Manager I manage over 40 employees and their general attitude is one of resentment towards their employer. I have never understood this view because my employer provides me with the means to provide for my family, socialize, attain luxuries and live a comfortable life.

The loyalty the Taj employees show their employee is a trait found in the older generation (no matter from what culture). An example of this is my dad who has recently retired after 45 years working for the same company. It sees to me that the current generation in the West has little loyalty and commitment.

My favorite quote from the episode was from a woman who lives in the street outside the Taj with her family said of the hotel – ‘It is both our Mother and Father’. What she means by this is that the hotel provides her and her family with the means to feed her family. She make strings of jasmine flowers that she sells to the tourists and the guests. The poor who rely on the hotel do not envy or despise the rich hotel guests but are thankful to them.

A regular guest to the hotel summed up the difference in attitude between the Indian people living around the Taj and to those from other countries. He said, ‘if you come out of the Hilton in Trinidad, they just say rich Bastard and they want to beat you up and kidnap you.’ but in Mumbai ‘they look at the Taj in awe not envy’.

So why the difference in mindset from the poor in India and from that of the West? Could it be because of the social welfare systems in the West. The poor in India are threatened with starvation, disease and even death on a daily basis. They must show respect towards the things that will help them keep these risks at bay. They have learnt that working alongside the rich will help them survive. In the West people are very rarely in danger of dying when they are out of work. They have the social welfare to fall back on and many are making more money from benefits than they would if they were working. No wonder they think they can treat their employees with disdain and little respect.

Visiting Zakynthos last week I was totally enchanted by the beautiful Greek Island and it’s people. I have very rarely met a more friendly and welcoming host.

The Island has amazing landscapes and glorious clear blue waters. Apart from the usual good food, sandy beaches, swimming pool and evening’s entertainment I was captivated by the Greek culture and it’s similarities to my own Indian culture. They are very family orientated and religion plays a big part in their every day life with 98% of the islands population devoted to the Greek Orthodox faith.

As with Indian culture superstition also plays an important role within their lives. When a Greek buys a new property, business, or builds an extension to their house they have it blessed by a priest. Garlic can be seen hanging in most business and homes to ward off the evil eye.

When paying a Greek a compliment you must pretend to spit on them three times to ward of the evil eye otherwise they worry that something bad will happen to the object that was complimented. For example if I admired a Greek’s new car, I would need to feign spitting on the car otherwise the owner would fear the car getting damaged. Wearing blue charms in the shape of an eye is another way to ward of the evil eye.

Carrying bat bones is seen as very lucky but a bat must not be killed as this is bad luck. As they are a very religious people, priests are revered but it is seen as bad luck if one is met in the street. If this does happen then the word ‘garlic’ must be whispered under ones breath. There are many more superstitions but most of them can be overcome by the saying the word ‘garlic’.

Superstitions common with the Western world include black cats and the number 13 (because of the thirteenth guest at Christ’s Last Supper), and superstitions common with Indian culture include upside down placed shoes which are seen as very bad luck and an omen that death is close.

There are many more Greek superstitions which I will not mention but to me this indicates that Greek people are very religious and have a good fear of the Gods. What I mean by good fear is that they strive to live a good an honest life for fear that otherwise the Gods will be cross with them.

To finish off I will mention just one more Greek superstition which rather made me chuckle,  if you fall asleep under a Cypress tree it will steal your brains.