Amar - Outside (2000)

This album is yet another that I saw in a delete bin and was intrigued by, mostly because I noticed that there was a version of Prince's "Sometimes It Snows In April" on it. What I didn't expect was that it would be so eclectic and electronic. Amar Dhanjan is both British and Indian, and her songs are a mix of English and Hindi. The music behind them is generally downtempo and involves a lot of programming, samples and world beats, with some drum 'n' bass elements. The closest music I could compare it to would be Goldfrapp's first album Felt Mountain. Very ethereal and complex. The singles "Red Sky" and "Sometimes It Snows In April" (which was produced by the incredibly popular Guy Sigsworth) were both remixed into drum 'n' bass and UK garage versions and were underground successes. But Amar's music was obviously too left-of-centre to attract a big audience and she seemed to disappear. So I was surprised to discover that she is currently working with Timbaland on a new album! She appeared on Asian mixes of Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" and "Promiscuous", and from there Timbaland asked her to sing on the song "Bombay" off of his Shock Value album. This led to collaboration on her solo work, so expect her to release a new and much more popular album next year. It pays to make friends in high places!

For the maxi-single of "Sometimes It Snows In April", go to my other blog HERE.

Download Outside

1		The World
2		Sometimes It Snows In April
3		Claustrophobic
4		Maybe
5		Rain
6		To An Alien Land
7		Demons Win The Game
8		Red Sky
9		Another Tune
10		Tere Bina
11		After Sunset
12		Morning

Sasha - All Or Nothing (1993)

Sasha is yet another one-named artist who released one album with no fanfare, had one single that got some play in the clubs and then disappeared apparently without a trace. The album was created at the time of the bhangra music semi-craze in the UK. It was when people were jonesing for something with a more worldly flavour, and Indian-influenced pop and hip hop music became popular for a brief time, thanks to artists like Punjabi MC. Sasha's voice is pure girl pop, but the music includes not only bhangra and pop influences, but house, reggae and hip-hop as well. Her single "People Of The World" was a dance semi-hit in it's remixed form, which made it a trance anthem that was no doubt a hit at raves. But nothing else of note emerged off the album, and her small record label apparently spent no money on publicity, so the artist and album faded into obscurity. The album is an interesting footnote to experimentation in pop music, though, and the whole bhangra style has stayed around, most notably in the work of hip hop producers like Timbaland.

Download All Or Nothing

1		All That I Do
2		Lovetrain
3		Wonderful World Beautiful People
4		Straight From Heaven
5		Smiles
6		People Of The World (Bhangra Mix)
7		All Or Nothing
8		Here Comes The Hindustanis
9		Hold Me
10		So High

Aashna - Aashna (1995)

Aashna Patel was a reporter and host on Canada's kiddie channel YTV. Coasting on this bit of fame and a ready-made large young audience, she stepped into the pop music fray with this, her one and only self-titled pop album. It was produced by Canadian pop producer Rich Dodson, and follows closely to the style 'created' by Paula Abdul on her second and third albums: Pure pop, with funky, hip-hoppy and housey elements, and a touch of Indian music thrown in as a nod to her heritage. The lady was undeniably attractive, and her voice, while not super strong a la Abdul, was perfect for pop. Unfortunately her singing career was not hugely embraced by her hoped-for audience, with only minor radio hits in Canada with the singles "A-Ya" and "Not Asking For The World".  As a result, Aashna went back to hosting and reporting for entertainment shows in Canada and the US, and created her own multimedia company, Aazin LLC, with her friend Chirag Amin.

Video for A-Ya

Video for Not Asking For The World

Download Aashna

1		Not Asking For The World
2		Family
3		A-Ya
4		U Belong To Me
5		Push
6		Jaani
7		Endlessly
8		Gimme Gimme
9		People Like To Rock
10		Kamasutra