Enter the Dragon with Karsh Kale

Among his many inspirations, percussionist and composer, Karsh Kale counts one quite an unlikely candidate. “Bruce Lee represents a character that I have tried to emulate in my own work over the years. It is the style in which he represented his cultural duality, something he mastered, and something I am still in pursuit of, that inspired me,” says Kale.

He will, along with the New Delhi-based electronica producers, The MIDIval Punditz (Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj), perform their incendiary live score for Lee’s iconic classic, Enter the Dragon, at Darling Harbour as part of the Sydney Festival 2009.

“I have been a fan of Bruce Lee since I was young. As a boy I remember waking up to a poster I had of him on my wall every morning. It was a still from the final fight scene in Enter the Dragon. I also had a cat until recent called Bruce Lee,” says Kale. “It was a no brainer for me to ask the Punditz to get involved in this project with me as I knew that they too were big fans of Mr Lee. I felt that the project would not only benefit from their skills as producers, but as well from their enthusiasm as fans.”

And what inspires Kale, a master of tabla, and an Indian electronica band to compose for Bruce Lee’s masterful visuals of martial arts? “The score I created draws upon both traditional and modern styles much like Bruce Lee’s character in the film. It is a very different approach than the original score which seemed much more like a basic Hollywood cop movie score from 1973,” says Kale. “Some scenes are scored with sound and frequencies and some with full musical compositions. I was mostly inspired to get the opportunity to help reintroduce this legendary character to a brand new audience with a brand new sound,” he adds.

Born just outside of Birmingham in England, Kale’s family moved to Queens in America, where at the age of five, he heard the first stroke of the tabla. He recollects the moment with immense clarity even today.

“My father played a tape of a concert recorded in Pune of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia on bansuri and a young Zakir on tabla performing Raag Marva in Roopak taal (7 beats). I recall my father making me wait through the 40-minute alaap section before the first strokes of tabla were played. To me it was the sound of classical India merging with Rock and Roll, and all this coming from one drummer. After hearing this recording and later seeing him live, my own pursuit of music began,” he says.

Kale has not only shared stage with the Ustad several times, but also directed him once. “This was in 2003, while recording my Liberation album. He and Bill Laswell were to record on a piece I had written called Milan”,” says Kale. “I was not going to direct Zakirbhai or dare tell him what to do, until I realized that he was not going to be satisfied with the recording till I got what I was looking for. I finally gave him direction as per the mood and the style I was going for and he delivered an amazing performance as always.”

Kale’s spectrum of initiatives is amazing—he has scored for animation games and does a range of remixes, including recently for the theme of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion. He has also toured clubs across India, with the Punditz. “When I first played in India, I was surprised to see how much club culture had already existed for quite a while thanks to people like the Punditz. I have always had a great reaction to my music in India. The music tends to connect with those who have a more worldly view and see themselves not only as south Asians but world citizens.”

Kale grew up in a world very different from the one he now performs in. Indian music certainly wasn’t cool then—and young Indian-origin kids often rejected their parent’s culture. “I do remember growing up in an environment that had little understanding of the culture from which I came,” says Kale. “I think that I rebelled like other kids I was growing up with but music always remained separate for me.”

From Buddha Bar to Bhangra in UK’s coolest nightclubs, Indian music has morphed to speak to a younger, globalised audience. Bringing this music from the underground to the clubs and finally onto the mainstream stage, are musicians like Kale, Talvin Singh and Nitin Sawhney. Yet, Kale doesn’t see himself or his music as a representation of second generation South-Asians growing up in the West.

“My music is simply an expression of who I am. It is always an honor when someone else can identify with my work regardless of their cultural background,” says Kale. “I never chose to be interested in Indian classical music because I was Indian, but rather because it is an amazing form of expression. I was also equally inspired by other non-Indian forms of music. The music that Talvin or Nitin or ADF make is about erasing borders and lines.”