The great thing about both Indian and Western pop music is that they're fast and have a beat.
I listened to a lot of reggae music, a lot of Caribbean, a lot of gospel, a lot of rock, a lot of country, hip-hop... you know, so it just gave me perspective when it came to music and what I liked.
I don't really know what 'folk music' means anymore.
The music of Africa is big sound: it's the sound of a community
Presley is country music, white music. Jazz is black music - it was invented by the blacks in New Orleans. And I'm really a jazz singer. I was impressed with Elvis - he was the handsomest guy I ever met in my life, and a very nice person, too. But the music doesn't impress me.
I was bred and raised in a multi-cultural music background.
I'm a big fan of cultural music, and that's how I try to expand my playing, by listening to music that is not conventionally American.
One can find a Punjabi song in all genres. I, as a singer, too, aim to sing all kind of songs.
I'm obsessed - not just interested, obsessed - with folk music, street music, the parallels between a country's street music and its so-called classical and intellectual music, the way certain scales have travelled right across the globe. All this ethnological and musical interaction fascinates me. Have you heard any trance music? That's the thing.
If I were to call it black music, that would be untrue. I don't know what that is, unless it would be some African drums or something.
There are two kinds of music; German music and bad music.
At a time when club music has gone more electronic, I've gone the other way: organic and world music.
I don't have very sophisticated taste in music. I listen to a lot of folk music. I like reggae.
The whole thing with eastern music and instruments, I love all that stuff.
Music's always been in my home. My dad plays guitar, and I grew up listening to cumbia and salsa and boleros.
Classical music gives musicians a kick. But African music gives everyone a kick.
I almost chose the career of an ethnomusicologist because I was so fascinated by that music. It gives a different feeling of time.
Punjabi songs are fun. They help to cheer up the environment and the mood.
The reflection of the world is blues, that's where that part of the music is at. Then you got this other kind of music that's tryin' to come around.
The strangest part of Indian music is its lack of chords: There's no such thing as major or minor, and it's unusual to hear more than two different pitches at the same time.
When I do concerts and recitals, the two most common requests are spirituals and opera.
This is jazz, this is funk, this is soul, this is gospel This is sanctified sick, this is player Pentecostal. This is church front pew, Amen, pulpit, What my people need and the opposite of bullshit.
Odisha people are very musical. Our music industry has got many talented artists from Odisha. They love music a lot.
The first Latin music that blew my mind was bumba, which was a Puerto Rican beat.
I'll listen to anything authentic whether it's bluegrass or gospel or blues.
