Monsoon

Country of origin:

England

Type of music generally:

World Music: Indian-influenced pop

Status:

No longer recording. Lead singer, Sheila Chandra, is now a solo artist.

See also:

Wikipedia's entry on Monsoon

The Ectophiles' Guide entry for Sheila Chandra

Comparisons:

Unique; like Sheila Chandra's early solo work

Covers/own material:

Own material

General comments:

An unusual mix of bouncy pop with an eastern-Indian flavour and instrumentation, and Sheila Chandra's stunning voice. (Neile)

monsoon was sort of the spearhead of the "indi-pop" thing that was fairly popular in britain a while back ("pump up the bhangra!"), melding western pop music with indian instrumentation and classical indian styles. the monsoon releases were more eastern-glossed western pop music, but they are still good and the voice of sheila chandra is not to be missed. (woj@smoe.org)

Recommended first album:

Monsoon is the only one available

Recordings:

• The Third Eye (1983)
• Monsoon (re-release of The Third Eye with additional tracks, 1990)

Monsoon Featuring Sheila Chandra

Release info:

—Mercury (Polygram)—314 526 527-2

Availability:

Wide in U.S.

Ecto priority:

Recommended for lovers of pop with a difference. (Neile)

Group members:

Sheila Chandra—vocals
Steve Coe—piano, celeste, swarmandel, gong, organ, cabassa, backing vocals
Martin Smith—8 string bass guitar, 4 string bass guitar, accordion, tamboura, piano, sitar, tabla, ektara, backing vocals

Guest artists:

Dinesh—tabla
Preston Heyman—ghatam, gamalan, timbali, gong, cowbell, rota toms, tom toms, wasp, tambourines, cabasa, fire extinguisher
Bill Nelson—e bow guitar, electric guitar
Paul James—shenai, pipes, recorders
Cliff Stapleton—hurdy gurdy
Richard Bragg, Norman Bragg, Khazanchi, Chris Hunter, Punita Gupta, Dave Balfe, Merrick, Dari Mankoo, Clem Alford, Jhalib

Produced by:

Hugh Jones and Steve Coe

Comments:

This is a re-release of 1983's The Third Eye with additional tracks.

A really fun collection of songs. At first I found it too pop for me, but its unusual instrumentation has grown on me. (Neile)

Their retrospective compiles all (or nearly all) of monsoon's recorded output. not to be missed. (woj@smoe.org)

Very different from the Sheila Chandra solo stuff, but very much a treasure. Here the music is more pop sounding, even disco at times, but the most striking thing is the similarity to some of the early Danielle Dax material. One of the cuts is a cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", also done by Danielle Dax in 1990 on Blast The Human Flower. (jsutton@rahul.net)