Talvin Singh (born in 1970) is a British tabla playing musician, producer, and composer. Singh is associated with the Asian Underground movement. His debut album, OK (1997), won the Mercury Music Prize in 1999. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to music and received the Ivor Novello Award for Innovation at the 2022 Ivor Composer Awards.
Singh was born in Leytonstone, East London. He began playing tabla as a child and went to India at 16 to study for two years. Upon returning to London, he worked with artists including Björk, Sun Ra, Massive Attack, Courtney Pine, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Between 1996 and 1999, Singh, along with creative producer Sweety Kapoor, and DJ/music producer Sam Zaman (aka State of Bengal), hosted the Anokha nights at the Blue Note club in Hoxton Square, London, showcasing a new fusion sound from predominantly South Asian-origin artists. In 1997, Singh released the compilation album Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground. In 1998 he released his debut solo album, OK, which went on to win the Mercury Prize in 1999. In 2000, he collaborated with Madonna on her album Music.
Singh's music incorporates elements of Indian classical music, electronic music, and drum and bass music. Singh has stated that his early practice involved using electronic beats in place of a metronome, which influenced his later integration of traditional and electronic rhythms.
In a 2017 interview with The Times of India, he contested the term 'fusion music', stating that integrating Indian and Western musical traditions requires a formal understanding of both systems. In a 2022 interview with M Magazine, Singh said that he was "not a conventional composer" from a Western musical perspective, and described his work as rooted in Indian classical and oral traditions rather than manuscript-based composition. In a 2023 interview with Mixmag, he stated that the Anokha club nights featured a combination of ambient music, trip hop, Indian classical music, and jungle.
Singh received the Mercury Prize in 1999 for the album OK. He was appointed OBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to music and received the Ivor Novello Award for Innovation in 2022.