Upon entering the POW the first thing I noticed was the relaxed atmosphere. Not what I was used to at this venue.

AMANASKA featuring guest vocalists Nfa of 1200 Techniques and Tania Doko (from Bachelor Girl) did a good job of warming up what seemed to be a predominantly male crowd. That said, there was a definate feminine vibe in the air.

The venue had partitioned off the back half of the room (assumedly due to lack of ticket sales?) which left the perfect amount of room for dancing and moving about without being knocked.

From the turban wearing to the sari, to the suit to the dreadlock, it was pretty obvious we were all there to hear Talvin Singh. After only hearing his CDs and seeing him perform live at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl earlier in the year I wasn’t sure what to expect from his DJ set.

With anticipation I moved closer into the crowd as Talvin took to the decks, welcoming us with “Hello Melbourne” then easing in with some truly beautiful ambient female vocal based sounds. These morphed into more hip hop and breakbeat influenced sounds before and twisting into more house or tech beats, all with a sub-continental feel. This eventually made way for drum and bass via some traditional Indian soundscapes. He certainly played a ‘journey’ set and wasn’t shy of using the effects on the mixer to compliment his track selection.

The highlight was his vocals over the music – absolutely transcending. I asked a guy in a turban, “what’s this style of singing & what do the lyrics mean?”

He replied “it means nothing but is great when you are drunk!” Classic.

I would have liked to see Talvin pull out a drum but nonetheless it was definitely a moving and fun gig.