indian star kailash kher thinks big and breaks the bollywood mold

INDIAN STAR KAILASH KHER THINKS
BIG AND BREAKS THE BOLLYWOOD MOLD
Cumbancha to release Yatra (Nomadic Souls), the first
international album from one of India’s most beloved voices
US & Canada Release Date: September 15, 2009
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact
Simeon Chapin @ Cumbancha
Tel: +1 (802) 425-2118 * Fax: +1 (866) 340-0054
Email: simeon@cumbancha.com / www.cumbancha.com
Management: Ali Sachedina & Fabian Alsultany of Kinetic Management info@kineticmgt.com
Booking: Todd Walker of International Music Network –
todd@imnworld.com
You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, as he is just over five feet tall, but Indian
singer Kailash Kher is big…in fact, he’s huge. In a country with nearly a billion
people, Kher’s enormous voice and supersized personality have helped him to rise above
the crowd and reach stratospheric heights of fame. Not only is Kher one of Bollywood’s
most recognizable playback singers and a judge on the immensely popular Indian Idol TV
show, Kailash Kher and his band Kailasa have broken beyond the media dominance of the
Indian film industry to become one of the subcontinent’s most successful musical
groups.
This fall, Cumbancha will introduce the world to the magic of Kailash Kher & Kailasa
with Yatra (Nomadic Souls), the Indian supergroup’s first international release. The
breathtaking album features new songs along with new studio and unplugged recordings of
the some of their most appealing hits. Set for a physical street date of September 15th,
Yatra (Nomadic Souls) features Kailash Kher & Kailasa’s trademark blend of mystical
Sufi soul and Indian folk roots blended with contemporary pop, rock, reggae and funk
grooves.
Thanks to the success of the film Slumdog Millionaire, the global fascination with
Indian culture has never been greater as people are discovering the dynamic appeal of
Bollywood movies and music. Bollywood songs are recorded by a select group of
vocalists, most of whom work behind the scenes in recording studios giving voice to the
actors who lip sync their words on screen. Kailash Kher’s striking voice, which
embodies the ancient history of India in its earthy soulfulness, is one of the most
recognized in the Bollywood scene these days, but Kher has broken the mold by also
becoming a popular recording artist and performer outside of the studio walls.
In fact, one of Kher’s early supporters in building his unique artistic career was A.R.
Rahman, the Oscar-winning composer of Slumdog Millionaire and Bollywood’s best-known
international figure. “The moment I heard him,” Rahman has noted, “I knew that here was
a voice that was so wonderful, and which had its own unique space. Kailash Kher's voice
has something that had been lacking a lot [in Bollywood]…it has pure soul.” Kher has
sung on numerous Rahman soundtracks, and Rahman even went so far as to present Kher’s
debut album in 2006, offering his official stamp of approval and giving notice that
this was a truly special talent.
Kailash Kher’s rise from obscurity to stardom in just a few short years is the classic
ragas to riches story, but even though Kher has been blowing people away with his
powerful voice since he was just four years old, it wasn’t always certain that he would
make a living with music. Kher’s father was a passionate amateur musician, and even
though Kher was a devout music student, his parents encouraged him to pursue a more
reliable career in the import/export business. Luckily for music afficonados, this
attempt was a dismal failure and Kher moved to Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the capital of
India’s entertainment industry, to seek his fortune as a singer.
The rest, as they say, is history. Kher struggled for a while, living in cheap
residence hotels and eking out whatever musical work he could find to make ends meet.
Eventually, perhaps inevitably, his big break came in 2004 with the song “Allah Ke
Bande” from the movie Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, which remains one of Bollywood’s most
beloved anthems. Kher has since performed on over one hundred and fifty Hindi film
soundtracks, has sung in over fourteen languages on a number of regional Indian films,
not to mention recording more than four hundred radio and television advertising
jingles.
While most successful playback singers remain content with a life as a work-for-hire
journeyman, punching the clock and singing whatever they are instructed to, Kher had a
more expansive artistic vision. He teamed up with two young musicians and composers,
the brothers Naresh and Paresh Kamath, to form the band Kailasa with whom he has
released three albums. Their work, which straddles folk and pop music, is an anomaly in
India, as there are just a handful of successful recording artists working outside of
the Bollywood or Indian classical music realms.
Indeed, one of the secrets to Kher’s success is his integrity as an artistic and
creative force. The music of Kailash Kher & Kailasa has a deep-rooted soulfulness that
comes from the rich folk and classical traditions that are their greatest inspiration.
The songs on Yatra (Nomadic Souls), feature elements of spiritual Sufi chants, the
Gypsy rhythms of Rajasthan, Punjabi dance beats and other regional styles, performed on
a wide range of traditional instruments. At the same time, the songs have a thoroughly
modern feel, with electric guitars, driving beats and subtle electronic effects that
bridge the divide between the past and the future.
For their international debut, Kailash and his bandmates revisited some of their
favorite tracks, rerecording them with a global audience in mind. They stripped down
the instrumentation to emphasize the acoustic and organic aspect of their sound, and
adjusted the arrangements and mix to help better reflect the essence of the songs. Two
of their greatest hits, “Teri Deewani” and “Joban Chaalke” are presented in unplugged,
acoustic versions that offer a fresh perspective on classic songs that are familiar to
millions of Indian fans. The songs “Guru Ghantal” and “Turiya Turiya” were written
exclusively for Yatra (Nomadic Souls).
“Guru Ghantal” is a funky, polyrhythmic jam with lyrics that encourage the listener to
“Go nuts, go mad, get into a trance.” The music is one vehicle to this state of trance,
but the song also suggests some external support: “Hold your breath, take a drag, close
your eyes…Light up the colorful opiate…Break out of the prison of your mind.” With
lyrics based on the philosophy of a 12-Century Persian saint, “Turiya Turiya” is a
catchy hit with a funky and irresistible reggae-flavored groove.
While his voice alone is enough to make him a star, Kher has always thought outside of
the box, putting in the extra effort to make his mark as a songwriter, lyricist and
performer. The international release of Yatra (Nomadic Souls) and their extensive
touring plans in the coming year reflect Kailash Kher & Kailasa’s desire to build an
audience in the rest of the world. This summer, Kher performed in front of large,
adoring crowds at the Celebrate Brooklyn festival and San Francisco’s Stern Grove among
other prestigious venues. This fall, the group returns to grace the stages of LA’s
Hollywood Bowl, San Francisco’s historic Fillmore, not to mention a performance at
Texas Stadium in Dallas, where an audience of up to 80,000 people is expected. Texas is
known for thinking large, so Kailash Kher should feel right at home.
Cumbancha is embarking on a substantial marketing and promotion campaign to reach both
the 3.5 million Indians living in North America as well as the broader world music
market. To build awareness, the Beatles-esque track "Na Batati Tu (Na Dhin Dhin Dhin
Na)" is being offered as a free download at http://kailashkher.bandcamp.com. Cumbancha
has also developed a promotional partnership with MTV Iggy, a new, cutting-edge MTV
brand focused on presenting breakthrough music to a global audience. With Yatra
(Nomadic Souls) Kailash Kher should earn a well-deserved place on the list of
international music’s biggest stars.
Kailash Kher & Kailasa Tour Dates
more dates to be confirmed
DATE
20-Sep
26-Sep
27-Sep
29-Sep
1-Oct
4-Oct
10-Nov
12-Nov
13-Nov
CITY
Los Angeles,
CA
Vancouver, BC
Seattle, WA
San Francisco,
CA
NYC, NY
Dallas, TX
Washington, DC
Toronto, ON
Somerville, MA
VENUE
Hollywood Bowl
INFO
www.hollywoodbowl.com
Bell Performing Arts
Centre
The Crocodile
The Fillmore
www.thecrocodile.com
TBC
Texas Stadium
Lisner Auditorium
Massey Hall
Somerville Theater
http://dfwdiwalimela.com/
www.lisner.org
www.roythomson.com
worldmusic.org
New stars in the Southeast
India’s Kher draws on 2,000 years of mysticism
By Siddhartha Mitter
Globe Correspondent / November 8, 2009
According to a story that still circulates in India’s celebrity press, when Kailash Kher first arrived in Mumbai in 2001, he was so poor and bereft of connections that he had to live for a while on the platform of a suburban railway station. That tale is an urban myth. And Kher, now one of India’s best‐loved stars for his exhilarating, Sufi‐
inspired music, debunks it regularly. But the hardscrabble image of an aspiring singer arriving from the hinterland with no pedigree in the glitzy Bollywood biz is accurate in spirit, if not in detail. Kher has made his way to the limelight with a sound and a story that separate him from Bollywood convention and the industry’s clannish milieu. The son of a Hindu priest from the town of Meerut, outside Delhi, he writes songs that brim with the devotional themes of Sufi poetry. He delivers them with a tone full of longing and a worshiper’s unmistakable sincerity. Kher’s songs appear on close to 200 film soundtracks, the standard outlet for an Indian pop musician. But he has also recorded albums with his band Kailasa, and now the Vermont‐based label Cumbancha has put out their first international release, “Yatra (Nomadic Souls).’’ They play Friday at the Somerville Theatre. It’s Kher’s Boston debut and the last of a slew of US gigs in what has become his global breakout year. At 36, Kher still projects wide‐eyed wonderment at the path his career has taken. “All my big songs have been chart‐busters,’’ he says in a conversation before an outdoor festival concert in Brooklyn. “That’s really amazing.’’ It doesn’t come out as a boast. Kher, who is diminutive but intensely charismatic, is earnest and quick to share credit. He’s the kind of artist who learns the names of sound and light engineers and makes sure to thank them from the stage. In conversation, he’ll illustrate a point by breaking into song, which only adds to the charm. Kher credits the appeal of his music to the longstanding traditions he channels. “I belong to the world of Bollywood, you can call it,’’ he says. “But the kind of music we make, in Bollywood it’s unique. Because it has maybe 2,000 years of folk culture and authenticity.’’ He’s referring to a tradition of devotional music that enfolds Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh mystics, tracing its way from medieval mystic poets like Rumi and Kabir to the ecstatic qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or the Hindu praise songs called bhajans. Beyond specific religious outlook, Kher points out, these songs share a poetic approach. “There used to be saints who would imagine their beloved,’’ he says, “and they would imagine that we are the lover, and God Almighty is our beloved, so that mystic love comes in their poetry. I have been listening to this poetry since my childhood. When I was 4 years old, I used to sing Kabir’s poetry.’’ Mystic love is a constant in Kher’s hits. Bouncy and dance‐floor ready, “Tauba Tauba’’ is about a lover mesmerized by the divine. The yearning “Turiya Turiya’’ speaks of a wandering journey toward consciousness. “Teri Deewani’’ is the gorgeous, haunting song of a lover delirious with passion ‐ whether for another person or God is immaterial. The band, led by brothers Naresh and Paresh Kamath on bass and guitar, mixes Western and Indian instrumentation and arrangements, with elements of reggae, Middle Eastern music, and more. And with songs like “Guru Ghantal’’ that wink at intoxication as a path to worship, this is very much party music; Kher likes to see the crowd on its feet, and the Indian contingent at his shows always obliges. DJ Rekha Malhotra, the doyenne of Indian pop in the United States with her long‐running New York party Basement Bhangra, calls Kher’s stage show “phenomenal.’’ “He has a distinctive sound, voice, and really hot tracks, and he’s a personality as well,’’ she says. “He has such good vibes, he just fills the room.’’ Those vibes have carried the provincial priest’s son to not only celebrity but real influence in India’s rapidly shifting cultural landscape, Malhotra says. “Bollywood is a sponge: This guy is hot, and he’s bringing his non‐Bollywood music to the table.’’ Kher himself is noticing emulators trying to sing like him ‐ such as some contestants in “Indian Idol’’ and other TV talent shows where he is a celebrity judge. He says it flatters him, but he doesn’t give them any special advantage. For his own part, Kher is enjoying the limelight but keeping life simple. He recently had a traditional arranged marriage to a woman his family recommended. He prides himself on making songs that are never “sleazy.’’ He stays spiritually grounded despite living in the materialistic and often crass Bollywood culture: “It’s all inside you, so wherever you live, it’s irrespective,’’ he says. And so far, his artistic impulses have kept him from getting jaded. “Whatever is not so much popular, I try to do that thing,’’ Kher says. “And that excites me.’’ Bollywood star Kher feels the love
By Bob Young
Thursday, November 12, 2009
When the Oscars rolled in for last year’s surprise hit “Slumdog Millionaire,” many Westerners discovered Bollywood, the Indian movie industry centered around extravaganzas packed with colorful dance numbers. Now one of Bollywood’s major musical stars, Kailash Kher, is coming to the Somerville Theatre on Friday, minus something he can’t live without in Mumbai: bodyguards. “It’s next to impossible for me to roam around here without security,” Kher said wistfully from his home in Mumbai. “It comes with the package. Even though it’s exciting that your work is appreciated, there is very little privacy.” No surprise given that the pop singer has appeared on nearly 200 movie soundtracks in India and regularly performs in 20,000‐ and 30,000‐seat arenas. Now on a U.S. tour where he’ll make his Boston debut, Kher is beginning to reach beyond his usual audience of transplanted Indian pop fans. He and his band, Kailasa, have a dance‐floor‐ready American record, “Yatra,” that reprises several of his Indian hits. And his soaring vocals can be heard on the soundtrack of a non‐
Bollywood movie: the Vince Vaughn romantic comedy “Couples Retreat.” Kher knows he owes his increased visibility to “Slumdog Millionaire.” “(Bollywood) wasn’t in the mainstream,” he said. “But after the Oscars and the media hype, it has moved closer. People are more aware of India as a very good place, which has really helped.” Back home, it’s not only Kher’s voice that is familiar. He’s a judge on the hugely popular TV singing talent contest, “Indian Idol,” and recently became a judge on another competition series on Indian MTV. But the 36‐year‐old son of a Hindu priest is a different kind of pop star. He performs a style of music that focuses more on love and devotion in the mystical Sufi tradition than on sex and partying. Like one of his idols, the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Kher draws inspiration from Muslim, Sikh and Hindu music and poetry. What he manages to do with it is magical in its own way: create a pulsing sound that powers traditional folk melodies with modern funk, soul and reggae grooves as hip as any club here or in Mumbai can offer. “Initially it was tough for me,” said Kher, who left his hometown eight years ago to try to break into Bollywood, finally recording an advertising jingle for a diamond company that paid him the equivalent of $100. “There wasn’t much work. Now I’m able to do what I do. “Sometimes when I’m performing I think to myself, ‘Wow, what is this, man?’ The music makes people dance, makes people love, (give) love to the world, love to humanity. I want it to be not only entertaining, but enlightening and enriching, too.” Section C •August 7, 2009
C30
Film Review: ‘Love Aaj Kal’
C28 Bollywood on ‘America’s Got Talent’
C24 Rakhi Sawant Picks a Groom
‘Wow, Man!’ Kailash Kher Brings Passion to Pop
By LISA TSERING
India-West Staff Reporter
S
AN FRANCISCO — Singer
Kailash Kher and his band,
Kailasa, are bringing Sufi
music into the 21st century, and
reaching out to a new world of
fans, with a series of shows in
the U.S. and an upcoming album
on the Cumbancha label, “Yatra:
Nomadic Souls.”
“We call our music Kailasa,
which means heavenly. When you
feel heavenly, this music makes
you feel — ‘Wow, man!,’” Kher told
India-West backstage before a
show at Stern Grove Aug. 2.
“You become a child all of a
sudden, you are in a trance. Our
music drives you automatically
toward that energy.”
“Indians already love our music,” Kher continued. “Now, international people are going to listen
to our music. This new album is
going to be a big thing, not just for
music lovers but for us, too.”
By “us,” Kher means his smoking-hot band, Kailasa — Paresh
Kamath on electric guitar, Naresh
Kamath on bass, Tapas Roy on
oud, Rinku Tajput and Sameer
Chiplunkar on keyboards, Kurt
Peters on drums and Sanket Naik
on percussion.
Kher and band captivated the
audience at the free, alfresco
concert, which filled Stern Grove’s
redwood-rimmed grassy meadow.
Roughly a third of the audience
was South Asian — and jumped to
their feet to cheer at the opening
bars of many of Kher’s hit songs
— but the remaining crowd, even
without knowing a word of Hindi,
were just as passionately swept up
in the rhythms of Kher’s earthy,
folk-tinged vocals.
“Our music does not limit for
any particular genre. There are
people putting names on music,
but we come beyond any category.
That’s why people connect with us
more,” he said. “Let people feel
what they feel about the music.”
Kher says he has learned music
by listening to classical recordings, but says, “I can’t claim to
have any classical training … I’ve
gone through almost 14 gurus,
though!”
“When I was four, my father,
who was a priest, would play
the ektara and sing Sufi songs.
I would join him, singing in the
‘khula gayaki,’ or open-throated,
style. People were surprised to
hear that.”
But Kher’s parents did not want
him to pursue music as a career. “I
left home at the age of 14 to learn
music,” he said. After earning a
degree at Delhi University’s Correspondence College, Kher tried
his hand at the import-export
business, but his heart wasn’t in it.
Later, he decided to give music his
best shot, and headed for Mumbai,
[Cont. on page C6]
Kailash Kher performed at Stern Grove in San Francisco Aug. 2. The popular Bollywood singer is about to release his
first album on an American label. (Som Sharma photo)
‘Bollywood Hero’ Pokes Fun in IFC Series
even lets the hero get embroiled
in a kissing scandal à la Richard
Gere.
“Chris [playing himself] is living his dream of becoming a
Bollywood hero. I play Lalima,
an actress, who Chris sees in a
wet sari and says, ‘That’s the girl
I want to star opposite.’ Lalima
is successful, but she’s known
more for her controversies than
her work.”
And is the character based on
any particular Bollywood hottie
(think Twitter, think milkshakes)?
“No, no,” laughed Dhupia. “No
names. I am very far from this
character — I don’t have an overbearing mother, and I stay away
from controversy.”
Indian American actress Pooja
Kumar, who plays a film producer
who happens to be the sister of a
By LISA TSERING
India-West Staff Reporter
T
he IFC original miniseries
“Bollywood Hero” not
only serves as a swell
introduction to Hindi movies, but
also pokes fun at them, said Neha
Dhupia, who stars in the film with
former “Saturday Night Live” star
Chris Kattan. The film airs in three
parts Aug. 6, 7 and 8 at 10 p.m.
“A lot of the film is semi-spoofy,
but it’s a very valid introduction to
Bollywood,” Dhupia told IndiaWest from New York by phone
Aug. 3. “Chris first sees me in a
film clip in a wet sari!”
The film makes fun of Indian
cinema’s most pervasive visual
— the wet sari sequence — but it
also lampoons India’s “dynasty”
filmmaking families as well as
actresses who let their careers be
guided by overbearing mothers. It
Chris Kattan and Pooja Kumar on the Mumbai set of “Bollywood Hero,” an original miniseries premiering Aug. 6 on
IFC. (Kerry Monteen/IFC photo)
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C – August 7, 2009 – INDIA-WEST
‘Wow, Man!’ Kailash Kher Brings Passion to Pop
[Cont. from page C1]
where his unique voice was soon
noticed by commercial composers. Kher soon became an in-demand voice for campaigns such as
Hero Cycles and Chevrolet.
“Singing jingles is more fun
than singing any big song,” Kher
told India-West. “It’s shorter,
and it fetches you big money,” he
said with a hearty laugh. “A 30seconder can fetch you 20 grand
— and sometimes you don’t get 20
grand with a film song!”
Kher acknowledges that Sufi
music’s greatest ambassador was
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan — he performed “Sajna teri bina” in tribute
to Khan Aug. 2 — but he is also
unafraid to add new flavors to
the genre. “There’s a Sufi yoga in
India, and a Sufi cuisine in India,”
Kher told the audience. “So we
can have Sufi bhangra, too.”
Kher, who has served as a judge
on “Indian Idol,” is a frequent collaborator with leading Bollywood
music directors such as A.R.
Rahman (“Delhi 6,” “Couples Retreat”) and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
(“Salaam-e-Ishq”).
He will be heard for the first
time on a soundtrack by Vishal
Bhardwaj, for Bhardwaj’s eagerly
awaited “Kaminey.” On “Fatak,”
Kher sings a duet with Sukhwinder Singh.
“Vishal and I were both born in
Meerut,” explained Kher. “We both
come from the folk world, and he
is a filmmaker and composer who
thinks out of the box. The same
goes for our music — we don’t
“Let people feel what they feel about
the music,” says Kher, refusing to be
pigeonholed into any one style. (Som
Sharma photos)
make music just for entertainment; there is a message in our
music. I’m a fan of Vishal’s work
because his films lead you to think
about life. That’s the kind of art
I love. We were friends and met
each other so many times, and he
said we should work together, and
he called me and ask me to sing
this song.”
Kher actually had no aspirations to pursue a music career
here in the States, but the musical
fates had other plans. The founder
of the music label, Jacob Edgar,
was on vacation in India in 2007,
and was riding in an autorickshaw
somewhere in Kerala.
“I first heard Kailash’s amazing
track ‘Tauba tauba’ blasting out
of a radio when I was zipping
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Kailash Kher, seen at Stern Grove in San Francisco Aug. 2, will perform at the
Hollywood Bowl Sept. 20.
down the road,” Edgar said in a
statement.
“I made the driver slam on the
brakes so I could find out who
was making this incredible blend
of funky pop and Indian roots
music. I finally found out later it
was Kailash Kher and Kailasa, and
I’ve been a big fan ever since. I am
so excited to have them as part of
the Cumbancha roster and to help
introduce the world to a group
that millions of people already
revere.”
Kailash Kher will perform at the
Hollywood Bowl Sept. 20, accompanied by Malkit Singh, Anoushka
Shankar and the Ravi Shankar
Centre Ensemble (curated by Ravi
Shankar), and Rhythms of Rajasthan. See if it doesn’t make you feel
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Kailash Kher Is an Indian Idol With Folk Twists
Sep 15th 2009 by Steve Hochman
Okay. So with Ellen DeGeneres having taken over for Paula Abdul at the judges' table of 'American Idol' ‐
‐ stay with us here, there's a point to this ‐‐ let's engage in a little outright fantasy about the kind of replacement we would liked to have seen. How about someone not only well versed in American music, traditions of both folk and popular style, someone who has studied roots from around the nation, but has also taken them to the top of the charts and even impacted the course of the country's popular music in the process. Who might that be? Pete Seeger? Joan Baez? Bob Dylan? Bruce Springsteen? Wilco's Jeff Tweedy? Yeah, we know. Silly. Well, meet Kailash Kher. No, he's never going to be a judge on 'American Idol.' But he is a judge on 'Indian Idol,' that huge nation's franchise of the TV juggernaut. And he is coming to America, with his first U.S. album, 'Yatra (Nomad Souls),' and a series of shows, including one Sept. 20 at the Hollywood Bowl on a bill headed by the Ravi Shankar Centre Ensemble, his daughter Anoushka Shankar and the Jodhpur‐based music‐dance collective Rhythm of Rajasthan. During our stay in India in January (subject of a previous Around the World), we got hooked on 'Indian Idol," not least for the episode in which the contestants ‐‐ including eventual winner Sourabhee Debbarma ‐‐ were tasked with highlighting the folk styles of their respective home regions, with Kher offering coaching and truly expert commentary. Imagine Randy Jackson trying to guide a contestant in ways to incorporate true Delta blues or Appalachian balladry into contemporary pop. The term "mockery" comes to mind, in all senses of the term. But not here. Not with someone who's making music of his own that sounds like this: "That's something I brought to the show," Kher, 35, says by phone from his home in Mumbai, having just returned from a week in Kashmir. "Wherever you come from you have your own roots, your own identity. Let me feel that in you. If everyone is trying to copy only one style, then there is no charm of newness. Everything becomes monotonous very soon. I asked them because some people came from Gujarat, from Punjab, every state. And every state in India has a rich culture and rich music. So that way if we intend to see some real India and real art, then definitely we need to make them realize that something out of the box will definitely click." Kher should know. A few years ago, he brought the Sufi roots of his musical grounding into the wild world of Bollywood ‐‐ the dominant force of Indian pop music. Growing up in Delhi, he was influenced heavily by his father, a singer, and the works of Pandit Kumar Gandharva, who brought Sufi folk elements into an Indian classical setting. Kher in turn brought that, as well as other folk styles he'd studied, into a more modern setting, putting together the band Kailasa. "I started working on this music in 2002 and we entered into the film industry in 2003," he says. "In the beginning, people were a bit apprehensive whether this music will work or not." But work it did. Kher quickly became a go‐to guy for Bollywood tracks. Today his Web site's discography lists 56 film soundtracks in which he appears, from 2003's 'Andaaz' to this year's big hits 'Chandni Chowk to China' and 'Delhi 6.' And many of those songs have become huge pop hits. He's got a long way to go to rival the playback queens, sisters Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar, who have many thousands of film songs to their names, but still. And more than that, the Kher sound is spread. "After we experimented with our sound, our kind of compositions, in films people started trying to do at least one track of that kind of music," he says. "When it worked it became the precedent, the benchmark. We became trendsetters of Sufi song, and today we always hear in big films someone or another trying to do Sufi compositions." The success spun off into a career outside of film songs, with the release of his first own album in 2006, a second in 2007 and third this year, each spawning its own hits. It was one of those songs, 'Tauba Tauba,' that happened to be heard in 2007 by Cumbancha Records founder Jacob Edgar while in an autorickshaw in India's southern Kerala region. Edgar immediately set to finding out about the artist and, ultimately, signing him to the world music label. Well, it is a pretty catchy song: That's actually an "international version" of the song, one of several remakes done for 'Yatra.' It's not that Kher thinks he needs to patronize the Western listeners by de‐Indianizing the music or anything. He just wanted to make sure the material on this album was fresh ‐‐ to him and his fans. "When we produced our album in 2006, we never know who it was going to do, but the moment it got released and then almost for a year and a half it was No. 1 in every chart for film music," he says. "When this miracle happened and this chart‐buster happened we were thrilled. Then when Jacob heard these tracks, he wanted to release some of the songs from the album. Since they were already known and big, we thought that if we do the same songs and same production it doesn't seem right. So we did new productions, more emotional. More simple and more emotion. Less production but very, very tight production, very organic." There's already a built‐in internationalism befitting his 'Idol' role. He cites the collaborations of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder with the great Sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (as heard on the soundtrack of the 1996 movie 'Dead Man Walking') as ear‐opening. He's also a big fan of Carlos Santana and has recently been taken with the music of fellow Cumbancha artist Habib Koité, a Malian singer‐guitarist. There are some holes in his internationalism, though: You certainly won't find any 'American Idol' judges who had never heard anything by Michael Jackson ‐‐ as with Kher, until one of his bandmates played him 'Billie Jean' in the studio a couple of years ago. Of course, even his fellow 'Indian Idol' judges (let alone their American counterparts) are not particularly familiar with the core influences of his approach ‐‐ the 14th‐, 15th‐ and 16th‐century Sufi poets in which his father started schooling him when he was just four. "I developed naturally the taste toward this very intense philosophical poetry," he says, recalling his days as a singing prodigy. In his teens, he says, he started attending whatever Indian folk festivals he could, wherever he could all over the country. "In almost every part of India I have heard music, and very intense music which is not popular," he says. "That is my training. Even today I have sung more than 200 film songs, many of them chartbusters, and still I stick to the same kind of taste." Ellen, are you paying attention?