The coming weeks we’re gonna elucidate our Global Mashups-programm. Together with Generation Bass and Hivos, the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation, we presenting the follow-up to the successful first edition of last year. At Incubate 2012 will six western musicians/producers work and perform together with six musicians/vocalists from India and Indonesia. Later on they’re also gonna record this material, which will be released by Generation Bass. Three weeks ago we already told you the new collaborations. Now we like to explain more about both musicians, so you’ll get to know them better. Today: part one of these introductions with Gang Colours and Mahesh Vinayakram.

We’ll start with the British artist Will Ozanne, better known as Gang Colours. Besides “his amazing hair” is The Guardian like us a big of the music of Ozanne:
“The sounds, the production, the general lushness are all pleasing, the piano playing is Satie-esque, and the little ticks and sonic tricks will delight anyone who still listens to music over headphones“. But let’s take it back for a minute. He started on primary school with taking guitar lessons and playing piano. At the age of 14 his focus moved to creating beats, inspired by Dizzee Rascal‘s Boy In Da Corner and the music of The Streets.

Ghostpoet was one of the first who was aware of the talent of Gang Colours. It was also this Mercury-nominee who asked him to do a remix of his track Cash And Carry Me Home. That’s also how he get in touch with BBC dj Gilles Peterson, who’s also releasing albums of like-minded Ben Westbeech, José James and above-mentioned Ghostpoet on his record label Brownswood Recordings. Last summer they released his instrumental EP In Your Gut Like A Knife. At this four tracks we hear mainly post-step and UK garage music. The same record label released his full length debut album The Keychain Collection six months later. Like we said earlier, on this collection he sounds like a perfect mixture of James Blake and Nicolas Jaar. But also fans of Boards Of Canada‘s Music Has The Right to Children and Bibio can enjoy the wonderful music of Gang Colours. According to this live video of below this musician fits perfectly to our festival; pushing buttons of his Roland sample pad, while playing keys on an acoustic piano.

Then Mahesh Vinayakram. This vocalist from India started also one a very young age with music. Since his dad was Grammy Award-winner Padmashri T.H. Vikku Vinayakram and the rest of his family was making music it was a natural step to start his career when he was 12 years old. Nowadays is Mahesh one of the leading artists in the field of Carnatic and world music. With his music he travelled all over the world and received many prizes.

But besides making music with like-minded people worked Mashesh also with other people, for instance with the Australian Dub FX on this footage. Together with this freestyle beatbox king and rapper CAde is Mashesh performing on a roof in Indie with a little help from a few loopstation. The almost million views speak for themselves; this is seven minutes of pure cultural pollination. This also shows that Mashesh is a really open-minded musician and likes to work together with other cultures.