In the 1980s, performances of folk music evolved into the
bhangra music genre, which would later become more mainstream in the 1990s and 2000s. In the
1990s, Asian underground was considered
hip and broke through to the mainstream, with artists such as
Apache Indian and
Cornershop frequently entering the UK charts, with the former's "
Boom Shack-A-Lak" (1993) appearing in many popular movies and the latter topping the charts with "
Brimful of Asha" in 1998. The genre and other forms of South Asian music began to influence Europe's pop mainstream as acts like
Björk,
Erasure, and
Siouxsie and the Banshees all released singles or remixes featuring South Asian instrumentation.
Talvin Singh, known for his innovative fusion of
Indian classical music with
drum and bass, subsequently won a
Mercury Music Prize for his album
OK in
1999. Asian underground music initially had only little influence on
popular Indian music on the sub-continent, where it was usually branded under
world music. While several Asian underground artists such as
Apache Indian, Trickbaby and
Bally Sagoo gained fame in India, it was only after
Panjabi MC's international hit "
Mundian To Bach Ke" that British-Asian underground music could compete with domestic Indian artists like
Shankar Mahadevan and
Remo Fernandes, in addition to attracting worldwide audiences. It was followed by the globally successful
Rishi Rich Project, consisting of producer
Rishi Rich and artists
Jay Sean,
Mumzy Stranger,
Juggy D and
Veronica Mehta. They were one of the first groups to fuse
Bhangra music with
contemporary R&B and found tremendous success in India after their songs were featured in mainstream
Bollywood soundtracks such as
Boom, Kya Kool Hai Hum and
Hum Tum. Since then, Asian underground music has exerted some influence on mainstream
Indian pop music. Asian underground music has also influenced mainstream American
hip hop, R&B and
urban music in the 2000s, including artists such as
Timbaland,
Truth Hurts,
Jay-Z,
Snoop Dogg,
Missy Elliott and
Britney Spears. According to
DJ Green Lantern, "Indian beats have now become a fixture on the R&B scene". Music produced by the
Asian Dub Foundation has also been featured on the soundtracks for popular
video games such as
Need For Speed Underground. Several former Asian underground artists such as
M.I.A. and
Jay Sean have gone on to achieve mainstream success in the North American
music industry, where they produced mainstream songs such as "
Paper Planes" and "
Down" that have charted highly on (and in the latter case, topped) the
Billboard Hot 100. ==Primary instruments==