Its 1982 and Monsoon, featuring Shelia Chandra on vocals, were about to single-handedly launch Anglo-Asian fusion in popular music in the UK .At the time Chandra was only 16 years old. Previously known only for her appearances on TV in Grange Hill. But here she is dressed in a traditional sari, as she begins to sing mournfully 'ever so lone...ly' and then that tabla rhythm kicks in. This unique sound uses practically every cliche of Indian music it can cram into it, and boots it up with a modern dance groove. It reached No 12 in the charts and hung around for a further nine weeks. Though its inspirational effect on the anglo-asian music scene in the UK has been much longer lasting. The trashy video posted above contains the extended mix which really is a truly wonderful thing in itself.
Monsoon, barely lasted beyond this single, so their album by the time it was released, happened after their demise. Third Eye as an album is disappointing, never consistently mining the potential that Ever So Lonely pointed at. So you could see that the trio might not have had long legs anyway. Shelia Chandra went on to release a dozen, often quite experimental albums, exploring her mixed cultural heritage through the qualities of her own voice. Tragically Chandra can no longer sing, having been struck down with a rare condition ' burning mouth syndrome' which pretty much does what that says. Causing swelling in parts of the mouth that are so painful as to make singing virtually impossible. Since 2010 she has successfully been writing self help books.
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