During his recent trip to Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave several gifts to his counterpart Anthony Albanese. These included a coffee box, a Dhokra boat, and the vinyl version of the 1996 fusion album Colonial Cousins.
The choice suited Albanese, a record collector who once performed as DJ Albo and favors alternative rock, post-punk, and Australian pub rock. He frequently references songs in speeches and admires artists such as Billy Bragg, Bruce Springsteen, and Taylor Swift.
Hariharan noted that music has long served as India’s soft power and expressed satisfaction that an album promoting cultural harmony still represents the country years later. He welcomed the recognition of Indian music as a link between cultures.
The record mixes Hindustani and Carnatic ragas with Western pop, rock, and acoustic sounds. It appeared during India’s indipop surge and stood out in the lively independent music scene of the 1990s. After economic liberalization, foreign broadcasters like MTV and Channel V entered the market, exposing listeners to global acts including Madonna, Michael Jackson, and groups such as the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.
This period also produced Alisha Chinai’s Made in India, Lucky Ali’s Sunoh, Baba Sehgal’s rap work, Daler Mehndi’s bhangra-pop, and bands like Euphoria.
Colonial Cousins was created by singer Hariharan and composer Leslie Lewis. They combined Indian classical elements with Western pop, rock, and folk on tracks such as Krishna, Indian Rain, and Sa ni dha pa. The project showed that Indian independent musicians could incorporate outside influences while preserving local traditions. The name draws from a phrase describing culturally mixed South Asians in Britain.
