Asha Puthli - forever ahead of her time

Asha Puthli is having something of a late-career renaissance. Decades after the 78-year-old Indian-American singer receded into the shadows, her work has been rediscovered by a new generation of musicians and fans from the diaspora and beyond.

- Bhanuj Kappal

In 2022, Brighton, UK-based indie label Mr Bongo reissued her long out-of-print 1973 self-titled album, followed by the first official compilation of her work. The same year, Indian-American experimental artist Raveena released her concept album Asha's Awakening, named after Puthli and featuring her vocals on one track. And late last year, Los Angeles label Naya Beat Records put out Disco Mystic: Select Remixes Volume 1, a six-track EP featuring contemporary dance-floor-ready remixes of Puthli's spaced-out disco and moody funk.

This critical re-appraisal is long overdue. Puthli has the sort of story that Oscarbait Hollywood biopics are made of. Born in Mumbai in 1945, she studied Indian classical music and dance as a child before falling in love with jazz thanks to Voice of America radio broadcasts. As a teenager, she would sneak out to perform at Mumbai's nightclubs, singing with her back to the audience so her parents wouldn't find out. Soon after moving to New York on a dance school scholarship, she was discovered by legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who sent her to free-jazz visionary Ornette Coleman's studio. Her vocals on Coleman's 1971 album Science Fiction - incorporating Hindustani classical techniques to keep up with the saxophonist's avant-garde compositions- earned her the prestigious Downbeat Critics Poll award alongside Ella Fitzgerald.