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All Music Guide:
Spanning three decades, James Asher's music career began with a long stint composing non-commercial music for soundtracks and library pieces. After deciding to delve deeper and make more serious compositions, he released his commercial debut, The Great Wheel, in 1990. The album reached number 13 on the new age chart and remained on the charts for about two years. After releasing his 1993 album, Globalarium, on Silver Wave Records, he signed with New Earth Records, who issued the majority of his recordings for the remainder of the '90s. Stylistically, Asher's compositions fell into two camps -- percussion-driven ethnic fusion best displayed by his Feet in the Soil and Feet in the Soil 2 records, and gentler works with a more classic new age sound like his 1995 album, Ocean of Stars. Two years later, Asher issued Pemulwuy, which was named in celebration for a strong, legendary Aborigine. He returned to Indian world beats on 1998's Tigers of the Raj, and 1999's Coulours of Trance highlighted Asher's fondness for the poetry of Madeleine Doherty. In the following years he would remix and repackage Tigers of the Raj twice, deliver a sequel to Feet in the Soil, and release his first collaboration with Indian drummer Sivamani (2002's Shaman Drums.)
Wikipedia:
James Asher is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer, focusing on world music, trance music and New Age music.
Biography
Born in a suburb of London in the early 1950s, Asher began to study the violin at the age of seven. As a teenager, he participated in his school choir and orchestra, of which his father was the chief instructor.
Following his traditional musical education, Asher taught himself the drums and the keyboard and later apprenticed himself at several recording studios in the UK. In 1979, Asher opened his own studio, Starfield, and released his first single, "Peppermint Lump", which was produced by Pete Townshend. However, Asher's initial focus at Starfield was primarily on the bread-and-butter work afforded by the commercial soundtrack industry. During its first decade of operation, Asher licensed over 20 soundtracks to the likes of Cinema Euro Group, Central TV, Grenada TV, Channel Four and MTV.
In 1988, Asher released his first full-length, commercial album, The Great Wheel, which reached number 13 on Billboard magazine's New Age Music Chart. In 1996, Asher signed with New Earth Records and released Feet in the Soil, which combined elements of African percussion, Australian aboriginal music, and electronic programming. Edified by the success of the burgeoning "world music" category, as evidenced by releases by contemporaries Peter Gabriel, Johnny Clegg, David and Steve Gordon (Sacred Earth Drums) and David Byrne's world music record label, Luaka Bop, Feet in the Soil sold nearly 100,000 copies within the first 18 months of its initial release and has sold nearly 200,000 copies overall, according to New Earth Records president, Bhikkhu Schober.
In the decade following, Asher has released a number of projects including Feet in the Soil 2: Pemulwuy's Return, Tigers of the Raj, Colors of Trance and Drums On Fire with percussionist Sivamani. He has also worked with Indian composer Rahul Raj, for a track called "Krishna Krishna".
