Mercury prize for Talvin Singh

THE SOUND of the tabla and bass snapped up one of the music industry's most coveted awards last night when Talvin Singh won the pounds 20,000 Mercury Music Prize.

His fusion of dance music with Indian styles in his OK debut album beat Blur, the Manic Street Preachers and The Chemical Brothers. His success is the first major industry acknowledgement of the growing rise into mainstream pop culture of the Asian underground dance scene.

Singh, 28, whose family were ejected from Uganda by Idi Amin, first came to prominence when he collaborated with the Icelandic singer Bjork.

He went on to work with the jazz musician Courtney Pine and found further fame through the Anokha Nights he established at the Blue Note club in London.