Pre-Magic Carpet. Way back in the early seventies in London, three friends came together to play some unusual music: Sitarist Clem Alford, guitarist Jim Moyes and tabla player Keshav Sathe formed a unique Anglo/ Indian fusion, calling themselves 'Sargam' (the name of a note in an Indian scale). They made one album under name ‘Sargam’ which was misspelt as Sagram, inappropriately entitled ‘Pop Explosion Sitar Style’ (the cover photograph bearing no relation to any band members or anything about them) and released by the Windmill recording company without the band’s permission in 1972. 'Pop Explosion Sitar Style' is a beautifully played and distinctive acoustic album that reflects many musical currents of the time - from Alexis Korner to the Bauls of Bengal to Ravi Shankar. The complex rhythmic, sensitive tabla playing of virtuoso Keshav Sathe underpins all six instrumental tracks. In 1972, soon after the release of 'Pop Explosion Sitar Style', the 'Sargam' trio were offered another LP recording contract by Mushroom Records, with the proviso that they find a singer. Having met her when they were both at Chelsea School of Art, Jim Moyes contacted the singer Alisha Sufit. At the time Alisha was living in Islington, London, singing and writing songs for acoustic guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. She busked in street markets and in the London Underground by day, and did gigs round the clubs and colleges at night. Jim Moyes invited her to play and the four musicians soon renamed themselves Magic Carpet, forming a unique Anglo-Indian musical collaboration, greatly facilitated by the fact that Alisha was writing songs mostly set in open modal tunings on the guitar (DADGAD etc.) making them instantly compatible with the tuning of the sitar