Arts Minister Simon Crean has attempted to convince the people of India that Australia loves their music by citing the success of PSY and the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.
Mr Crean, in Mumbai for the Aussie BBQ Concert (part of the Oz Fest program), said Australians had always been great fans of international artists, and were now appreciating contemporary music from Asian countries.
"Just last week PSY's 'Gangnam Style' — from South Korea — was Australia's number one hit," Mr Crean said with a straight face, "and A.R. Rahman's soundtrack for the film Slumdog Millionaire was enormously popular as were his Australian concerts."
Slumdog Millionaire is, of course, hugely popular with Indian audiences and filmmakers.
This is kind of like an American telling us their market is primed for Australian content because they loved OMC's 'How Bizarre' and the soundtrack to Kangaroo Jack, but we're sure he meant well.
The Aussie BBQ Concert was held at The Hard Rock Cafe Mumbai last night and featured Australian acts Karnivool, Big Scary, Jinja Safari, The Aston Shuffle and Sheppard. Brett Lee was unavailable.
