Phil Christopher turned to world music when he no longer heard new sounds on mainstream radio.

“If you’re actually listening to the music that’s on our radio stations, you’re going to get bored after a while,” the vocalist-guitarist says. “It hasn’t given us anything really fresh in a long time.”

Christopher isn’t bored leading Mumbai Taxi, an Indianapolis-based band that stitches together rhythms of Cuba, Jamaica, Nigeria and South Africa in a sonic tent propped up by psychedelic electric guitar.

•Sharlene Boodram
•Mumbai Taxi
•Il Troubadore
•Playboy Psychonauts

Mumbai Taxi is part of a budding community of world-minded local acts, Hoosiers who grasp onto music from other countries and interpret those traditions in nightclubs.

The movement remains a novelty amid established scenes of rock, blues and jazz performers, but there’s potential for increased popularity.

Judah Cohen, a member of the ethnomusicology faculty at Indiana University, points to mainstream interest in India’s Bollywood culture.

“Something like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ can suddenly win the Academy Award for best picture,” Cohen says. “It shows that Americans are really open to whatever it is that gets them going. You never know what that is.”

A self-described “Greek boy from Philadelphia,” Christopher sings lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese and Sanskrit.

He learned to appreciate folk music from various lands as a youngster, when his military family was stationed in Europe, and he heard bouzouki bands during Eastern Orthodox Church services in Pennsylvania.

“The world is a huge and exciting place culturally,” Christopher says. “You are making your world tiny if you limit it to the small percentage of music that’s performed in English.”

Inquisitive listeners can check out Il Troubadore, a band that uses Middle Eastern grooves to cater to belly dancing; the Playboy Psychonauts, a trio that specializes in sitar-based lounge music; and Sharlene Boodram, a pop star from Trinidad and Tobago who’s a temporary resident of Indianapolis.

IU’s Cohen says immigrant populations from West Africa and East Asia may deserve credit for motivating local players to branch out.

“When there are new sounds, there are going to be discussions around whether it’s appropriate and whether certain sounds should be combined with other sounds,” Cohen says. “You’ll often find those kind of questions are asked more by listeners than performers.”

Christopher says he’s comfortable playing the international textures of Mumbai Taxi, an ensemble that features percussionist Baba Akinwala Yudiddiyuh — an Indianapolis native who’s studied drumming in West Africa.

“If you respect the traditions, you’re a global citizen,” Christopher says. “You get to be a world musician without having to apologize for the hospital you were born in or your ethnicity.”

Il Troubadore percussionist Paul Radecki says his band represents a hybrid of its influences.

“We can’t take ourselves too seriously,” Radecki says. “We’re not Greek musicians. We’re not Arabic musicians. We’re not heavy-metal musicians. If you take yourself too seriously, it doesn’t come across right.”

Indianapolis doesn’t have a world music event to rival the high-profile Lotus World Music&Arts Festival presented each fall in Bloomington, and nightclub bookings can be a challenge for Mumbai Taxi and Il Troubadore.

The Melody Inn — known as a haven for punk rock bands — is proving to be a friendly room near the intersection of Illinois and 38th streets.

“We’ve always been a place where, if we thought something was interesting, we would book it,” Melody Inn co-owner Dave Brown says.

World nights at the Melody Inn are sporadic, however, ranging from multiple dates within a single week to absences that last a month or more.

Pop singer Boodram has yet to make her local debut.

Preparing to make a U.S. promotional push after recent recordings fared well in Europe and Japan, she moved to Indianapolis because her sister, Allyson, is a pediatrician here.

Boodram says she’d like to sing locally this summer as part of her ongoing mission to share Caribbean culture.

“It’s not just reggae music,” says Boodram, who characterizes her music as “island urban.” “Everybody’s not a Rastafarian. The Caribbean is a real live part of the world with all these influences in food and races and music.”

The Playboy Psychonauts wear fezzes, smoking jackets and sunglasses while claiming to be from the lost island nation of Casanovia. Lead Psychonaut Raavi Sinatra maintains his fictional persona when making a pitch for world music as it’s played in the heartland.

“Come see the Playboy Psychonauts if you want to see something unique, something challenging, something that enriches your culture here in America,” he says.