Hey what's up, desitunes4u Massive! This is Nizam once again from the T dot O, and I'm here to bring another exclusive interview, with none other then world-renowned super producer Kenz!
Nizam: So Kenz, for those who don't know you, and I am sure that's is a very small population, please tell us a bit about yourself, and how you got into the music industry?
Kenz Desai: Thanks for the props Nizam! Growing up in Zambia, I was one of those kids who started playing keyboards at the age of 5, percussion at 6 and was performing with adults on stage by 8. At 12, I was music director for my teenage band Sargam which performed on stage, national TV, for 3 presidents and even for the late (and brilliant) Ananda Shankar and his band; a memory I will always cherish. At 14, I was directing an all-adults band called Saaz Aur Awaaz and our manager took that show on a cross-country tour. It was awesome. Too bad I was too young to have roadies (laughs!). After that, I've always had studios where I realized my skills in composition, engineering and production as well as finding and developing new artists. My current studio is pretty bad-ass if I may say so. I designed it, I took 2 years to build with 6 contractor teams doing the construction and the sound is very accurate. I had my big break in 2001 working at Bally Sagoo's Ishq Records studio in England as in-house producer and the subsequent release of my album Bootlegged that I produced for them. Its success opened many doors for me in film music and as a solo pop artist.
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Nizam: You have been involved with music for a very long time, just tell us who some of your inspirations are?
Kenz Desai: Bally Sagoo (always) he remains a friend and an inspiration, Ananda Shankar, BT, Ferry Corsten, A.R. Rahman.
Nizam: Your family has been also heavily involved in music, how did that help develop your skills as a producer growin up with a family that has traditionally been oriented around music. |
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Kenz Desai: My dad's professional work as a singer for All-India Radio back in the day helped me with good guidance he's bestowed upon me most of my life, both in terms of professional conduct as a musician as well as developing musical techniques. In a similar vein, I never thought that those ghazal programs we used to have at home would surprise people when I recognize those old school tunes today and understand their ragas. Additionally, the shows my parents organized got rid of my stage freight early on.
Nizam: I must admit, the first time I heard you were on your smashing hit, "Hai Hai" can you tell us how that came about, and how it's allowed your musical career to develop, because it truly was a hit.
Kenz Desai: As with a lot of hits, they're pleasant, unexpected surprises! I thought my track "Seeti" also from my album Bootlegged would be the hit. The success of Hai Hai showed me and the industry that people dig Punjabi trance, which was virtually unknown at the time. With Hai Hai, I was originally trying to create a Tribal-sounding track that would make people jump on the floor and Bally and my manager Soni Dhatt at the time were making calls to USA at my request to help me locate a copy of David Morales' "Party in the ghetto" remix - my favorite at the time to inspire me. But after working on the track for a few days in Bally's studio, I just wasn't "feelin" it, so I took an "easy" route with the four-on-the-floor formula that I know so well and produced it in the genre of Trance with the spikey, organic synth sounds, a lot of synth programming complete with an unusual breakdown in the middle and layered it with Bitiji's Punjabi vocals. It was all hard work and long hours of course but I never thought it would blow up the way it did. At this time, it qualifies to be in the Guinness book of World Records as the track with the most number of officially released remixes totaling eight.
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Bally Sagoo with Kenz Desai |
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Nizam: Panjabi Hit Squad has really blown up the track (Hai Hai) in the UK with remixes on a garage flex featuring Miss Scandalous. Most people think it's actually their track when in fact you did the original. Are you disappointed not to have got more credit for it?
Kenz Desai: Not at all. I'm happy that PHS dig my work. The fact that people think they produced Hai Hai first instead of me is a testimony to their record label's promotional power. |
Nizam: Sticking with Hai Hai - the tune was actually picked up by Jay-Z who featured a remix in his album 'The Black.' Tell us more about how this came about!
Kenz Desai: That was another pleasant surprise (laughs). One of my DJ boyz calls me up from Puerto Rico saying Hai Hai's been spinning non-stop in the clubs and mainstream radio. I said "huh?" I was under the impression the album had lived its life cycle...boy was I wrong. Jay-Z was pickin' up all the Punjabi hits namely PMC's Mundian To Bach Ke and then my Hai Hai and that's how it happened. I would have liked credit for it coz I'm all about proper credit above anything else. I do the same for all my artists. But I was just happy Jay-Z listens to my music. Moreover, last year HMV licensed Bootlegged for India release and shot another video in Mumbai, this one was for my track Seeti. So, I guess good music never dies. Another strange thing happened last week is that I bought my peer, Rishi Rich's India-debut album in Mumbai and it had one of my own tracks, Asiyan javan ho gaye, unaltered, in his CD(!)
Nizam: You've caught the attention of well-known producers such as Bally Sagoo, can you tell us how it was working with Bally and the Ishq records camp?
Kenz Desai: In a single word...AWESOME! Bally and I clicked pretty well and our backgrounds are similar so that helped though the way we interact with people is quite different. He's also a workaholic and so am I so those 14 to 16 hour workdays, 6 days a week for seven months and the resulting weight loss that I underwent occurred in a flash. He pushed me to view music more from a production standpoint than an inspirational one, something I usually did. Hence my engineering skills took a leap. I will always remember his infamous and inspirational phrase to me- "Don't be afraid to push the pots!" His now wife, Sita who runs HYPE-PR took fantastic care of me as I lived in their household as their guest and she was directly responsible for my public relations and image makeover. A very talented lady.
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Nizam: Your album 'Bootlegged' was for me one an amazing album that was totally fresh and it still sounds good to this day. One thing that made me laugh though was the album title and cover - what was the thinking behind that?
Kenz Desai: Thanks man. America amongst other parts of the world rules in South Asian audio and video piracy and it was Ishq's as well as my intent to bring attention to that. People like me get less work when companies publishing this material fail to see revenues, thanks to the piracy. It was an embarrassing blow to USA's South Asian music industry when a major label like RPG closed shop just after a few years of doing business here. So for the CD sleeve, |
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Ishq's designer "G" came up with that blatant CDR design. The music in Bootlegged is also streetwise and tough so the look had to reflect that. The sleeve alone got a lot of good feedback from magazines and my buddy Sukhbir, the Bhangra singer, told me that he remembered the album because of that prior to spinning it. |
Nizam: Apart from doing you solo album on Ishq you were involved in a variety of project including some work on Bollywood Flashback 2. Tell us more about that!
Kenz Desai: I was Bally's assistant all throughout BF2's 6 month long production schedule. I helped play keyboard parts, edit, sample sounds Bally needed, constantly give Bally my own feedback (like he needed it! [laughs]), prepare the audio edit for the Music video of "Noorie" and use my mastering skills with the tools I came to England with. It was a rush when BF2 won an Emma Award as best album of the year in front of mainstream artists likes the Spice Girls, Apache Indian etc. That was a memorable night.
Nizam: You are based in the United States, and you have received massive response from the American market, what do you find is the core differences in the American Desi market as opposed to that of the UK?
Kenz Desai: The U.K Asian pop scene is way more musically competitive than the U.S scene. While we are still stuck with the eternity of illegal filmi remixes, albeit many of them are super, U.K producers challenge themselves to come-up with sounds and ideas no one's has ever heard before. Knowing that fully well is why I made Bootlegged so different as an American. I was the first ever Asian to use the "Auto-tune"/Cher-vocal effect on an Asian CD (in "Khoya Khoya Chand" in the album). There was also an Arabic trance/Industrial track I had produced during that time in which dramatic use was made of that effect but Ishq decided not to release the track on Bootlegged.
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Nizam: The mainstream market has really adopted a lot of eastern sounds, how do you feel about hip-hop artists using Indian samples within their music?
Kenz Desai: They MUST get proper copyright clearance and give due credit is my standpoint. Being Indian is as cool now musically as being Latino was a few years ago with J-Lo, Ricky, Enrique and Christina. We are at the forefront of a revolution in hip-hop and the world is taking notice. My |
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new track "Bhangra Phenomenon" for ZibaMusic's upcoming compilation is all about that. |
Nizam: Is there anyone in the mainstream or desi music industry that is catching your eye at the moment, and is there anyone you would like to potentially work with?
Kenz Desai: I love Sonu Nigam's voice. I hung-out with him last week on my trip to Mumbai and hope to work with him soon. Hopefully, he'll be able to take time-out and lay down some vocals in my studio when he comes to the U.S on his summer tour. He's also expressed interest in working with me so cross your fingers. It will be a dramatically different sound for filmi fans!
Nizam: You did the soundtrack for the Bollywood film Yogita with the great A R Rahman. What was it like to work with him?
Kenz Desai: [laughs] I did do the soundtrack for Yogita and composed in a way to be able to listen to the CD without the film. However, Rahman was not involved at any point. I'd love to work with him though. Rohit Karn Batra is a brilliant writer and director who also hired me to produce the soundtrack for his subsequent short film "Alchera" which won the award for Best Dramatic Short film at the Southern film festival last year.
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Nizam: Do you have any plans to tour the UK and North America in the near future?
Kenz Desai: No plans though I've been DJ'ing non-stop all over the U.S. But you'll be the first to know!
Nizam: When can we expect another album release from you? I am sure all the Kenz fans worldwide are looking forward to more of that original sound.
Kenz Desai: Thanks Bro. I've got some fresh new tracks I've been working on. Assuming I don't get pulled into other projects, I hope to complete another album by the end of this year. |
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Nizam: Will you be getting into any future ventures, in terms of producing for other artists and such?
Kenz Desai: Yes, things seem to be heading that way but the demand for my solo albums remains healthy, so I intend to keep following that destiny for now.
Nizam: Is there anything you would like to tell all the desitunes4u readers out there?
Kenz Desai: You guys make me what I'm today by buying my work. Thank you for your support. Email me and keep in touch.
I would like to thank Kenz for taking his time out to talk to us, be sure to look out for future releases and club gigs, to find out more about Kenz be sure to peep his website at, www.kenzdesai.com!
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