Recently, Irfan caught up with on of the best new singers that has come out of the desi scene for a while. It's the one and only Mehsopuria whom Raj interviewed originally a while back. He's back to give us all the latest on him and his new album.
Irfan: Firstly tell us about your brand new album? Who's featuring on it? What sort of vibe is it on? For those that haven't bought it yet tell them what they can expect from it!
Hi Irfan, my album took over 9 months to be produced, though it's been years of hard work in terms of the songs I wrote and composed. I have 6 producers featuring on my album, Kam Frantic, 2-Dark, Khiza, Tom Lowry, Aman Hayer and Illegal Demo, rather than the normal drill of having one producer and the one singer on an 8-track album. I selected certain producers for the tracks I felt would be their forte and bring out a good combination between them and myself. The vibe for my album is a mixture between desi, RnB, garage, jungle/drum and bass, hip-hop and qawali. For those who have not bought it all I can say is it's different from your normal Bhangra albums (no samples) like Daminder from Jus Bhangra (Zee music) always points out, I've given variety on my album and hopefully good value for money.
Irfan: You've signed up to Pranay Records, which is a new label. What attracted you to them?
Pranay Records is a label setup by myself, my mates Harj and Nins. We decided to set up our own label and try to give our best to my fans. It's hard work though but the fans love, support and appreciation for my album have made it all worthwhile.
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Irfan: You originally did some tunes for Untouchables. They in my opinion have lost there way a bit. The reason I say that is all the albums sound the same, bhan-garage with more bhan-garage and mc's galore! Would you agree with my comments that the sounds they are bring out are beginning to sound one-dimensional?
It's not for me to say whether the Untouchables are sounding repetitive or not. Personally I'm not in favour of having so many mc's on an album hence there is only one garage track on |
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my album, I agree with you the bhangra scene has a lot of mc's. May be there sound works for them, a lot of people have said their music is sounding one dimensional but there music is what flava they want to bring to the industry and may be their fans want that style of music. |
Irfan: For some reason even time people mention the name Mehsopuria they call you 'the controversial Mehsopuria.' Why do you think people mention you in this light? How does it make you feel?
To be honest Irfan, I have not had that said to my face but if there are people who wish to say that it, it is their choice. I'm honest with what I say or do, if that's what makes someone controversial then may be I am controversial but on what grounds they have the right to say controversial, I don't know. It does not affect me though as being in the music industry you have to get use to someone or another saying something out of context about you. As long as I'm doing well, which I am and my fans are happy that's all that counts to me.
Irfan: What is your opinion on people who purely rely on a vocoder to enhance their vocals? Are there any artists within the industry, which spring to mind that you feel, are over-hyped and can't sing and rely on this method?
Using a vocoder is becoming to frequent in Bhangra, it's the easy way for some people. There are some artists who use the vocoder by choice on selected tunes and some who use it purely because they can't sing. I have an auto tuner effect on my jungle/drum n bass song "Punoo Haniya" this was due to the song requiring a mesmerising feel and not too stronger desi vocal feel, the effect actually goes well with that track, the use of that sort of effect on one song is ok, strangely there are some fans who actually like that sort of sound.
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Irfan: I hear you done a collabo with Khiza on his latest release. What was it like to work with him? How do you rate him as a producer? Tell us more about the tune!
Khiza is a good friend; I have sung four songs on his forthcoming album. It was great fun working as it was more comedy than anything else; he's a lively character and fun to be around. As a producer I rate him highly, this really is the first big solo project from Khiza and be ready to be shocked, he has bags of talent and ideas which have come together on his album but there is a lot more to come from Khiza. The song that is becoming huge at the moment is "Ranjha Jogi" the number one track on his album, I wrote this song over 5/6 years ago, the melody and composition compliments the vocal and lyrics. Khiza has two versions of this song on his album; the RnB version has Juki Ranx featuring on it with me. The desi version is produced by my younger brother 2-Dark with both songs have a video each. |
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Khiza has done a great job on the production, so the credit goes to him. |
Irfan: Some of the stuff getting released in the mainstream seems to be 'watered down' to be part of it all. Do you think it's right for artists to change their style and music to be part of it all the hype? Do you we should stick to all out desi stuff?
I agree totally with you Irfan, the mainstream projects our artists/producers are doing is very watered down. The honest truth is that real Bhangra has not been properly accepted in the mainstream. The want our flava's but at the same time they want it to be very mellow so they take advantage of the new in thing that kind of defies the object in my opinion. It's really up to each artist as an individual whether change their style to be part of the hype or change it to show their versatility. We had contact with Galaxy 102.2fm regarding one of my tunes being played on their station, the point blank fact was, if it does not have English vocals on it they don't play it, I'm not prepared to add English vocals into one of my tunes unless I have collaborated with an artist who is singing in English. Our artists/producer have the talent to make a much bigger impact in mainstream than we have and talent cannot be held back.
Irfan: What are you listening to at the moment? I mean what are you playing in your car system at the moment?
I'm listening to DMX's new album, Rahat Ali Khan's qawali and Sardool Sikander sad songs. There's a mixture in my car.
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Irfan: The scene seems to be saturated with Mc's! It's got to the stage were I'm sure new Mc's struggle to come up with a name that hasn't already been used! What do you think of them in general? Who would you rate as the best ones on the Asian scene?
I'm not into MC'ing, so my opinion would not be very good. There are a lot of mc's in our industry, again that's all down to Bhangra/garage tracks. All I can say is the good ones will shine through, as they will continue to come up with fresh lyrics and ideas. |
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Irfan: Skillz Inc has set up studio in India to get all the vocals from there! Do you think there is a lack of quality singers in the UK to justify them doing this? Do you think this is the way forward?
It's cheaper to record fresh new artist vocals from India and do some pre-production or live percussion work there, so it's a more cost effective process. There are quality singers in the UK but some producers wish to use new vocalists and not the one's whom most producers use.
Irfan: Keeping it on singing mode, there is a serious shortage of female singers coming out of the UK! Who do you rate in the currents female vocalists in the UK? Why do think there is a lack of them? What do you think can be done to improve the situation?
There is a lack of female vocalists due to our culture and family's having strong opinions on girls singing, not so much in studios but in public performance's. With the new generation of UK born and raised Asian's it's becoming more acceptable so in time there will be more female vocalists coming through, they'll just need encouragement.
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Irfan: Do you think an all out desi track can make it into the Top 10 of the UK mainstream charts?
I hope so but it depends how good the tunes is and if we have a major label backing the tune as promotion on a national level is very important for a successful chart position. My friend told me he want to an RnB night in London recently and for the first hour they were playing RnB and stuff, then when the DJ dropped "Tumka 2" everyone started dancing like crazy. Bhangra has the right beats and quality to hit top #1 in any chart. The mainstream needs us more right now than we need them, that is my opinion.
Irfan: So what's next for Mehsopuria? What have you got lined up in the near future?
I have tours and shows for abroad lined up. My younger brother 2-Dark will start work on his album soon, that's |
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a project I'll be featuring on too. I won't rush into the studios and do a second album; I'll work on material and then bring out an album, which will be bigger and better than my debut album. |
Irfan: Any final words for the desitunes4u fans worldwide?
My message to the desitunes4u.com fans as always is, please don't download albums and support all the Bhangra artists, we all need your support. You can drop a message on my guestbook (www.mehsopuria.com) letting me know what genre of music you would like me to bring out in my next album, I sing for you "the real Bhangra fans". A big Thanks to the main man Irfan for interviewing me, keep up the good work with desitunes4u.com. Hope you enjoy listen to my album. Peace, love and respect lets spread it all over the world… Mehsopuria xx
That concludes the interview, firstly a big thanks to Mehsopuria for taking some time out to do the interview. If you want to contact him direct then you can e-mail him now at mehsopuria@hotmail.com plus make sure you check out his website!
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