Wass up everyone; it's that time of the month again… no am not talking about Valentines Day, its time to hit y'all with the hottest, freshest and most up to date news on the desi music scene in February brought to you by Rakesh and Irfan.
We kick this month off, with news of Raghav's latest single, the dancehall flavoured Angel eyes. Released last week, Raghav's 3rd solo single went straight in at number 7 in the UK charts, which again shows how big the Canadian really is at the moment. Raghav performed on this week's top of the pops to a screaming audience and looked every bit the superstar. Raghav is also set to tour his native Canada and across the boarder into the US later this year, as he plans to brake into the lucrative North American market. He caught up with Irfan in Leicester recently; click here to see what went down!
Aman Hayer is back with a solo album, which is simple entitled Ground Shaker. The album features 12 big tracks with contributions from Lembher Hussainpuri, Feroz Khan, KS Makhan, as well as the usual Genie crew MC's G Money, MC Special and Sun ED. Aman was taught his skills by the now legendary Sukshinder Shinda and has worked with big names like Jazzy B and Malkit Singh. The album comes out under the Genie label and is set to drop on the 28th of February, with the video medley in full flow. Aman's vision and talent have enabled a multitude of musical superstars to become household names through his incredible instinct and ability to create a hit sound, a hit single and an album that reaches the top of the musical charts. In 2005 with the album 'Ground Shaker' Aman Hayer will surely cement his place in the music hall of fame.
|
|
Moving to the Doh point Nau crew, Jay, Juggy and Veronica have been signed to sing on a new Bollywood soundtrack for the forthcoming Balaji Telefilms movie Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, which stars Tusshar Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh and Neha Dhupia. Jay said, "it's fantastic to be featured in a Bollywood movie, it's like getting global recognition" Jay sings a track called Dil Mera in the movie. The Doh point Nau crew have been linked to Bollywood for sometime now, after the production of Rishi Rich on the hit movie Hum Tum, which Rishi produced the title track for with Juggy D and Veronica providing the vocals for last summer. Watch out for the film coming to the UK soon. |
Leaving imitators reeling, one of RnB's most exceptional musicians, producer and vocalist, Jon B is set to release the highly infectious hot new joint 'Lately' on the 7th of March. Appreciative of Indian musicianship and influences in the urban scene today he brings us an exclusive rework of Lately' to a very niche market. Already blazing a trail with this specially commissioned remix, hot British Asian producer Mentor works his magic by fusing together the haunting vocals of DES-C with a large helping of dirty bassline, the remix is a definitive club smash. It binds the lingering Indian traces with an urban sway and evocative Punjabi lyrics layered over Jon's signature honeyed vocals. As well as blowing up clubs nationwide, the single is currently receiving great airplay and television exposure across national and specialist stations.
|
The Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) makes a welcome return to the scene with a new album set to drop at the end of the month. These guys have been in the game for over 10 years now. The guys have been an inspiration to many people, with their politically charged lyrics and thumping bass lines, with hip hop brake beats. ADF changed Asian music forever with their 1998 album Rafis Revenge that saw them win the Mercury music prize that year. The new album called Tank has 11 tracks and is set for release on the 28th of February |
 |
|
Asian Dub Foundation - Tank |
|
|
| under their own Rinse It Out label and distributed by Virgin. The CD will include an "open disc" giving access to a website with exclusive content on ADF. They have also announced tour dates to co-inside with the new album release, with gigs in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, France, Spain and Japan; check out the website at www.asiandubfoundation.com for the dates and venues. What's the album like? Click here to read Richard's album review. |
DJ Fricktion at the age of 21 is going places with his unique style. He's been around on the DJ Circuit for a while now but he's fast making his mark with his production skills. DJ Sanj, who hosted the Adil Ray show on the BBC Asian Network for a month, as he started playing Fricktion's tracks, scouted DJ Fricktion. After realising that Fricktion was an unsigned artist, he decided to sign him to his own record label and become his personal manager. We can exclusively reveal that DJ Fricktion has done an official B side mix of Raghav's next single 'NO I.' Previous work from this talented producer includes a garage mix of Sumeet's Wine Me and the drum and bass remix of Swami's DesiRock which were both official remixes. He will also be doing some production on Sanj's forthcoming album 'America's Most Wanted 3.' Be sure to check out his site www.djfricktion.co.uk for all the latest on him.
2Dark hit the scene on the 11th of February with his debut album, Hidden Depth. The album gives it raw desi style with a twist of hip-hop throw in to give it that edge and street banger. The album features 2Darks brother Mehsopuria; along side other vocal talents like Pavan Pali, Major Mahunwalia, Bunty Dallewala and Dark Vader. Genres of music fused tastefully to create a desi potion the fans have been waiting for. Released under Pranay Records, the album features 12 tracks including the big anthem Puth Punjab Da, currently a big video on the music channels.
Desi DNA (BBC2 at 11:20pm) is doing its part to push the desi scene forward. We bring you information of forthcoming shows. Be sure to check back here for information on two further shows.
|
|
|
Show Date - Time 11:20pm on BBC2 |
Music Content |
|
Tuesday 1st March 2005 |
Music from rising soul star Nina Jayne |
|
Tuesday 8th March 2005 |
A unique one-off music performance from Jay Sean |
|
| |
| We specialize in introducing new talent and this month we bring to you the latest British born Punjabi vocalist Romy B. He started singing at a professional level at the age of 16 for a bhangra group called 'Baharan Punjab Diyan' from London with whom he performed with internationally. In 2003 Velocity Ent spotted Romy B performing alongside Dolly Guleria and Hans Raj Hans in New Delhi, India and was attracted by his soul shaking voice and heart taking stage show. Velocity instantly wanted to construct an album with the lead of Romy B's strong but sweet vocals. After hitting the desi live bhangra scene Romy B now wants to express his feelings to the world via his debut album 'TWENTY2' which is set for release in April 2005. The album |
|
|
features production from hot bhangra producers Sunil Kalyan and Aman Hayer as well as a bonus track which is produced by Jayanta Pathak which will also be released on the Bollywood Movie 'Mere Jeevan Saathi' which stars Akshay Kumar, Amisha Patel and Karishma Kapoor. |
With a voice that shakes souls, a pen that stirs hearts and the perfect blend of Punjabi tradition and New York attitude, Bikram Singh re-defines what the world has come to know as Bhangra. Born in Punjab, Bikram was raised on the sounds of revered Punjabi artists like Kuldip Manak and Yamla Jatt. When his family relocated to Queens, New York in the early 1990s, Bikram became a great fan of hip-hop, dancehall, and the hybriding that was occurring between them and Indian music in New York at the time. Keep an eye out for Bikram as his songs gain popularity in both the Punjabi and Urban markets, you won't want to miss the man who will bring Bhangra to its next level! Bikram is all set to release his solo debut album, which is called 'Exclusives' which features 12 fresh new joints with some production by Tigerstyle and Navdeep plus a deadly collaboration with the Dum Project's own 'the1shanti.' You can listen to samples and order the album now only at www.bikramsingh.com.
|
|
A fantastic new exhibition opened on the 1st of February at Birmingham central library, dedicated to the influence of bhangra music and to the West Midlands. "From Soho Road to the Punjab" charts the rise of valued contribution of the genre and Punjabi culture on the region. Birmingham is the centre of international bhangra music and the exhibit gives reference to the unsung hero's. West midlands based artists who feature in the exhibition include, Malkit Singh, DCS, Apache Indian and Dr Zeus. Photographers Gursharan Chana has been taking pictures of events, concerts, and artist for over 20 years and has contributed some achieve footage for the exhibit. The exhibition has been compiled by him and Punch, and runs until 11th March so make sure you catch it; check out www.sohoroadtothepunjab.org.uk for more information on this venture. |
RDB are back again, with their 3rd solo album simply called "Three." The album has been produced by the three Bradford brothers and was released on Valentines Day, no doubt being one of the must have presents for your partner. The album has 13 tracks and is the first RDB album with the new Untouchables sound which draws inspiration from all elements of music from desi to rock, Spanish to house. Away goes the garage bhangra sound we have come to expect from RDB and in comes the new desi upbeat and experimental production. The brothers even sing Dil Mera, which you can see, the video and the making of it on RDB's site now. Does it meet the hype? Click here to read Usman's review to find out now.
| The past two years have seen Asian influenced R&B grow from an underground club scene to a chart-topping sensation. On January 31 Outcaste Records released this exciting new genre into the mainstream, with the release of Essential Asian RnB, a showcase of the best in young, urban Asian music. It feature a previously unreleased joint from Jay Sean called 'I'm Ready.' Fellow chart botherers and hot production double-act The Pirates call on the vocal talents of Shola Ama to provide an answer to Mario Winans' top selling single with the club smash 'You Should Really Know.' Further support is provided by Rishi Rich with the help of fellow stalwart Juggy D on 'Hum Tum.' The compilation also features Raghav, Rouge, Bally Sagoo, |
|
|
Ranidu Lankage, Beenie Man, Panjabi Hit Squad, Dakota, Notorious Jatt, DJ Sanj and Caramel. |
That's it for this month; till next month, laterz Rakesh. |
