Bhangra takes the fore as an AS Kang returns with an album after ten years, and Ravinder Grewal releases his folk songs
What’s up party people, Indian Sun is in the house! I’m excited to be writing my first column for this brand new publication. Congratulations to Sid, Sri and the crew, it’s great to be part of a team bringing a fresh perspective to Australian Indian media. Now I don’t want to harp on about cricket too much as I’m more of a football man, real football that is, played with a round ball, Manchester United and Melbourne Heart forever! But it seems a lot of people are getting sadistic pleasure out of India’s win in the Champions Trophy, England’s collapse and Australia’s poor performance (especially the last bit!). Take it easy! England’s always been like that and Australia not only set the standard for the modern game but dominated it for over a decade, come back when you’ve won three World Cups in a row! Returning to round ball, I had a great time cheering the Socceroos to World Cup qualification for the third time running (well done lads) and look forward to seeing my party people in Sydney later this month for the Man Utd match. Congratulations also to Adelaide’s Ravinder Sidhu for winning his Thai kickboxing fight against the dangerous 120 fight veteran Sorachart at Lumpini Stadium.
Now there’s lots of new releases I’d like to talk about, starting with bhangra. Some of you may remember AS Kang. He put out some great albums in the 90s and became particularly famous for the song Khao Peeo Aish Karo. Well he’s back with his first new album in ten years called The Maestro and produced by the main man Sukshinder Shinda. Be sure to check it out. There’s also some interesting albums by folk singer Ravinder Grewal (Doze), smooth vocalist Kanth Kaler (Armaan) and compilation Gadar Di Goonj (Roar of Rebellion). The later is the eleventh release in the Shaheedi series from Immortal Productions paying tribute to historical freedom fighters with tracks from Tigerstyle, Kaos, Cloud 9, Gupsy Aujla and Manni Sandhu. It’s pretty hardcore and something different for those of you who understand Punjabi lyrics. Ravinder’s Doze is very nice with a good combination of chillout and upbeat tracks. On a filmy vibe there’s the soundtrack to Jatt and Juliet 2.
We also have a swag of singles out of the UK. I’m diggin’ Tere Wargi by DJ Dips, Garry Sandhu and H-Dhami. G-Town Desi’s Hatt Pichay is a full on bhangra tune. DJ Nav UDN’s dropped a desi remix of RDB’s anthem We Doin’ It Big. Sounds pretty good with dhol beats and more of a throw your hands up feel to it. Juggy D’s back, collaborating with Middleman and G Deep on De De Gereh. The tune’s got more of a dance electronica vibe and the same goes for Mahi (AV remix), Eiffel Tower (JS Bhaidwan), Hera Pheriyan (Benny Dhaliwal, Bups Saggu) and Tere Liye (Shaz). There are some average floor fillers in Tension (AV, Manak-e), Nachdi (Preeti Mani), Tohar Vekh Ke (Luv Randhawa, Bikram Singh) and Ghagri Di (Sukhi Dosanjh). I’m not really feeling r&b cut Heartbroken (3Mix), Ek Ek Saah (Acoustic mix, Cloud 9), My Song 3 (Jatinder Sahota) and Aankh (Junior Maan, GV).
Turning to Bollywood, Delhi Belly man Ram Sampath’s created an interesting sound with Fukrey. I particularly like Sona Mohapatra’s guitar rendition of Ambarsariya with a mix of Hindi and Punjabi lyrics. Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has a very beautiful sound to it which lives up to their high standards. Amit Trivedi’s doing his thing on Lootera, Bombay Talkies and Ghanchakkar, as are Sachin-Jigar on Go Goa Gone and Ramaiya Vastavaiya. Ramaiya features Mika Singh, Mohit Chauhan and three ballads from Atif Aslam with Shreya Ghoshal (Jeena Laga Hoon, Bairiyaa and Rang Jo Lagyo). There’s Ek Thi Dayaan (Vishal Bhardwaj), Aurangzeb (Amartya Rahut, Vipin Mishra), Gippi (Vishal-Shekhar) and last but not least AR Rahman returns with his trademark beats on Raanjhanaa. Before I go I’d like to big up everyone who turned up to the Light in Winter festival at Fed Square last month, especially Alam and the Chai Junction crew for shaking it on the dance floor. Till next time!
That’s it for this month! For more on the latest in the scene, check out my weekly radio show Mumbai Masala at www.pbsfm.org.au (available on demand online or live in Melbourne on 106.7 PBS FM, Monday evenings 7pm-8pm). You can also listen using TuneIn app or PBS Radio’s iPhone and Android apps. Get in touch with me on Twitter and Facebook. I’d love to hear your feedback on this column and the show via my website www.richimadan.com, info@richimadan.com. Peace out.
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