It seems like another lifetime now but I was once involved in the British Asian music scene.
Those Desi Years
I started out with a keen interest in DJ’ing, which eventually led to me producing my own music. I was into many styles of music such as Jungle, Bhangra, House, Trance, Hip-Hop, etc but it was Bhangra/Desi music that I naturally gravitated towards when my interest in producing original music started to develop. I was fortunate enough to make my “professional” debut as a producer on Panjabi Hit Squad‘s Desi Beats album, which was released by Universal/Def Jam UK in 2003. It was one of the few bonafide commercial Bhangra/Desi albums released so it immediately got me some world-wide exposure. Working with DJ Markie Mark on that project is an experience I am grateful to have had. I went on to release several independent recordings between 2005 and 2010 under the music tutelage of the legendary Frantic Kam where I not only learnt how to produce music but where I also learnt about the music business in general. I had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the biggest names in Panjabi music such as Surinder Shinda, Lehmber Hussainpuri and the late Dev Raj Jassal. I was Bobby Friction‘s featured artist of the week on the BBC Asian Network and I even landed my own weekly radio show on Sanjhi Awaz, which was the first and only independent Asian music station on DAB at that time. It was a crazy period in my life and I have no regrets. I achieved everything that I wanted to within a decade.
The Throwback
I had no plans or desire to re-release my older music but over the years, I received many requests from fans who were looking for certain tracks and eventually the interest had grown enough to push me to take action. The Throwback compilation album was released on 31/Aug/2018 and is available now through all popular digital music services. Every track has been remastered professionally and I’ve included original versions, no edits.
Me & Music Today
I still have my production studio, The Hive. I still make music and I still spin music for fun (gotta keep those DJ skills sharp) but my output is at a much slower rate than before. I’m just far too busy with life these days so finding the time to fire up the drum machine is difficult although creating music does still provide me with personal fulfilment. I’ve never made music in the hope of becoming famous and this is exactly what I try to preach to other producers – do it for yourself and if it’s decent, put it out there and if people like it then you’re laughing.
During the year of 2020, I’m going to venture into producing other styles of music that I haven’t really tried before because as an artist, I have to challenge myself. If I end up with something interesting, I’ll put it out there. Watch this space.
Peace!