It feels like a past lifetime now, but I was involved in the British Asian music scene.
A (Very Brief) Autobiography
I grew up listening to many styles of music such as Jungle, Bhangra, House, Trance, Hip-Hop, etc but it was UK Desi music that I gravitated towards when I started producing music. I started releasing cheeky remixes around 2002, which got me some attention. I then made my “professional debut” as a contributing artist on Panjabi Hit Squad‘s Desi Beats album, which was released by Universal/Def Jam UK in 2003. 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 tutelage of the legendary Frantic Kam. In that time, I was fortunate enough to have worked 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 produced and hosted my own weekly radio show on Sanjhi Awaz, which was the first independent Asian music station broadcasting on DAB at that time.
It was a crazy period in my life. I achieved everything that I wanted to within a decade so I have no regrets.
The Throwback Album
I never look backwards so I had no desire to re-release my music but people kept asking me for those old tunes so we put together The Throwback album. The Throwback features (almost) all the music I made between 2003 and 2010. Every track has been professionally remastered (directly from the master recordings) and we’ve included original versions, no edits or dodgy remixes. You can preview the album below, courtesy of the nice people over at Spotify.
The Throwback is available now via Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal, JioSaavn India and all popular streaming services. If you’d like to purchase a digital copy of the album then please head on over to BandCamp.
On the subject of The Throwback, I’d like to thank all those people that did approach me over the years and ask for those old tunes – I’m grateful that you liked my work enough to still want to hear it and to take the time to contact me. The Throwback is therefore dedicated to you all. Thank you.
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 work in the charity sector, which I’m dedicated towards so finding the time to fire up the drum machine between work and my personal life is difficult. As and when I do get time, I now produce backing tracks (or ‘beats’) for licencing, which you can find over on the BeatStars platform.
During 2020, I was planning to venture into producing other styles of music (mainly as a personal challenge to myself) but the C19 pandemic shut those plans down. Roll on 2021, watch this space.
Peace!