Diamonds from Heera

In the past year, my awareness of bhangra has expanded from the modern musical scene to the backdrop tunes of yesteryear. And one of the lodestones of the bhangra industry (based in the British cities of Manchester, Birmingham, and London) is the group Heera.  For those who don't know about Heera, you should know that they were one of the earliest bhangra bands to form, around the time of Alaap and Apna Sangeet, who formed in the late 1970s, and made a massive name for themselves in India and abroad.

I got introduced to Heera in early 2011 while listening to a weekend bhangra show on the radio. One of the listeners called in to complain good-naturedly to the DJ that they didn't play any old school bhangra anymore, that he played only the new stuff ("old school" in bhangra terms seems to refer to anything made before the turn of the millenium). After mentioning this to everybody, the DJ put on a song by Heera, Dowain Jaaniya, and suddenly I was surrounded by the sounds of a tune redolent of 80s-style pop music, sung in Panjabi . I had never heard any oldie bhangra tunes, much less heard of any group other than Alaap, and while I sat there in the wake of a blast from the past, I was thinking, what did the DJ say the name of this group was? At the end of the song he mentioned it again, and at the end of the show I was scouring the Internet for who Heera was. I found some of their recordings, some of their MTV-inspired music videos, and opened myself up to the world of old bhangra.

Heera is notable for their myriad musical experiments. The Panjabi tunes they've done have flirted with practically every genre while keeping their distinctive desi sound. Latino piano and conga  influences resound in the classic Maar Charappa and in Naach Patalo, while techno swerves verve around with dholki bravado and keyboard in Sharaabi Teri Akhiyaan Ne. And don't forget the disco-sounds of Dowain Jaaniya. Of course they like to do more traditional bhangra (without the dhol, unlike Apna Sangeet), as in Milna De Naal Aaye Mitro, but despite this they should be counted as innovators, as the diamonds of the era.

Malkit Singh, Bhangra Master

                                                 

               

                For years I've been enthralled by bhangra music, ever since I first heard samples of it in my late middle school days from library CDs and online sound bytes. But I first really exposed myself to the growing industry of bhangra, based mostly in the UK by Panjabi expatriates and second/third generation Panjabis, when I bought the album Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance at the end of my 10th grade term. I remember that at first, I had mixed feelings about the absorption of Western influences into bhangra, since I'd been trying as hard as possible to distance myself from Western music, but eventually I found that I was more comfortable than I at first had thought. Looking back, maybe it was that the mixed music was a lot like me in its nature; a smattering of Western influences blended with a growing desire to be more and more desi. Since then, I've been addicted to the beat of the dhol and the strum of the tumbi, the liquid melodies of harmonium and keyboards mixing, and the intoxicating voices of bhangra legends alike, most notably Malkit Singh, whose soaring voice and desi approach to singing  ignited true-blue bhangra fever in me. In fact, the Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance album introduced me to this legend in the first place with the thudding beat of the song "Chal Hun."

                Not long after I heard "Chal Hun," I began to get myself further and further into bhangra, finding tracks online and recording them off the Internet with my poor-quality tape recorder, taking the tapes to my car or bedroom and listen while driving, reading, or doing homework.  I got to know more about Malkit Singh's songs, about his pioneering of Panjabi folk music over the decades through SmasHits.com and Youtube, recording some of his biggest hits like "Gur Nalon Ishq Mitha" and "Jind Mahi" onto my cassette tapes, the latter of which I discovered when watching Bend It Like Beckham, thinking, "Isn't that Malkit's voice?" When I started learning how to play tabla and dholak, his tracks often provided the model for self-teaching and practice while I tapped along.

                Though Malkit is among my favorite bhangra singers (others include Gurdas Maan, Sukshinder Shinda, Panjabi MC, and Sangeeta), he has a special place in the world music scene. First of all, he got in the Guiness Book of World Records in 2001 for Biggest Selling Bhangra Solo Artist, totalling sales of 4.9 billion records since he began his career in 1985. Only a few years ago, he became the first British-Asian musician to get the MBE (Most Excellant Award of the British Empire) from the Queen of England herself. That certainly stands for something in the world music scene, much more so in the bhangra industry.

                What I've always liked about Malkit Singh is his approach to combining musical styles and folk themes. Often his songs are based on common folk themes, such as the inevitable bhangra/giddha dances, girl-watching, love songs, village songs, but he is able to sustain these things without losing the Panjabi touch to the music, partially reinforced by the tunes and the instruments he chooses in his songs. He has kind of a Midas touch (pun fully intended, since that is the name of one of his albums) with the music he sings to, many of which are based on traditional folk lyrics that you could hear in any pind (village) in Panjab. With some other bhangra musicians you can see that their influence is more Western (such as Juggy D or Veronica, even some of Tigerstyle's songs), whereas with Malkit you can see he has more of a desi approach to music. And yet he incorporates some of the most unexpected instruments into his songs (such as, in the song "Naram Jehi", the use of steel drums and a ska-style trumpet to a bhangra beat, or in "Mar Javaan Gur Khaa Ke" the use of bagpipe skirls), which add ethnicity to the song but are still touched altogether by the Panjabi sense of the tune and the urbanized folkiness of the lyrics. Malkit's voice also carries some weight with it, reminding me of the quintessence of energetic bhangra, whose road he has helped to pave over the years with the help of other pioneers such as Gurdas Maan and Channi Singh from the band Alaap. Still, Malkit Singh holds a special place in the arena, and he still has the golden voice that proves he is still a champion.  

             Here are some Youtube videos of Malkit Singh's newer songs: