FACTS
| Success all the way!
Mundian To Bach Ke was released in the UK on January 13 2003. On Sunday 19 January, the track came straight into the UK top 40 charts at number five.
|
 |  | By BBC Midlands Today reporter, Satnam Rana.
Coventry-born Panjabi MC created with his bhangra-infused track Beware of the Boys - Mundian To Bach Ke in Punjabi.
The bhangra single was the first released on a mainstream label to achieve a place in the UK Top Ten and it went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies around the world.
Click here to watch Panjabi MC perform Mundian To Bach Ke on Top of the Pops.
 It is a very exciting time for me and for the music. Eastern and Western styles and beats are being fused which reflects urban life in the Midlands
 | | Panjabi MC in interview with Satnam Rana
|
Panjabi MC, otherwise known as PMC, is still based in Coventry and says he draws on contemporary urban music as his main influence.
Mundian To Bach Ke, which translates as Beware of the Boys, fuses Eastern beats with Western sounds.
To add to its appeal, it features the brilliant bass line from the Knight Rider theme tune.
This fusion of ideas has excited PMC, who said it was a burgeoning trend spreading throughout the contemporary urban music scene.
He added that he hoped Mundian To Bach Ke and other tracks would finally break bhangra music out into the mainstream music industry and not prove a one-hit wonder.
| |  | Girl in Panjabi MC's Mundian To Bach Ke video
|
The music originates from an energetic folk dance, performed by Punjabi men at harvest time.
It first came to the UK with Punjabi and north Indian immigrants who played it as a way of connecting with their home-land.
The traditional sounds in the music incorporate the use of a dhol drum (a two headed drum) which dates back to the 15th century.
In contemporary bhangra music, the dhol drum is combined with guitar and keyboards to create a new street sound.
With artists like Silinder Pardesi and Taz of Stereo Nation causing ripples throughout the UK and, of course, PMC spreading the word throughout the world - Coventry will hopefully be at the fore of a new Asian musical explosion!
|
