The underground sounds of desi are chipping away at the mainstream.

watch mundain to bach ke

This week sees the release of Mundian To Bach Ke, a fusion of bhangra beats, hip-hop sensibilities and - wait for it - the Knight Rider theme. It’s a record that was originally included on Panjabi MC’s 1998 classic bhangra remix album Legalised, and which now, four years later, is spearheading desi music’s assault on the UK mainstream.

Panjabi MC, aka Raj Rai, started off rapping over loops but soon progressed to using the crate-digging hip-hop technique of constructing songs from samples. “I started off rapping but I found that people didn’t really respond to rapping so much as the actual samples that I took, mixed with hip-hop and stuff,” he says.

So why the interest now? British Asians have been producing desi’s clash of traditional Indian bhangra with western street sounds for a decade now. PMC himself has released five albums, but it’s remained in the underground, being resolutely ignored by major record labels and the mass media. Is this just racism? Or is it that we can’t sing along to Punjabi?

“I think it’s taken a long time because it takes that long for something totally different to work,” says Raj. However, with last summer’s Bollywood hype and a handful of mainstream producers picking up on Asian underground sounds, this is beginning to change. Missy Elliott’s Get Ur Freak On contained a hypnotic Bhangra loop and Truth Hurt’s Addictive (produced by Dr Dre) featured an entire Hindi track.

“My sound is a lot more authentic and a lot more real because my stuff is made for bhangra,” say Raj. “Because people like Timberland and Dre have brought the sound in, and so a lot of people are down with it. But I think people want to hear the real thing now.”

So is there any new material on the way? “Right now, I’ve got a lot of politics with the labels I’m signed to so we’re going to re-release some of the old stuff and I’m going to remix it up a little bit,” he explains. “And then I want to get back to where I started with the lyricist side. I’d like to work with more UK artists and write my own stuff.”

With a Best Of album scheduled for release in March, including PMC highlights from the last decade, Panjabi MC is someone we’ll be hearing more of. And my Rupee is on bhangra being for 2003 what electroclash was in 2002. Matt Walton 09 January 03

The single Mundian To Bach Ke, released on Instant Karma 13 January 02.

useful link: www.panjabi-mc.com