Avani Bheda caught up with Surj and Munj of popular UK Bhangra group, RDB, in Mumbai to promote their new album Punjab’s Most Wanted. She learnt that the group is collaborating on the Bollywood film ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ starring Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol and due for release around February 2011. Excerpts from the conversation.
Rhythm Dhol Bass, or RDB, as you are popularly known, consists of…?
RDB consisted initially of three brothers – Kuly, Munj and the youngest, Surj, that’s me. We also have a team member called Nindy Kaur – she’s the female sensation of RDB. We adopted the style from our father. We sang religious songs in gurdwaras in the UK, where we were born and brought up. So initially, three members and three brothers. That’s RDB
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From singing in gurdwaras to a career in the world of professional music. Tell us about the journey.
We started singing religious songs in gurdwaras, and from there we adopted it as our hobby. We started buying the equipment and messing around with it — like computers, wires, tapes and things like that. After that we got keenly interested in DJ-ing. For my eighteenth birthday party we decided to DJ ourselves – we got the equipment and loads of music, including Bhangra and UK Bhangra style music, and we had a blast.
Then from DJ-ing we went into production. We’ve always loved production, because we are technology lovers. We started putting samples together. Munj plays a lot of instruments like dholak, baaja, and others. He is the main talent for vocals.
What are the most important skills a DJ should possess?
A DJ should first and foremost know his crowd. Secondly, whatever his style of DJ-ing — whether House, Hip-Hop, Bhangra or anything else — he should know his music well. Equally important is that a DJ should have a great time while playing out the music. The DJ needs to party with the people because if he or she doesn’t have a good time, then the crowd too won’t have a good time.
And what are the important skills for a good producer?
When it comes to music production too, it’s almost the same scenario. In music production, when we are making music, we need to make sure that we are making it for our audience who like that style of music. So, know the tastes of your audience, and give them what they want. Also, know your tools – the technology, the software, the instruments and production infrastructure. That’s critical too. We’re blessed, because we have been technology freaks; we know our tools well.
How did RDB come about, and how long has it been around?
I don’t think RDB is the result of one specific decision – it was always around in our hearts. Yes, the only specific decision that we took about RDB was while selecting its name. Some of the names we considered were Criminal Effects and Desi Beats; a whole bunch of them. But those were clich?©s; phrases that already existed. So we decided that we should create a new name. And that’s when we decided to become RDB which, as you know, stands for Rhythm Dhol Bass.
What is your latest album Punjab’s Most Wanted album all about?
It’s a completion that Universal has released. To tell you about the kind of music it has, let me first give you a little backgrounder. Bhangra in its pristine form is from rural Punjab in India. Ever since it arrived in the UK through the 70s and onwards, it obviously changed thanks to local influences And speaking of ourselves, since we were born and brought up in the UK, we had been listening to all kinds of western music, and were also massively interested in and influenced by UK Bhangra. So we adapted all the influences. We are the first pioneers to actually bring western beats and rapping and other elements into Bhangra.
Punjab’s Most Wanted has tracks that are evolved examples of such blending of Bhangra with international and western elements. And all tracks are eminently danceable to.
For the single De De Chumma, we have collaborated with Blitz, a Canada-based rapper who is a good friend too. Basically it is his track; he’d said to us, â€?I want RDB to feature in it or do the hook line’.
Your favorite singer / composer / lyricist in Bollywood…?
As a singer, Sonu Nigam is superb! We’re very fond of his voice; he is amazing! As a composer we are really fond of Vishal and Shekhar. As for lyricist, well, anyone who writes good lyrics. You see, we listen to so many different kinds of songs, so there really isn’t any one lyricist we like the most.
You’re visiting India. Any Bollywood projects likely to come up soon?
Actually, yes, there’s one. We’re collaborating on Dharamji’s forthcoming Bollywood film ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ which will also star Sunny and Bobby Deol. Hopefully it will release in February. There is no fixed date, but it will have a lot of variety in terms of Bollywood stars and musical styles.
What do you especially remember from your track in Singh is King?
It was a great collaboration that we wanted to do. It was when Akshay (Kumar) said to us, â€?Listen guys, I’m working on a new film called Singh is King. How about doing something for it?’ We then flew to Chicago, completed the track and shot the video. I think it’s still playing on television and doing well.
