Malkit Singh Is listed by Guinness Book
as the world's largest selling bhangra artiste

The Birmingham-based singer is listed by the Guinness Book as the world's largest selling bhangra artiste.

The terms Bhangra New Asian dance music.
This term is adopted by Sharma, Hutnyk and Sharma (1996, pp.33--41) as a catch-all term for a variety of popular musics associated with the British South Asian community. The terms Bhangra and 'post-bhangra' also cover these musics, which may have little or nothing to do with the Punjabi traditional dance (see §2(ii) above) from which the name comes (cf. Baumann, 1990). They arose as a South Asian counterpart, in Southall and Birmingham, to the club and dance scene of the 1980s and 90s and owe a debt to black dance musics
coming from the USA, such as soul, hip-hop and rap.

The earliest bhangra bands were formed on the immigrant Punjabi wedding circuit playing traditional music, including that used for the bhangra dance. This traditional music had less and less appeal to the generations of South Asians born and raised in Britain, who more often identified with black musics such as reggae. At the beginning of the 1980s bands such as Alaap and Heera integrated these sound-system-based musics into the more traditional forms being played on the wedding circuit. As recordings and experience of this music spread through young South Asian communities, a club and dance scene coalesced around these bands, with gigs and raves
taking place both during the day and at night.

As the scene developed it became more diverse and moved beyond the original designation of 'bhangra'. Artists such as Apache Indian incorporated elements of ragga into their music, while Bally Sagoo mixed in drum 'n' bass to produce 'acid bhangra' and turned his attention to Hindi film songs, producing re-mixed versions of hits on albums such as Bollywood Classics and Bollywood Flashbacks (both 1994). These artists have achieved great popularity in India itself, with many of these innovations feeding back into the South Asian popular music and dance scene. More recently, groups such as the Asian Dub Foundation and Fun^Da^Mental have mixed South Asian
instrumentation and lyrics with rap, producing music with an explicitly political message, while Cornershop, a guitar-based band, has roduced rock-oriented music.

Malkit Singh

After his first super hit "Tutak Tutak Tutian", he strode from the mustard fields of Punjab to the chrome-curtained studios in London. If you have heard of 'Kurri Garam Jayee, Kurri Naram Jayee' and 'Gur Naloon Iskh Mitha' you know who I am talking about. Malkit needs no introduction. In his new album, his 20th, produced by Universal, Singh jams with Apache Indian and Britain's latest hit band "Payasyougo".

With his amazing voice and new album Millennium mixes, he stands today at number 2 on the top 10 UK Bhangra charts. The new video for Gur Naloon Iskh Mitha explains why every wedding today plays Malkit till the bride crosses over the threshold. Malkit remains today's favorite, tomorrow's legend.

Malkit Singh has taken the Punjabi vernacular to wide-ranging experiments to rap with strains of underground grunge, hip-hop and Hindi film music, picking up along the way, 12 number-one hits of the British charts that have turned the village boy into a multi-millionaire.

   He was born with a mercurial flair for the arts. When he was just four-years old, his singing ability won him admission into a school meant for six-year-olds. Ever since, the thirty-something Malkit Singh has maintained his head start on the competition, taking Punjabi bhangra music into realms previously unexplored.

True to his name, Malkit, which translates to ‘One Has Rules The World’, has taken his music from the Punjabi vernacular to cross-cultural experiments ranging from rap and house to the Hindi film screens. The traditional folk music has gone from the relative obscurity of a Punjabi village to the heady heights of a world stage. As the music spreads its wings across the globe, Malkit Singh encompasses an audience of all ages.

In 1981, his winning of the third Punjab collegiate competition award was marked with a "golden star" pendant. Malkit adopted the name for his band, and the Golden Star band is as synonymous to Malkit as the E-Street Band is to Bruce Springsteen.

As we move into 2002, Malkit Singh is still winning new audiences in the exploding world of bhangra and in the process he's opening the floodgates for many upcoming Bhangra artists.

From the classic debut song Nach Gidde Wich, the infectious-feel-good Gurh Nalo Ishq Mitha ‘Boliyan’ [an anthology of traditional folk songs], his trademark anthem Tootak Tootak Thootian (Hey Jamalo), these songs became the benchmark sound of the 1980’s. Furthermore, with his 90’s and Y2K excursions Midas Touch, Forever Gold and the smash-hit Kudi Patoley Wargi, the songs went on to become some of the most popular songs and videos in modern Bhangra music history.

As an international recording and touring artiste, performances at internationally acclaimed venues have further cemented his dominance of his music genius. Astonishingly, twenty-seven countries have already witnessed the live phenomenon that is Malkit Singh and his backing band ‘Golden Star’.

An enviable plethora of prestigious accolades have been bestowed on Malkit Singh over the years including the honour of being the biggest selling Bhangra artists in the world, recognised by the Millennium Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000. That follows his Recognition of the City of Los Angeles for Services to the Indian Community in 1997, Best Punjabi Male Singer and the Most Outstanding Track of the Bhangra Era for Tootak Tootak Thootian (Hey Jamalo). In 1998, the former Indian premier Mr. I. K. Gujral presented the Punjabi Cultural Award for services to music to Malkit Singh at his official residence - the sole recipient of this unrivalled honour. Earlier in 2001, Malkit Singh was honoured with the Guru Nanak University in Amritsar’s 27th Convocation Gold Medal Award Doctorate for his services to Punjabi Music and Culture.

Malkit Singh - Bhangra’s Saviour - is back with his 19th new album recorded in India with Jahawar Wattal in Delhi and purified in the UK. Bhangra is definitely here to stay with Malkit Singh as the purveyor of new school Bhangra…hail the revolution, long live the King!