This is my music. Aag ka darya(hai), doob ke jana hai.
This week sees thespectacular launch of Daler Mehndi's new album . Indy pop's hottest eventwhere the Pied Piper of bhangra rewrites his own career to emerge as aspiffing new icon for his millions of fans. Thumri, mahiya, giddha andtappa rub shoulders with reggae and bhangra while plastic music yieldsway to dholak, tabla, sarangi and, in one song, 40 violins. Screechingaway to reaffirm the fact that we have here a brand new Daler Mendi. Aboutto conquer the world.
How will this albumbe different from your three earlier ones?
It is a differentkind of music. Till now, others scored my albums for me. I only sang. Itwas as simple as that. There was nothing of me that went in except my voice,my energy, my singing skills. Tunak Tunak Tun is different. It is entirely,exclusively me. I have not only sung the songs; I have also scored themusic myself. With the help of Raviji.
Ravi Pawar had workedwith me on my earlier albums, along with Jawahar Wattal. But this time,he has done all the complex arrangements himself. Including getting someof the finest living classical musicians to play for these songs. Peoplelike Ustad Liaqat Ali. Raviji could do it because he comes from a traditionalmusic family and has amazing contacts with everyone in the world of classicalIndian music.
As for me, I havedredged the stuff from deep within me, my traditions, my parents, my familyheritage. My upbringing. It is absolutely original, unique. I challengeanyone to replicate this music in a hundred years. It is not possible.To do that, all these guys who ape me will have to be born again as DalerMehndi.
What do you meanby born again as Daler Mehndi? What is so original about you?
I mean thatit is not possible for any pop singer to score this kind of music unlessyou are familiar with the kind of traditions, background and upbringingthat I had. You may not know this but I come from a long line of musiciansand singers. We are part of the Patiala gharana. From long before the Punjabbecame today's Punjab with Haryana and Chandigarh separate, Rajasthan separate.My tradition encompasses everything, all these states. Their classicaltraditions, their folk traditions.
Twenty generations,my parents, my uncles, my cousins, my grand-uncles and grand-aunts andtheir forefathers have all been making and, in fact, celebrating musicover the centuries. Their efforts, their traditions have gone into themaking of Daler Mehndi. This is what I meant.
In fact, they neverliked me singing all this Punjabi stuff. They sneered at me even as I wentup and up the popularity charts. For them, this was no music. They werenot impressed by my fame, my success, my improvisations. Now, for the firsttime, after listening to the songs in this album, they are no longer sneeringat me. They actually like it. For it is not plastic music created in thestudios of Bombay. It is the real thing. With live instruments, a scorethat harks back to my roots. It has strains of thumri and tappa windingtheir way through reggae and bhangra, my favourite mahiya, dhol mahiya,and in one case, 40 violins playing together to underscore the global flavourof the music.
No, this is not Punjabimusic. This is not folk, nor pop. This is true blue Indian music. Completein itself, defying simple definitions. Music that can show the world thatwe are still the best when it comes to innovation, tradition, richnessof score. At 31, I am too young to say that I have learnt all this. Itis not possible. No one can learn so much so quickly. It is simply a giftof God. I sometimes surprise myself when I sing. I cannot believe thatI am able to do things people take so many decades to learn.
How did it begin?Where did you learn your first notes?
My father wasa great singer. My mother was a learner. They both went to learn from thesame guru. When my mother was five months pregnant, my father went to theguru and said: 'Sir, my wife is carrying a child and needs rest. She willnot come from tomorrow. Only I will be here for the next four months.'His guru smiled and said: 'What will she do for four months sitting athome? If she is so frail that she cannot come, I will go to your houseand teach her. This is the best time for her and the child to learn musictogether!'
My father attributesmy skills, my experience to those months in my mother's womb. Maybe heis correct. Maybe, to answer your question, I learnt my first notes outthere. Frankly, I have no idea. All I know is that I often wake up in themornings with a snatch of a tune or a compositon in my head. Simple tunes.Sometimes, not so simple tunes. Then, I work on them throughout the day.I start with singing them for my two-year-old daughter. If she approves,I start singing them for others. Some of these songs have taken monthsand, in a few cases, a year to take final shape.
You try the musicout on others before you finally record it? Have you no confidence in yourown ability to judge how good the scores are?
Ultimately I sing,I perform for others. It is they who decide what is a hit, what is a flop.I start with my daughter because she is so small. She gives me the firstclue. Then I keep trying it out on others. Many times, they resist it.For instance, all the instruments I have used here, dholaks, tabla, sarangi,have been played by great maestros and, even though I was most respectfultowards them, they were first outraged by the innovations I was expectingthem to play. It went completely contrary to their training their experience,their shastras.
It is onlywhen I kept persisting in my humble, nagging way that they realised thatthey could not get away without doing what I was wanting. Eventually, theoutcome (however brief it may be in the final number as it is recordedin the DAT) was so stunning that all of them took me in their arms andblessed me. That is my ultimate pride. The fact that the very masters fromwhom we learn have acknowledged the power, the genius of my experiments.My music is strengthened by their affection, their blessings.
You ask for muchmore than blessings, Daler. You ask for big money. Do you think your albumswill recover the huge investment music companies make in them? This albumwas reportedly signed for Rs 25 milion, together with another one. Do youthink Magnasound will ever recover this money?
You will be surprised.The market has completely changed in recent years. Anything is now possibleif your music is good and people are ready to listen to it. And, of course,if you keep changing, innovating, making quality experiments. Tunak TunakTun is not like any other music album released in recent years. All itseight numbers have no resemblance to anything I, or anyone else, has eversung. That is its unique quality. This is my music, what I stand for. Aagka darya, as my forefathers, would say, doob ke jana hai.
Do you really findmusic so traumatic? A river of fire that one must cross at every stage?
Trauma comes fromanything that means too much to you. Music does that to me. Maybe somethingelse does that to you. But we all get where we reach in life because wetake what we do with great seriousness and conviction. This album reflectsprecisely that seriousness of intent. My body is like a taut, stringedinstrument. Tunak Tunak Tun is its tuning. My voice is the melody it creates.Nothing you have heard before can match this melody.
Daler Mehandi A Real Story.
Singing has been Daler's `sing'ularobsession since as far back as he can remember. At the age of six, hisfather taught him a few bhajans on the harmonium, which Daler picked upwith ease. His first major performance was at the tender age of ten. Hewas living in Benares when he met a group of artistes on their way to aperformance in Jaunpur. He promptly joined them without so much as informingany of his family members. When they finally tracked him down, they foundhim standing centre-stage, his shoulders overflowing with garlands of flowers,sandalwood and money, in front of a ten-thousand strong gathering whichwas applauding him for his effortless singing.
Not much into erudite pursuits,Daler left school after the sixth standard. At this point in time, he startedlooking for a Guru, a mentor who would bring out the best in him. He wasliving in Gorakhpur then, and one day, he heard a voice on the radio whichhad him in a trance. It was none other than Ustad Raahat Ali Khan of thePatiala Gharana. He earnestly began inquiring about the Ustad's whereabouts.When he finally met him, he found immense warmth in the Ustad and his wife.The Ustad took on Daler as his disciple and invited him to stay with themin true Guru-Shishya tradition.
It was after extensive trainingunder Ustad Raahat Ali that Daler finally started his singing career ina big way. Initially he sang ghazals, his favourite poets being QateelShifai and Firaq Gorakhpuri. His Ghazal idols are Begum Akhtar and JagjitSingh. He also listens to a lot of classical music where his favouritesare Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Barkat Ali Khan, Salamat Ali & Nazakat Ali,Khan Saheb Abdul Rehman and Pandit Jasraj. Amongst the international artistes,he is very fond of Inner Circle, and goes on to say that he likes Reggaemore than any other form of western music.
With none of the brash arrogancecustomary of a pop hero, Daler's handsome countenance has an openness whichimmediately exudes a conviviality. The powerful voice and the joi-de-vivrein his performance carry hints of Punjabi vigour and stamina. He epitomisesthe lifestyle of a region where life is lived with gusto, whether in workor at play. The skill and discipline imbibed during his training underUstad Raahat Ali, combined with a gifted voice and a dancer's sense ofrhythm, all add up to a lethal cocktail making Daler Mehndi a performerthat invariably has his audience awestruck. He is also a skilled harmoniumand tabla player.
Besides singing, Daler is alsovery fond of food. He loves eating meat, but also enjoys Chinese food,Mexican food and food from South India, Gujarat and Punjab. With a mischievoussmile, he adds that beautiful ladies also come high on his list of hobbies.According to him, they are the ones that make the world a better placeto live in.
He keeps away from alcoholwhich, he believes, ruins one's life.
Indisputably Punjabi in languageand rhythm, the pop music of Daler Mehndi has a magic that cuts acrosscultural frontiers. There is a sense of clean enjoyment about Daler's music.Even in sartorial habits, there is an essential Indianness - the jewelledturban, the typical Punjabi trouser and coat with the Jootis!
Daler's group comprises ninemembers, all potential soloists in their own disciplines. Emerging as themost sought after and popular group of the festival at Almaty this year,they won the hearts of one and all, and kept the Indian flag flying high.They also won the second prize at the Azia Danysy Festival at Kazakhstan. Daler's group has toured all over the world, including Bangkok, San Francisco,Berkeley, Los Angeles, Texas, Houston, Dubai, etc.
Success: Hasshownhim, his bigger than life dreams turn into reality - making him astar andbathing him in the limelight forever, though he had to warblehis way tofame and success after incinerating inane hurdles like poverty,humiliationand many more.
Today: Hehas becomea metaphor in pop music of the 90's and has carved a niche forhimself inthis whimsical and superficial world of show business.
His journey: From the music chamber that was his parents home to the forming of his own Groupinthe year 1991 was achieved through sheer grit, abundance of real talentandhis love for music.
Trained under:Thelate Ustaad Rahat Ali Khan Sahibof Gorakhpur his music has a sense of consistencyand stability requiredin this capricious world of Super Stardom, todaywhich has come from hisunderstanding of music.
As a child: Healwayscoveted fame as a singer. Deep down, he always knew that some dayhe wouldreach the Zenith.
His Peculiarity: He sleepsto dream. This dreamerbelieves in dreams as much as he does in himself.His dreams vary from anythingfrom visiting unseen places to speaking toGods.
Loves:Watching PakistaniPunjabi plays wheneverhe gets time from his fast and furious schedule.This Leo: Identifies himselfbest with the Maharaja look. Free flowing robeswith that unmistakablestrewn with jewels turban—indicating that the princehas arrived to mesmerizethe hearts of all those who unite in one bond thatis music.
Sorely misses:Thecompanionship of his Ustaad and his mother from whom he learnt the song Ta Ra Ra --- which was his foremost step onto the ladder of success.
Admires:The workof Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Gulam Ali. He is proficient:as a composerand as a vocal singer where he could sing ghazal, folk orpop music withequal aplomb.
He gets embarrassed: when mistakes are found inanyof his assignments.
Awards and achievements: make him effervescent. This recipient of some of the prestigious awards including Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, Screen Videocon and Channel V's Awards for his performance on the pop scene feels, at times awards are not given tothosewho verily deserve. His music: The only exalting source of his existencehasearned him a brawny fan following. His organization, DM EntertainmentPrivateLimited manages his titanic fan club.
The irrefutable king of the IndianPop:withan effervescent personality that drives crowd to a rip roaring frenzycouldbe reached at dalermehandi@usa.net
Man with two missions in life: Heaspiresto spread love and humanity through his music universally and targetsatpromoting environmental better to say ecological awareness.
The Show Man Unparalleled:hasanother side to him. This man ofconcrete action and not mere words hasdone more shows for charity andvarious causes than any other artist has.Advocates: Pure and clean livingboth without i.e. the environment and within i.e. the soul.
His Dislike:For pollutants and addiction to any kind of chemicals induced him to startthe Green Drivemovement. Using his present status for humanitarian causeshas been on prioritylist of this philanthropist.
Quite often:He dolesout a portion of his finances to the Daler Mehndi Food for LifeSociety-a facility at the outskirts of Delhi whereby people from all sectionsofsociety can go and enjoy a full square meal, at any point of the dayornight free of cost!
On a scale of ten he rates himself:1as a person; 5 as a husband; 6 as a father; 7 as a son; 10 as a colleagueand friend. While as a singer hedoesn't take himself on the count.
Attributes:So veryoften, all his achievementand success to the almighty.
Daler in Delhi CM's environmental task force.
Noted singer Daler Mehndi has been appointedas a member of the Chief Minister's task force on improving environmentof Delhi.
This development has taken place following thelaunching of his Daler Mehndi Green Drive. He would be funding the entiredrive through his own resources. As part of the drive he has offered toplant eight lakh trees in the city.
Meanwhile, he has signed a mega deal with themusic company Magnasound. The company plans to launch his new album in September this year.
Describing the contract as the biggest ever signedby the company with an individual 'non-filmi' singer its managing directorShashi Gopal said that the company would be spending more than Rs 2.75crore on him.
He announced that under the new contract, theywould exploit Mehndi's talents on global level. He was the only Asian singer at present to have such a potential and that is why his company had takena lead in this regard, he added.
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