Cross-culturAl Groove

Canadian bhangra trio Culture Shock are topping the charts with desi remixes of Britney and Lady Gaga, to release album and tour India in fall.

If boy bands were the flavour of the ’90s, the noughties were all about brown bands. Second or third generation Punjabi immigrants living in UK, USA and Australia are now proudly wearing their colour and folk music on their sleeves. Among this new breed of desi artistes, who play Bhangra and sing in Punjabi is Canadian desi trio, Culture Shock. Riding high on the success of artistes like Jay Sean, whose tracks have made it to the world iTunes and Billboard Singles charts, Culture Shock too is now creating ripples on the airwaves.

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Comprising Baba Kahn, Lomaticc and Sunny Brown, the three have collectively been producing desi remixes of pop divas like Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Rihanna and now even Pussycat Dolls. Combining Punjabi folk ‘Lara-Lappa,’ popular at weddings, to the beats of the dhol and tumbi and sprinkling it with desi vocals, the outfit’s production is appealing to a wide diaspora of non-Indian listeners as well. “Bhangra and hip-hop have a lot in common. There is a lot of heavy groove in the songs. Bhangra is pop and everyone likes dancing to it,” says Kahn.

The beginning
The trio met four years ago when they all had the same idea, to bring Punjabi music to the forefront. Baba Kahn, the DJ and producer from Canada met Lomaticc, the producer from UK and Sunny Brown, the singer over the internet. “Lomaticc had always been emailing me asking me to listen to his music. I really dug his track Kini soni lagdia… and I brought him into the studio right then. He mentioned that he had been working with a Punjabi/Hindi singer named Sunny Brown and that’s how Culture Shock was born,” explains Kahn, who got cracking and released their first album Culture Shock: Blackmarket Edition in 2009 for free download.

Moving ahead, Kahn adds, “Universal has now signed us on for a three album deal and we are now going to concentrate making our own music. We should be out with an album in fall and tour India.”