ਚੰਨੀ ਸਿੰਘਚੰਨੀ ਸਿੰਘ

Channi Singh, born Harcharanjit Singh Rupal, is a British Indian bhangra musician from Salar village in Malerkotla district, Punjab, known as the godfather of bhangra in the West. He founded the band Alaap in Southall in 1977, fused Punjabi folk instruments with Western instruments to create UK bhangra, and was appointed OBE in 2012.

Early life in Salar and Malerkotla

Channi Singh was born in Salar village, Punjab. His official biography says that as a child he would sing the film song "Mera Man Dole" from Nagin for a paisa when his teacher asked. He graduated from Government College, Malerkotla, and took an MA in English Literature at DAV College, Jalandhar. During his studies he won medals and awards across India in singing, bhangra dancing and, surprisingly, wrestling, and he learned classical music from Professor Baldev Narang.

He had studied to be a lecturer in English, but he wanted to take his music further. His official biography records that he auditioned at Jalandhar Radio Station and for recording companies, and was rejected every time. His official biography dates his move to England to 1976. In a long interview account published by The Global Sikh Trail, he said he married Dhanwant Kaur in 1975 and came to the UK the following year, which matches that 1976 date.

How did Alaap create UK bhangra?

In England he saw that the Asian community, and especially its young people, had very few links with their own cultural heritage, and he believed music was the best way to teach them about their roots, according to his official biography. In 1977 he formed Alaap in Southall, West London, with Harjeet Gandhi, Randhir Sahota and Inder Kalsi, starting out in temples and at small functions. The band's own history, summarised on the Alaap page, adds the Southall community circuit of weddings and family gatherings and an early break on the BBC TV Asian programme Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan.

In 1978 a talent scout, Pran Gohill of Multitone Records, discovered the band, and they recorded several albums with the label. By using both Western and Punjabi folk instruments, Alaap produced a new and more modern style in Punjabi music, later known as UK bhangra. That mix of dhol and tumbi with guitars, keyboards and drums gave British Asian youth a sound that belonged to them, rather than to Punjab alone or to Britain alone.

Major works

Teri Chunni De Sitare (1979) was the first album to be recorded by a British bhangra group, and it is widely recognised as marking the birth of the Southall scene, according to the Alaap entry, which cites published histories of the scene. Its success has been linked to the professional British bhangra bands that followed, dubbed the Southall sound, including Heera and Holle Holle. In 1984 Alaap began work with Deepak Kazanchi on an album that introduced elements of contemporary electronic dance music into the band's sound.

Two of the songs closest to him were written for his wife. In a 2024 Eastern Eye interview published by India Weekly, he said Teri Chunni De Sitare and Ik Kuri Gulab De Phull Wargi hold a special place for him because he wrote them for his wife Dhano, whom he called his source of inspiration and strength. His film work went the other way, from the bhangra stage into Bombay cinema: his official biography calls him the first British Asian to compose and direct music for big banner Bollywood films, naming Feroz Khan's Yalgaar and Janasheen and K. C. Bokadia's Shaktiman. His film discography also lists Teri Mohabbat Ke Naam (1999) and Mr Bhatti on Chutti (2012), and Alaap songs were used in the films Yari Jatt Di (1984), Dil and Hatya.

On the world stage

Alaap performed with UB40 and played Madison Square Garden in the United States, the Al-Nasr Indoor Stadium in Dubai and the Royal Albert Hall in London. The band was described as "Simply the Best" by the Gurkhas in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he has also performed in Canada, Australia and other countries. In 1992 Alaap became the first British Asian band to perform in Pakistan. The BBC has described Alaap as the most prolific bhangra band.

Honours and community work

Among his honours is a Lifetime Achievement award for Punjabi music, presented by the Lord Mayor of Leicester, Mary Draycott, at the 13th anniversary celebrations of BBC Radio's Punjabi Programme: he was the first singer ever to be given the lifetime achievement award by the BBC. He was also the first British Asian appointed an honorary Senior Lecturer of Music at Liverpool University.

In the 2012 Birthday Honours he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to bhangra music, charity and the community in Hounslow. In early 2012, a Kursi Bhangra release note adds, he and his daughter Mona Singh became the first bhangra artists to perform at 10 Downing Street. In mid 2012 he signed a worldwide publishing deal with Fairwood Music. The charity and community side of the OBE citation was not ceremonial: the same release note records that for 30 years he ran a Community Centre in Hounslow, West London, providing services for elderly people, people with disabilities and people with long term illness. In 2017 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brit Asia TV Music Awards.

What is Channi Singh doing now?

Nearly five decades after founding Alaap, he is still releasing music. His recent single Kursi Bhangra, made with his singer daughter Mona Singh, is a dance number designed so that people of all ages, including those who remain seated, can join in. In his India Weekly interview he explained that a fan had asked for a song for his son's wedding that everyone could dance to, seated or not, and that the video was filmed on location in Punjab. In the same interview he said music is an essential part of who he is, and his advice to young artists was to stay authentic, maintain high standards at all times, and focus on original compositions with longevity.

Legacy

Alaap are credited as one of the first bands of the UK bhangra scene, alongside groups such as Apna Sangeet, Heera and DCS. Before Alaap, British bhangra barely existed as a recorded genre. After Teri Chunni De Sitare, it had a first album, a Southall sound and a route to the world's stages. Channi Singh's OBE, the first major British honour of its kind for bhangra music, recognised both halves of that work: the music itself, and the community it was built for.