Diverse voices

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You know what the world needs more of? It needs more desi boy bands.

We have plenty of desi doctors, lawyers, engineers, I-bankers, actors, astronauts and rappers, but there’s a real deficit in the boy band category. This is why I love the idea of the Montreal based boy band JoSH (that’s a long O, like Joe, not like Joshua). [The band’s slick webpage; their myspace page]

The group is actually only the duo of Q (Qurram Hussain) and Rup (Rupinder Magon) – Q is the one who looks like Lenny Kravitz, and Rup is well, the one in the turban.

This raises an important question – can you have a boy band with less than four members? Don’t you need the cute one, the sensitive one, the goofy one, and the quiet one? I don’t really know how the band is marketed – do they double up attributes? Can one of them be cute and sensitive and the other one be goofy and quiet? I was never a teenage girl, so I don’t know how to answer such esoteric questions.

Musically, they’re also a bit different from a traditional boy band – they’re more of a desi/hip-hop fusion band that a traditional pop-ballad heavy quartet. This makes sense since their fan base is largely in the subcontinent:

While largely unknown in their home country of Canada, JoSH is extremely popular in South Asia, particularly in India and Pakistan. Their sophomore album, Kabhi, as well as its title track, remained in both Indian and MTV World Top 20 lists for 26 weeks from October 2004 to January 2005. Additionally, JoSH was awarded MTV India’s 2004 “Immie” award for Best New Non-Film Artist. [Link]

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p>They may be getting their biggest break ever when they open for Nelly Furtado in Bombay New Years Eve as part of a 5 city tour. This is probably an outgrowth of their remix of Furtado’s Powerless that seems to have boosted their profile:

They come from Canada and their bhangra mix of Nelly Furtado’s “Powerless” has made them powerful. Soon after radio’s all over the planet started flooding the airwaves with Josh’s version of “Powerless,” the duo from Montreal started receiving offers from various artistes and labels. [Link]

I’m not crazy about most of their music – I like the idea of an Indo-Pakistani-Canadian boyband more than I like their execution. I like Mahi Ve, a song from their new album, better than some of their other material:

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p>This more traditional boy-band type video for Meri Jaan doesn’t move me though:

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You might also want to check out the videos for Baan Far Kay, Kabhi, or Nelly Furtado – Powerless – Josh Desi Mix and make up your own mind about the music. According to the Professor, they have “great stage presence.”

Like I said, I’m not really a fan of most boy bands, so I’m hardly target audience. On the other hand, if I ever form one of my own, you all will be the first to know

102 thoughts on “Diverse voices”

  1. it would have to be The Monkees, whom the Beatles were trying to emulate when they first formed the band.

    Eh? Don’t you mean that the Monkees were trying to emulate the Beatles? Because the scouse boys, they were first.

  2. Eh? Don’t you mean that the Monkees were trying to emulate the Beatles? Because the scouse boys, they were first.

    Yes. Although I guess you could say that the Monkees were the original boyband, not the Beatles, because the Monkees were created for a TV show and didn’t come about spontaneously.

  3. I love this – there’s even a Pete Best figure in the band’s history:

    As an original member, … [Rup] along with Shazi Hussain and his brother Rik, began a band called JoSH. Josh initially started as a band that performed covers of any type of music including popular Punjabi, filmi, kawali, or ghazals. Josh impressed its crowds with its versatility. RupÂ’s main role in Josh at that time would be as a back-up singer as well as a percussionist. Over time, as the group improved its skill set, Rup has become a lead singer, as well as music arranger and co-producer with his partner and best friend, Q. [Link]

    You know what this means? Behind the Music, baby! Interviews with original disgruntled members talking about how people changed, sold out, how the music lost its meaning …

  4. You know, the Monkees had a little mid 80s comeback because MTV-retro (I mean, the 80s version) played their show all the time….along with the Young Ones. I loved the Young Ones. Who was the crazy punk med-student, again?

  6. Ooooo Rup…even his name begins like mine. Which might be weird when I scream his name. It’s getting hot in heeerrreee. There are things I want to do to that pagdi I can’t quite write here in public space.

    OK happy?

  7. I love Josh! I’ve been drueling over them since day one. I taught my 2 year old niece how to do bhangra by repeatedly dancing to Baa Phar Key every night for a year. Meri Jaan and Kabhi remind me of the train in India from Delhi to Amritsar. I love Mahi Ve on the new album (though I liked their first album better). Go Josh =)

  10. Where are Sonia and Patty Kaur … Rup needs some appreciation

    …sitting in Ohio.

    Anyway, I think I was one of the original signers of their guestbook on their first website. The original group consisted of Rup, Q, and Rup’s brother (also a sardar). Can you imagine the heaven I was in when I heard abou them? I bought their CD and used to sneak glances at them on the cover all throughout the day at work (this was many moons ago, before I was married). There’s your turban loving =)

  11. You know, the Monkees had a little mid 80s comeback because MTV-retro (I mean, the 80s version) played their show all the time….along with the Young Ones. I loved the Young Ones. Who was the crazy punk med-student, again?

    They used to play that show on Nickelodeon after school in the early 90s too…

  13. Yes. Although I guess you could say that the Monkees were the original boyband, not the Beatles, because the Monkees were created for a TV show and didn’t come about spontaneously.

    not unlike the sex pistols, the ultimate boy band.

  15. Let’s get this history of the “boy band” right. The actual “first” boy band was Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. They were huge in the ’50s. Lymon and the Teenagers became the framework when Motown Records owner Berry Gordy created the ultimate boy band the of ’70s, we now know as The Jackson Five. The Jackson Five influenced so many other countless boy bands like:

    Menudo New Edition New Kids On The Block Boyz II Men Troop Shai (pronounced “shy”) All-4-One Jodeci and many others…

  18. As a young male indian singer I’ve been asked more than once to be in or audition for an indian boy band. There’s always some indian manager/agent/A&R guy trying to put one together. Seems most of them don’t make it very far.

    There were three Thompson Twins. Whoever wrote that they were a duo, shame on your 80’s esoterica.

  22. I foresee this being played during many a gym class in the near future. The deal is that if you don’t work my nerves, I’ll play coach approved music during study hall and PE. That’s how my kids learned about bhangra mixes.

    Thanks for the heads up Ennis!

  23. West coast desis reprezent! We need some more of this gangsta Scarface shit! If you want respect, you have to take respect, screw the model minority. Remember, the World Is Yours. Keep it real.

    Word to the mother.

  24. omg. nkotb mentioned on SM…. damn. never thought i’d see that day. go jordan knight ;).

    dd: kids incorporated.. blast from the great past. such talent. who you may ask? Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas (real name: Stacy Ferguson), Martika (real name: Marta Marrero), Mario Lopez, Shanice (real name: Shanice Wilson), and Jennifer Love Hewitt and Eric Balfour (Six Feet Under).

    Fergielicious. Dancing with the Stars Loser Lopez Toy Soldier I like Your Smile Party of Five. Dead Man walking. nuff said.

  25. I spend all my daylight hours listening to 16 year-olds frontin’ about respect, takin’ respect and keepin’ it real like dat.

    Nothing gets you respect like a respectable bhangra mix that my kids can grind dance to. 😉

  27. Hey Ennis-

    I liked Mahi Ve and Baan Far Kay. They remind me a little of Sean Paul.

    The Powerless mix and Kabhi much less-so. They seemed a little more romancy or something and that’s definitely not my thing. Sentimentality…earnestness, sure. Romance, well, not so much.

    I don’t have a lot of patience for the whole pretty boy thing either. (That’s probably why I think Rup is much finer).

    Can’t stand a man that puts more time into his hair than I do, ya know? The turban zaps all dat noise. Wash and wrap-I like that!

  28. Can’t stand a man that puts more time into his hair than I do, ya know? The turban zaps all dat noise. Wash and wrap-I like that!

    You’ve never seen a sardar style his beard 😉

  29. I’m a believer is one of my favorite pop songs of that era.

    I totally agree. Just because I accused the Monkees of being packaged and processed doesn’t mean I think they can’t be good. That is one of my favorite songs of all time.

  30. I’ve heard of these guys…they have a really good sound and well…ok I confess I have a thing for desi guys with curly fros.

  32. Ennis, Old school or new skool, I predict many interesting mixes with local (Richmond) flava. I’ll be teaching several IB classes after the holidays and those kids are wildly talented. ( I know, I know, IB PE! Strange right?)

    You should hear our band! The band director is a world music kinda guy and he puts turntables on the bleachers to mix up with the band. Inner city high school is better now than it was back in my day. Our football team gets no respect but people come out just to hear the band and the steppers.

  34. But if you want to name one band THE original (internationally recognized) boy band, it would have to be The Monkees, whom the Beatles were trying to emulate when they first formed the band.

    Other way ’round. Monkees emulated the Beatles.

  35. IB stands for International Baccalaureate. http://www.ibo.org/

    These are essentially honors classes. Students test into the program. The program exists within a regular high school population.

    For IB PE we have a pretty rigorous curriculum than encompasses a lot of life skills and history relevant to my kids experiences like ‘history of black american athletes’, diabetes prevention, high risk assessments- as well as a more comprehensive fitness program, and of course, boxing. They get exposed to a lot of stuff inner city kids generally wouldn’t. Hiking trips, climbing, etc. My student population hovers around 92%% black and many come from economically challenged homes. That’s the official phrasing…

    Not attempting to threadjack, I swear. I’m just sayin’ my kids rock the bhangra beats.

  39. Desi Rappers? Too few good ones (the ones that sing in English):

    Jay Sean Overseas Bombay Rockers

    Am I missing any?

  40. aw, they’re cute. i really like the mahi ve song on their ‘site. and although Q’s fro is intriguing, look at the sardarji in his suit. he’s so ozwald boateng… (sigh) a designer that all men should discover…

  41. DesiDancer, I thought you knew that Kids Incorporated was a TV show, not a real group, per se.; It’s not a true boy band, b/c they had girls in it, e.g. Martika and Fergie (now in Black Eyed Peas).

  42. Nelly is a great looking woman.

    What an image change, eh ? Someone’s obviously been busy doing her stomach crunches…..

    I think we should give Ennis a big hand for that completely gratuitous (and very nice) photo of the foxy Ms Furtado at the bottom of his article.

    clap clap clap

    Of course this could be a devious, typically Machiavellian manouvre by Ennis to prove that his paratha’s not buttered on the other side. Either way, if anyone’s going to “turn” Ennis, it’s definitely Nelly bahenji. She even speaks some Hindi, apparently.

    Hell, she even said “Sat Sri Akal” at the end of that radio interview mentioned previously on this thread. If that’s not an invitation to the Punjabi boys to send a box of laddoos to her parents and arrange an initial family-to-family meeting, I don’t know what is. “Maneater” indeed.

  43. One summer, many years ago, I received my first guitar. On the first day I played it till my fingers were bleeding. Along with some pals from school I soon formed a band. But then Raj quit and Vikram got married and it all fizzled out. Such a shame, we were quite good actually…

  44. this music f’in blows – listening to the second song, i couldnt stop laughing

    if you want to listen to decent hindi pop/rock music listen to atif aslam – pakistani boy can sing for real

  46. Standing on your kaka’s porch You told me it would last forever Oh and when I look back now Yeah I think I’d wanna be there

    You were the best biodata of my life…

  48. When it comes to the Monkees, I’m all about Pleasant Valley Sunday. It was just a matter of time before pre-fab music reached South Asia. There’s just too much money to be made. Still, boy bands have got to go.

  50. Okay folks, I think I need to issue a belated disclaimer before Abhi’s laywers act on their threats to extradict me to Guantanamo for slander & libel…..

    Ennis, our Secret Sardar, is not actually gay. It was a misguided, Sun Tzu-inspired strategy on my part to defame him due to the rumours about half the supermodels in Manhattan being familiar with what lies underneath his turban. I was fed up about only being able to approach those Victoria’s Secret models which my esteemed Sikh brother on SM had deemed insufficiently gorgeous for his delight and delectation.

    I sincerely apologise to the Mutiny’s legal team and henceforth vow not to cast any aspertions on any of the Mutineers’ orientation based purely on the fact that wearing a luminous purple shirt should only be allowed if you can sing Purple Rain at the top of your voice while doing lascivious things to a microphone stand.

    As a gesture of compensation and remorse, I will refrain from making any references to Angelina Jolie for a week.

    Probably.

    Unless absolutely necessary.

    Now please take these furry pink handcuffs off me.