As our cultural identities shift and merge, so do our music tastes and genres. Nothing is more indicative of that than the rise of multicultural artists who utilise their mother tongues to create big hits. But is there a market for it? And how do you even start? Zain Durrani talks to up and coming South Asian artists to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a long time, popular South Asian tunes were relegated to either Bollywood tracks or Bhangra hits. Aside from a few breakthrough artists, it has been hard to make it if you weren\u2019t making tracks that either appealed to a western audience or could be seen in an old flick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But now, thanks to tunes like Tesher\u2019s<\/em><\/strong> \u2018Jalebi Baby\u2019, <\/em>and artists like Asha Gold, Hyphen, J Milli,<\/em><\/strong> and more popping up, the call to action for the UK\u2019s South Asian music scene has never been louder.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through use of this fusion music (that is, the combination of both Western beats and cultural vocals) the diaspora in the UK is managing to reach a new audience of people who want to pay homage to their heritage, whilst accepting their upbringings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saloni Boyina is a rising star in the South Asian music scene. Known professionally as just Saloni, she\u2019s been infusing South Asian languages with R&B and pop music for years, managing to amass an ever-increasing 13,124 monthly listeners on Spotify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the rise of English-born South Asians, like Saloni, born in Milton Keynes to Indian parents, the desire for a connection that embraces and reflects both their western upbringing and their cultural heritage is an understandable one, but it\u2019s always difficult to take that first step:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI used to have a very separate identity,\u201d Saloni admitted, \u201cI used to keep my pop side separate and my Indian side separate. It was only until I turned 18 that I tried to mix the two things together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not just Saloni\u2019s mother tongue of Telugu that she\u2019s appealing to – with a team of lyricists that speak a variety of South Asian languages (including: Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, and Malayalam), she\u2019s been working hard to appeal to as much of the South Asian diaspora as she can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s had countless successes – from being played on the BBC Asian Network, to being featured in Rolling Stone India and, thanks to big hits like Nee Gundellounna, <\/em>Saloni has been proving that there is a market and a demand for multicultural music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sehaj Singh is a London born Punjabi artist known professionally as \u2018Golden Roots\u2019. He describes his music as an \u2018experimental\u2019 fusion of hip-hop and Punjabi folk, which he expresses through vocals in his mother tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe core purpose for doing the music isn\u2019t because I\u2019m gonna sing in English, or anything else that\u2019s very westernised,\u201d Singh said, \u201cThe predominant influence is always going to be in Punjabi because the language that I\u2019m gonna sing in is Punjabi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Influenced by his father\u2019s own ability, Sehaj took on formal singing lessons, helping him master his control of ragas (melodic frameworks in classical Indian music which work to create unique notes and emotional expressions). For him, singing in Punjabi isn\u2019t simply a choice of language, but a form of expression to highlight his cultural identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sehaj reflected on his decision to pursue more formal training, saying that \u201cIt was like taking that passionate bathroom singing to something more professional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Backed by his 23,849 monthly listeners on Spotify, Golden Roots\u2019 multilingual melodies have been played across the nation, on radio stations like BBC Asia, BBC Radio 1Xtra, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The road for any artist is tough, let alone for one who is trying to place themselves in a still-growing genre. For Saloni, who rose out of a family \u2018without a single musical bone in their body\u2019, her advice is to simply, say yes:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you like something, literally, take any opportunity\u201d, Saloni said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs you become more established, you can pick and choose. But, at the beginning, take any<\/em> opportunity you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saloni\u2019s parents pushed her to join \u2018Big Help Music\u2019, an artist development group which taught her the ins and outs of being a musician, including how to perform live, claim royalties, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf my parents never pushed me for that, and I never said yes, I probably wouldn\u2019t have made half of this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saloni said: \u201cIt\u2019s always tough trying to make a career out of something that\u2019s unconventional – it\u2019s not a known path within the community that I\u2019m in. The music I make is quite experimental.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Within a genre that is still making its way to the mainstream, finding a good team can be difficult – that\u2019s why many artists have had to take on the responsibilities of an entire production team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s PR, then there\u2019s marketing, then there\u2019s press, then there\u2019s everything else.\u201d Golden Roots said, \u201cIt\u2019s actually a lot more difficult now as an artist and I think that\u2019s where it becomes a chore. It can easily happen when you have to do all of those things.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have so many roles and I\u2019m wearing so many hats – that\u2019s why after I\u2019ve dropped my EP, I\u2019m kind of just taking a step back so that I don\u2019t lose the passion for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But he knows that it\u2019s all just part of the job:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJust do what you love; consistently carry on pushing. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing, and I think there\u2019s points at which you can be ignored when you first start because you might not get the interest from people, but, if you constantly push and drive yourself to make music, those people who initially didn\u2019t hear you, are forced to hear you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saloni echoes the sentiment: \u201cThe business side is tough but nothing good comes easy. You have to do the hard bits to do what you really want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The part of the diaspora that is affected by these new sounds is the current generation of displaced South Asian teens and young adults. The future of multilingual artist is in the hands of the youth today, and Golden Roots says that they have to make the most of it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I was younger I was doing music at GCSE and we had Logic Pro set up right there in front of us. I could\u2019ve played around with it, I could\u2019ve enhanced my singing ability by practising ten times more than what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve got time when you\u2019re younger to really hone your craft, then take advantage of the time you have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This fusion music is still in its early stages, so many musicians may be fearful of diverting from the mainstream and singing in the languages they feel the most comfortable in. Saloni assures artists with this dilemma to just go for it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow more than ever, it\u2019s being accepted – so don\u2019t feel afraid whatsoever,\u201d she said, \u201cI know it\u2019s easier said than done, but really try to hold on to that. Put it out to the world because you never know how it\u2019s going to be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’m representing my culture which I didn\u2019t see a huge amount of growing up,\u201d Saloni said, \u201cThat\u2019s kind of why I do what I do. There\u2019s probably so many more like me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saloni and Golden Roots are just the start – as more multilingual artists begin to appear, the representations of South Asians in the world of music are only going to change to reflect its new place in the diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow us on Instagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and Tiktok<\/a> for more content!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As our cultural identities shift and merge, so do our music tastes and genres. Nothing is more indicative of that than the rise of multicultural artists who utilise their mother tongues to create big hits. But is there a market for it? And how do you even start? Zain Durrani talks to up and coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":2462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showcase","category-showcase-menu-sub-2-2"],"yoast_head":"\nS<\/em><\/strong>alnoi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Golden Roots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Journey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Challenges <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Next Generations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n