Swami (band)
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| Swami | |
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 Swami Photoshoot Jan 2008
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Birmingham, England |
| Genre(s) | Alt/Hip Hop/Bhangra |
| Years active | 1998– |
| Label(s) | Nation Records (to 2004) Envy/Roma Music (2004, Britain) Sony BMG India (2005-2006, India) EMI/Virgin (2007-) |
| Website | www.swamimusic.com www.myspace.com/swamimusic |
| Members | |
| Diamond "DJ Swami" Duggal (guitar, keys, decks) S-Endz (vocals) Sups (vocals) Liana (vocals) Bobby Panesar (dhol) |
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| Former members | |
| Tarsame 'Speed' Jarnail (vocals) Kamaljit 'Kamo' Bura (percussion) Simon 'Subs' Duggal (drums and production) Baba Stormz (bass guitar) Rocky Singh (drums) |
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Swami are a critically-acclaimed [1] British Indian pop/alt/bhangra band from Birmingham, England. It is also the pseudonym of the band's lead performer, producer, DJ and guitarist DJ Swami (real name Diamond Duggal), who founded the band with his brother Subs (real name Simon Duggal). Though 'Swami' traditionally refers to a Hindu teacher, the name is an abbreviation of the English phrase 'So Who Am I?'. The band has made it clear through interviews that Swami is a band in the traditional sense, and not a looser collective as is the case with many R&B groups. [2]
Contents |
[edit] History
Swami's debut dance album Desi Nu Skool Beatz was initially released on Simon & Diamond Duggal's own Sub Dub label in 1998. After Sub Dub folded the album was picked up by Nation Records. Described as "blinding" by the Birmingham Post,[3] the album received some international recognition when the opening track Mehbooba appeared in the 2004 Olsen twins movie New York Minute [4]. Nu Skool Beatz was followed by the 2002 album Bhangradotcom, which was less dance-oriented.[5]
[edit] 2004-2006: The DesiRock Era
The band's big break came with the release of their third album DesiRock, which became popular across the entire British Asian music scene. By this time Diamond was the only original member remaining and had recruited his cousin S-Endz as rap vocalist in the band alongside British bhangra singer Jagz and MC Sarpanch.
The title track DesiRock was voted as a BBC Radio 1 favorite, which led to the band doing a Maida Vale session in the summer of 2005, and the track also appeared in the Official 2006 FIFA World Cup edition of Electronic Arts' FIFA series of video games [6]. In the same year DJ Swami won the Media Storm Best Producer award at the UK Asian Music Awards, as well as being nominated for Best Track (DesiRock) and Best Group. [7][8]
In late 2005, the band signed a deal with Sony BMG to release DesiRock in India as So Who Am I with a new line-up losing Sarpanch and replacing Jagz with new vocalist Sups. With a heavily modified sound (nearly all songs re-recorded with live guitar and drums, and additional vocals by S-Endz), they then embarked on a successful promotional tour of India which included a high-profile performance at the MTV Style Awards. The Hindu credited Swami with bringing British bhangra back to prominence in Indian clubs.[9]
A fourth album of live recording sessions was scheduled to be released in the spring of 2006[6][2]. Two songs from the sessions have been heard, Afraid and No Apologies, both at one stage were available on the band's Myspace site. Afraid's 'bhangra-fied mix' was also played on the BBC's Desi DNA programme. These recordings remain otherwise unreleased.
In December 2006, Dhol player and percussionist Bobby Panesar joined the band.
[edit] 2007-current: The Equalize Era
In March 2007, an update was made to Swami's website, containing details of the forthcoming album and revealed that it would feature many guest appearances including Pras of The Fugees, Boostylz, Lady Ru, French rappers Asuivre, South African vocalist Ishmael, MC Spee from the band Dreadzone, Yam Boy and more.
It was later announced that Swami's 2007 release was to be named Equalize and would be out in the fall following a tour including Wychwood and Glastonbury festivals.
BBC Radio 1 premiered 'Hey Hey', the first single from Equalize on the 14th August. The song had been hosted on social networking website MySpace for 2 weeks prior to this, in a deal which saw Swami as a MySpace Music Featured Artist. To date, the song has been played over 1.4 million times on MySpace.
Following the radio premiere of the song on the 14th, Radio 1 DJ Bobby Friction announced that Swami would be performing an exclusive live session at Maida Vale in a few weeks time. [10] The session was recorded and broadcast at the end of September and featured many new songs from Equalize and guest appearances from some of the featured artists including Boostylz, MC Spee and Ishmael.
Equalize was released in the UK on the 24th September, and in mid November a music video began rotating for 'Hey Hey'.
In December 2007, Swami announced that they had signed a new international record deal with Virgin/EMI and would be releasing Equalize in India imminently. The major label release is a new version including bonus tracks, one of them being an all-new version of the track Electro Jugni featuring Swedish popstar DeDe Lopez. [11]
In January 2008, Swami won the 'Album Of The Year' award on DesiHits, and were nominated for 3 awards (Best Album, Best Producer and Best Underground Act) at the upcoming 2008 UK Asian Music Awards.
As of 2008, it is believed that Rocky Singh and Baba Stormz are no longer in the band, and their names have been removed from the list of band members on Swami's MySpace page.
In February 2008, Swami appeared on the UK TV show 'Desi DNA' on BBC 2 and performed Ching and Electro Jugni. The performance of Electro Jugni was also the debut of Swami's new female vocalist Liana. The video to Electro Jugni was shot a few weeks later and is expected to premiere soon.
[edit] Discography
[edit] References
- ^ BBC Summer Sounds: Swami
- ^ a b Nand, Anoushka. Desi Rock. Hot Ashes.
- ^ "Clubs - Swami - Q&A", Birmingham Post, August 21, 1999.
- ^ Yahoo! Movies: New York Minute
- ^ Global-trance.co.uk: Swami
- ^ a b Swamimusic.com: Secrets of 2006
- ^ "It's rappers Vs rockers at 2005 British Asian Music Awards", Hindustan Times, January 24, 2005.
- ^ Press release from the UKAMA
- ^ Vishnu, A.. "New age UK bhangra is here", The Hindu, March 11, 2006.
- ^ BBC Radio 1:
- ^ Official Swami Site:
