Balle balle!
Jasmine Singh
In addition to other essentials like a good menu (include Punjabi butter chicken and dal makhani) and a good ambience, the real party comes alive with Punjabi songs. In fact, a party gets a head-start when the Dj begins to throw numbers like 3 peg, Ah lai chakk main aa gya, 16va vi tapeya! The year 2017, without saying much, belongs to Punjabi artistes who have helped each one of us in making our own New Year music list!
B-town tune
While the year clearly belonged to some Punjabi singers like Diljit Dosanjh, Mankirat Aulakh, Sharry Mann, Guru Randhawa, Kulwinder Billa, Jasmine Sandlas and Garry Sandhu, many new singers also opened their account this year. It was also a good year for film music; Punjabi singers sang for Bollywood too. Guru Randhawa is a singer who deserves a mention here. Both his Suit Suit karda (Hindi Medium) and Ban ja rani (Tumhari Sulu) did exceptionally well. The singer gave the listeners another foot-tapping single, High Rated Gabru.
Despite criticism
Many lambasted singers for promoting gangsters and gang wars, but despite the criticism singers like Mankirat Aulakh gave the biggest hit of this year — Badnam. The song became an instant hit. The music of the track has been produced by Dj Flow, who also makes an appearance in the song. Mankirat appeared in yet another hit song, Suit, sung by Nimrat Khaira. The year definitely ended on a successful note for Mankirat. The same holds true for Sharry Mann, the singer who is criticised for promoting songs on alcohol. Yet his songs 3 Peg and Hostel were one of the highest-grossing in 2017.
Striking a chord
The year also served as a platform for music producers and video directors. Known Punjabi producer B Praak made his singing debut with a romantic sad song, Mann Bharrya. Known video director and actor Parmish Verma crooned into the hearts of his young fans with Ah lai chakk main aa gya and Gaal ni kadni. The cool sing-song style struck a chord with people of all age-groups. For both the songs, Parmish Verma collaborated with his close friends — Goldy and Satpal from Desi Crew.
Diljit Dosanjh treated his fans to his singles, El Suneo and Lambergoni. He also lent his voice to Bollywood and Punjabi films in songs like Move your lakk, Glorious gallan, Naughty Billo and Kalliyan kulliyan.
Female brigade
This year certainly had a lot of colour and you couldn’t have certainly missed the girl with red hair — Jasmine Sandlas. From Laddu to Illegal Weapon, Jasmine sung both the numbers with stylish Punjabi singer Garry Sandhu although her other tracks, Vichari and Punjabi Mutiyaran, couldn’t strike a chord with the listeners. This year you couldn’t have missed the female singing brigade, but not all songs from their department hit the bull’s eye. However, some like Jaani mera naa by Sunanda Sharma, Suit by Nimrat Khaira and Sunakhi by Kaur B did score some points though.
All smiles
Punjabi singer-actor Ammy Virk managed to make his fans emotional with his song Qismat. Popular singer-actor Gippy Grewal was busy with his Bollywood and Punjabi film projects, though he still managed to get people on the dance floor with his track Car Nachdi. The year offered music producer Jatinder Shah a reason to smile, with most of his Punjabi movie songs making it to the top list. And so it did for lyricist Jaani, with many singers singing lyrics penned by him.
Social message
Not many singers thought of giving a social message, but one singer-actor, Gurdas Maan, did fulfil this responsibility by singing Mittar Pyare Nu. Surprisingly, many known Punjabi singers were completely out of scene in 2017; some did a song or two which didn’t click and many others just did not. Hoping to see them all in 2018!
jasmine@tribunemail.com
