Prince of Bhangra Sukhbir launches his old number Nachdi with a new twist

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“To survive in the music industry, one must cater to younger audience,” believes singer Sukhbir Singh, whose evergreen songs from the nineties are still fresh in our mind, especially those poster songs for movies like Hindi Medium and Good Newws. The Prince of Bhangra, as he is called, is all set to release his yet another dance song, Nachdi, today.

About Nachdi, he says, “It’s a fresh take on my old song. It was my favourite one, and I was ready to make it the title song of the album, but Punjabi Munde became more popular. The pandemic brought me back to this melody and I said why not give it a different touch. To keep it relevant for today’s time, I have also inserted a rap by Arjun, the Sri Lankan-British singer who was featured in Guru Randhawa’s Suit.”

Not stopping at that, this Jalandhar-born singer, who was brought up in Kenya and settled in Dubai, has brought in the global flavour with the video featuring people from different nationalities around the world. “So, it basically just says, ‘forget everything, come and dance’. Nachdi is directed by Simon Fellows, British director and I have worked with him for the sixth time and our association goes back to the song Gal Ban Gayee in 1997,” adds Sukhbir.

About Punjabi music gaining recognition around the world, he says, “Punjabi music has a different standing as it can make one groove on those dhol beats.” He doesn’t see the reprised version of songs as a downslide in creativity, in fact, “The recreation of the hits from the past is not going anywhere anytime soon. The melody stays with you and it can always be given a different perspective with the advanced technology that we have today. With digitalisation, we can do so much more in music in the present scenario.”

As far as upcoming projects are concerned, another song of his will be a part of an upcoming Bollywood movie.

“I wanted to kick-off this year on a positive note and there’s no better way to do so then to give back to the audience that has showered so much love on his song. I have missed seeing people sing along in concerts, wedding functions and events. The on-stage connection is different and for nine months, staying at home and not doing what you love to do was tough,” explains Sukhbir. But, if there are tough times, the artiste within you evolves. With Sukhbir, it helped him reconnect to his love for sketching after 16 years, and guess what he sketched—a Panda. Not forgetting his love for music, he completed few music production courses and learnt Spanish guitar, wherein he calls himself an amateur getting better each day.

The world dances to his songs like Tare Gin Gin and Sauda Khara Khara, so much so that an Instagram page @friends_mashup made a video where popular FRIENDS’ characters were grooving to his song. But what is on his playlist? “I also enjoy simple melodies like Tareefan of Badshah and Despacito. Punjabi singers Badshah, Diljit Dosanjh and Guru Randhawa are producing good music and from the new singers Jass Manak’ Lehenga and many others have managed to catch the pulse of the youngsters, which is the key to survival.”