| Ron Singh |
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India & Harjit Gammon meet up with a very original and successful local musician A Peterborough born and bred Sikh has combined the dance music of his ancestors’ homeland with that of his own to create a bhangra-rock fusion band which is making a loud impact (literally) on the national and local music scene. Feted at Glastonbury, Ron Singh is that man. Kismet (destiny; fate) certainly played a hand in our first encounter with local band Kissmet, at Stamford Music on the Meadows a few years ago. Eight years on Indie Gammon, then five, talks music and racism with the British Asian lead singer of this six piece, Indian/white, bhangra/rock fusion band, whose new album, ‘Trippin the light fantastic’ will feature the picture she drew of them back then. So Ron, what is Bhangra? “It’s loud, in your face, Sikh dance music; highly infectious and guaranteed to get you on your feet. The only vocal though is hoi. So it was a short, but breakthrough, step on from that for us to play Indian music and combine it with English lyrics. As a kid my dad ran a cinema playing Hindi films as a service to the Indian community across the UK. He also used to invite well known Indian musicians to perform. That proved to be the spark for my brothers (Buzz and Max, also in Kissmet) to start playing ourselves. My dad bought us a keyboard and tabla, both of which feature significantly in Indian music. I was about 16 with no formal training in music but could play anything if I heard it. We formed a traditional bhangra band, Sabras, with my cousins from Nottingham and played at Indian venues throughout the UK. We even released a couple of albums. The bhangra – rock fusion was a natural progression for us; it was who we were, a bit of East, a bit of West, a bit of Indian, a bit of English. We listened to Indian music at home and rock and pop at school with our mates. My dad had a record player in his car! My mum, dad and sisters all love music but are tone deaf, and at school we listened to Genesis, the Stranglers and the Police. So basically we listened to everything from Mohammed Rafi (legendary Bollywood playback singer) to the Stranglers.” What was it like growing up as an Indian in Peterborough in the 70s? “We lived in the Cromwell Road/Gladstone area alongside a cosmopolitan mix of Vietnamese, English, Italian, Afro-Caribbeans, Pakistanis and Jamaicans. I thought the whole world was like that. It was so friendly, no hassle, no racial problems. And my cousin and I were the only two Indian kids there. To cap it all I was the youngest and smallest in the year, had a name no one could pronounce - Rubinder Ronak and my dad had bought us both doctor’s briefcases while everyone else had Liverpool or Leeds school bags. My teacher called me Abdul for a whole year, until my dad found out. People were a bit dodgy about things like that back then!” Tell me more about starting out playing in Peterborough. “At first we couldn’t get a gig in Peterborough. The venues we called (just about everywhere) didn’t get the fusion thing. Eventually we got a couple of gigs on the ethnic ticket; at the Lord Mayor’s Parade and at the Willow Festival. Then the phone started ringing, as the places we’d called started ringing back.” What do you listen to now? “I like fusion and world music. So African & French, Flamenco, Moroccan, funk, jazz. Things like One Giant Leap; something slightly out of the normal.” What inspires your lyrics? “Indian music is always about one thing, love; wanting it, missing it, having it, losing it. It’s music of the heart; not about deprivation, alcohol, hardship. My nephew and my son are rappers and have written a thousand songs about everything from honour, justice, truth, pain, equality and inequality.” Tell me about the band? “In every sense a fusion; we capture the colour in the music and the people and the things we wear. Ron’s outfit for a gig in Edinburgh of a kilt coupled with biker boots, turban, and a Sherwani (a long Indian Coat dress) remains a personal favourite of mine. I play the keyboards and sing, Buzz is on the dohl, Max the tabla, Alex Kane bass, Lucas Parlato drums and Phil Simmonds guitar.” Where have you toured over the years? “First we toured all over the UK, then Poland, and then we got asked to go to Mexico - we even made a speech in Spanish! Unfortunately, we didn’t realise that the words ‘country’ and ‘fish’ are very similar, so instead of saying “We are really glad to play in your beautiful country” we ended up saying the inevitable...not the best way to impress people!” Will you be at Music on the Meadows this year? “We hope so, but last time we had to cancel in the week before due to a bereavement in the family; it hit us all very hard and we couldn’t play. However, hopefully we’ll be back this year!” Great, so are you excited about the new album release? “Yeah, we had to work very hard but it’s been worth it! We even built a studio specially to record it. The English studio sound was very clean and polished and brilliant on drums, bass and guitar, while the bhangra studios were brilliant on Indian percussion but neither fully captured the energy and passion we were after. It’ll be out mid-April, so you can judge for yourself” • Kissmet’s new album “Trippin’ the Life Fantastic”, will be available on-line at www.kissmet.co.uk shortly and in shops from mid April. |
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