A six piece band, Achanak have gained a fearsome reputation as the “best “live” act in the Music market’. They have been recepients of numerous awards including best band (2003) best live act (2002) and best album (1997) as well as achieving platinum sales on all of their albums.

The band has toured extensively covering all ends of the market including :

Sweden, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, France, Norway, Czech Republic as well as Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the States and Indonesia.

Comments from agents and promoters have included the following endorsements :

• “Simply the best bhangra band we have ever had” (Re-orient 2002)
• “The best band that has played at Dollegau festival” (2001 and 2004)
• “Once Achanak had played in Malmo – we just to call them back 4 months later such was the demand” Mix 2003 and 2004
• “There is no greater bhangra band” El Espiritu – Spain
• Achanak are the best bhangra band I have ever seen, very professional and dynamic. I have had huge success in representing them in Italy” Paolo (Frame events)
• The moment they left the stage, the question was how quick could we get them back. Golowan festival 2001/2004

Having showcased at the Womex festival in 2002, Achanak have gone from strength to strength and are extensively performing at all the major festivals in the UK and Europe.

What is bhangra?

Bhangra is the fastest growing music form from the UK/India. The success of Panjabi MC has now heightened the profile of bhangra music and meant that bands like Achanak are now in great demand. The fusion of asian beats with western influences has made bhangra and in particular, Achanak a potent force in world music.

As Ranjit grew up and went to senior school he had studied drumming and was taught by professional teacher who had worked in a band called Specials that was mainstream and who had topped the UK Top of pops charts in early 80`s. Ranjit Jassal`s cousins back in India have a very good background knowledge of music as Dev Raj Jassal is one prime example as he himself has worked with numerous artists such Surinder Suhk Shindha who is also well respected and Ranjit Jassal has had gained good experiences when he was in the band Parwanna Sangeet as Shinda had played all percussions on the albums.
Dev Raj Jassal has had lyric hits and is still well respected Lyricists and Desi instrument player as so many artists around the world have recognized his substantial talent and is Ranjit Jassal`s cousin brother.

Desi Dark Child means the fusion between desi and the dark side of real Punjabi music as it our roots should never be forgotten. Ranjit is a big fan of pure hardcore desi tunes as in my time that was all I he heard as a child. In today’s market we all have heard a big cross over combination of different elements put into pure desi music. Today’s market with artists like Juggy D and Ragav are cool for the new young generation but as Desi Dark Child who as been bought up listening to people like Sarinder Shinda and Chamkila and Kuldip Manak who are the real dons been dark desi heads desi dark child feels and thinks its also misleading for our culture and our mother tongue as Ragav and Juggy D Punjabi is not pure desi as some wordings in there songs is short spoken Punjabi, but it is good thing in a bad way because at least we are still trying to keep out mother tongue present in our music . The youngsters today are following there kind of music language so for DESI DARK CHILD it was time we created what the youngsters wanted keeping our desi lyrics proper and acted promptly so we are now here to put things strait and back online & be as dark as possible with good tunes in proper Punjabi lyrics and music for the world with Phat vocalists who have been forgotten about in this commercial world who invented pure desi Bhangra tunes what we see as golden anthems and also crazy music. So people it is that time now where we will surely make you want to dance and go crazy as we Desi Dark Child are goanna make you go wild over real desi music.

Desi Dark Child was formed about 4 years ago Desi Dark Child researched for talented musicians in the UK who would have to play and do more then one thing on stage if a band was formed. Ranjit Jassal found sponsor’s to help find the right people. Dave Elliot from Inta Audio had sponsored Ranjit in setting up the studio by helping set up the equipment. As there were so many ideas been thrown by all the members and talk of an album Desi Dark Child started to put everything onto paper and planned ahead for a debut album. A debut album was now to be created by the crew who had faced loads set backs. Desi Dark Child now has there own recording studio known as the Coffin they write and produce their own songs. The voices of Pally Supra and Suki Raudh , and Salag Jassal who have shown their unique talent in today’s youngster vocals singing in Punjabi and using it to a very high standard. Loyal support from the king Punjabi Mc is always listened to and taken on board as Punjabi Mc has always personally supported the crew.

Ranjit Jassal has had the honor working previously with UK`s Punjabi MC on the track called Challa. Ranjit Jassal played the dholak breaks for this track produced by Punjabi MC. The track is in the album called Legalized and was released by Nachural Records who are established and well known all around the world.

Desi Dark Child has worked with famous artists in and out the process of there album and gained even more experience. During the rebuild in of the studio in 2005 that now has been finished, some of the album had to be reworked due to new sound and studio equipment installations. So this caused a major delay in the Desi Dark Child finishing the album. After staging live shows Desi Dark Child decided to go back in to the studio and re-vocal some of the tracks on the album as the lyrics were not sitting right so with the help and lyricists Rana Chackwala and Gulishinder Mann Moholawala who have written tracks personally for the crew to a high standard. Both writers had to work very closely with the crew as some new ideas had come from the crew to begin with and then the other ideas came from the writers.

Breaking into the music industry in creating there first Debut Album was very hard as the work had started nearly 2 years into creating the most powerful crew and album of it kind that has never been heard of. The best way to describe Desi Dark Childs Music is a blend of 80`s hip hop with a cross over of Desi American urban / dance with new Punjabi lyrics.

Desi Dark Child has it own in house recording production team who are talented form all different musical back grounds. Mandeep Lakher who is the don and king on all guitars ever made. Mandip Batchu who is the crazy guy that causes Desi Dark Childs heart attacks as Mandip is phat on all desi instruments ever made by the desi Indians.(we have ran out of instruments for this Guy) Ranjit makes new drum breaks and Dholak beats himself and programming.

Ranjit Jassal aka Desi Dark Child went on further and developed a major and establish crew by adding singers of a high standard from the UK. Today in Desi Dark Child live crew are 2 Dhol players, 2 professional dancers, 3 singers, 1 keyboard player, 1Dholak player, 1Drummer & Scratch DJ and live Studio programming, 1 Mc/ Rapper & stage management. Desi Dark Child the crew provides everything required by the promoters. Desi Dark Child live Crew is very versatile in performing and has been recognized as KLF who were a mainstream Hip Hop band that had come with there own vibe of gothic / hip hop music and performed all in black hoods and cloaks. Desi Dark Child are the first Asian crew that have a dress code of black as Asian new comers the boys have been recognized as been the next KLF in the music industry. Desi Dark Child hopes that one day they will reach and break into mainstream with there music as they have strong singer commercial elements in there tracks.

From the early school days Ranjit had worked in drama productions and in pantomimes as a percussionist from there Ranjit had moved on to playing in local School Steel Band and also worked with Phase One Steel Band as a percussionist.

Ranjit Jassal had played for Bhangra Bands such as Anjanna Group, New Star (Wolves) Parwanna Sangeet, Salinder Pardesi & Mohan Mastana as Dholak and Drummer Ranjit Jassal had played and done major claberations with English mainstream artists such as kendel Smith & Nevel Staples. Ranjit had worked with Taz from Stereo Nation on stage and in the studio on the album called Jonney Zee Vibes on the track is called Gharra Vajda Korli Vajde that Ranjit Jassal has vibed the dhol break. Big artists such as Mohan Mastana had hit the UK from India and Surinder Shindha. Kuldip Manak and Mohammed Saddiqe and Ranjeet Kaur and Saber Koti and Hans Raj Hans& Narinder Biba, Jaswant Billa and party, Rasila and party who Ranjit had played and recorded with in his studio.

The latest offering of Ranjit Jassal`s work was the Album by Achanak called Bhangra-ology track 9 called Putt Sardara Da. The future releases that Ranjit Jassal has worked on are with Salinder Pardesi, a track called Akk Largi that also is to be released soon in 06. Ranjit Jassal is currently working on a track with the Sahotas. Purdy Bhogal is one of Ranjit`s close advisor who is a key player in the studio mixing as Purdy Bhogal has worked with non-end of artists himself and has the most experience when it comes to live and studio mixing and mastering.

With all the experiences gained from major players of the music industry A DJ Spinning records is not the crews idea of live performance. Desi Dark Child have done tours with there live 7 piece band around Europe with new talented young musicians. The crew is also seen as a dub ur ban foundation act and In today’s market DJ have taken over but its time to bring a new cross over vibe with adding live singers as we have done.

Ranjit aka Desi Dark Child had put their own stage format into place by performing in major towns and cities in the UK. As this was all lifting off more and more people got interested in there music, so Desi Dark Child put a demo together and sent out to European countries and landed themselves with a major promotion event team / management who got very interested and offered them big shows out of the UK. Desi Dark Child now have done and experienced playing in Germany, Oslo, Spain, Greece, Italy, and currently are in negations with doing a tour in United States. Desi Dark Child has preformed in front of audiences of 250 thousand in festivals over the last two years in the UK and in Europe.

As time is going Desi Dark Child has managed and landed with a major record deal that will boost there profile and name and music for the future. Desi Dark Child is very proud to be working with Nachural Records who have enough experience to guide Desi Dark Child Crew and establish the crew in the Bhangra and mainstream Industry. Now that the debut album called Curfew is nearly finalized with UK and India talented singers Desi Dark Child will be the hottest act of 2006.

Previously artists such as Jay Sean and Raghav and Punjabi MC who have opened up the doors to the mainstream and established the sound of Asian RnB and Urban music. Now it is time for DESI DARK CHILD to really put out something that will freak the whole world and all nations with our Desi roots and culture and our Dhol beats and Tabla and Dholak and tumbi breaks.

Asian music is no longer underground or in the background as DESI DARK CHILD will take care of things by making it to the top with ROAR HARD CORE DESI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now time has come for the DARKNESS OF REAL HARDCORE DESI MUSIC, the awakening of the hard core dead desi flavors to be recreated as the new sound of DESI DARK CHILDS debut album called Curfew and single Sleep Walking ! WATCH OUT AS WE ARE ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming from a traditional background where religious adherence was the call of the day and learning to play instruments from a young age so that they could perform at their local temple have now turned this young Sikh outfit into the most sought after act.

Recently signed to Nachural Records (the label that launched Panjabi MC onto the world stage and into a global hit), Tigerstyle are now preparing their debut single and debut album for a worldwide release.

“You’ve got two very devout Sikh Punjabis from Glasgow, who know their Bhangra music more than anybody. I mean they absolutely know their stuff. They’re young, they’re the right generation. If you listen to some of their earlier albums they were ground-breaking then. What they do and what they’ve done is, they still play the traditional stuff, but they will effortlessly fuse it into Dancehall or Hip-Hop. And the beauty of them is that they both know their genres of music……It all works together, it sounds great. And they can perform live……I think that is really interesting, really clever. We’ve still got the traditional Punjabi music. We’ve still got the element of live and it’s still taking it forward.” – Adil Ray (BBC Asian Network UK, excerpt taken from “Bhangra” written by Dr. Rajinder Dudrah)

But Tigerstyle’s journey has not been an easy one. After two albums of more traditional Desi flavours, Tigerstyle became embroiled into a legal dispute with their previous label which left the duo unable to release material for three years. But this hiatus allowed Tigerstyle to develop their musical talents as they were asked to do white label mixes for Ms Dynamite, Busta Rhymes, Eminem and 50 Cent.

Further recognition came in the form of official remixes for other mainstream acts such as Lisa Maffia (Independiente), Lamya (J Records),and Raghav (A&R) where Tigerstyle contributed with a remix on the hit single Angel Eyes which charted at No.4 in the UK charts. They fused Bhangra with Reggaeton championing the unique “Bhangraton” genre, providing remixes for Machete Music artists Luny Tunes, Wisin Yandel & Don Omar. They worked an exclusive remix of M.I.A.’s “XR2″ for the BBC Asian Network.

Nachural Records also announced the placement of tracks from its catalogue onto Project Gotham Racing 3 the game to be launched by X Box (owned by Microsoft) in the winter of 2005.

Two tracks by Achanak (“Teri Muhabbatain” Produced by Tigerstyle and “Lak noo” remix) and three tracks from the forthcoming Tigerstyle album (“Boliyan”, “Akh mastani” and “Maan doabe da”) were identified as key representations of the worldwide appeal of Bhangra music.

This was the first time that Bhangra tracks had been placed on any interactive game and endorsed the mainstream opinion that Bhangra had finally arrived in the ever increasing music market.

Recent Success: Tigerstyle ft Kanwar “Son of a Sardar (part 1)” was the first Sikh Hip Hop track to be playlisted in the A list on the BBC Asian Network. It charted at No3 in the station playlist chart, was No1 in Friction’s Top Five tracks, and was No7 in his Top 40 songs of 2007. The song has received over 32,000 plays on their Myspace profile in the space of 9 months.

The success of Tigerstyle has taken them touring all over the world including USA, Canada, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Dubai, Singapore and Australia, all in the time span of the last 4 years. They have shared stages with the likes of internationally reknowned artists Lily Allen, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney, The Dub Pistols, Fun-Da-Mental, Misty in Roots, Gunjan, Asian Dub Foundation, Badmarsh & Shri, Truth Hurts, Panjabi MC, Future World Funk, Raghav, Johnny Kalsi & The Dhol Foundation, Hans Raj Hans, Jazzy B, Malkit Singh, Jassi Sidhu, Channi Singh (Alaap), Andy Gangadeen of Massive Attack, DJ Semtex, Bobby Friction & Nihal from BBC Radio 1 and Panjabi Hit Squad of BBC 1Xtra.

Tigerstyle are one of the few Asian acts to have ever recorded a live session for the legendary late Sir John Peel. They were given the opportunity to showcase material from their forthcoming album supported by a full live band and feature vocalists at the first ever BBC Electric Proms in September 2006, and were selected out of 1000s of bands to perform on the first ever BBC Introducing Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in July 2007.

“These overlapping territories mapped within a single Tigerstyle beat demonstrate that Bhangra is not just a new set of sounds for rap dudes to sample it is a movement unto itself, folk music for folk that live in the gaps.” – Ed Stats (Fader Magazine)

Traditionally asian record labels have signed artists to “buy out” deals whereby the artist is paid a lump sum for their material but sell all their rights, including publishing rights, to the record label. This meant that artists would no longer own or control their own material and would receive no long term income from the exploitation of this material

Tigerstyle broke the mould and consciously revolutionised the way the asian music industry was running in the U.K. by setting up their own production label, Soldier Sound Recording, which has been instrumental in managing the careers of artists such as Bikram Singh, Blitzkrieg and Gunjan.

Tigerstyle are currently working on new material due to be released in the coming months, where Indian, American and European record labels have shown a keen interest in licensing Tigerstyle’s album. These same partners were responsible for the success of Panjabi MC.

As part of the live band Sangam Arts they have entertained thousands of people at various melas, nightclubs and parties across the UK. From their home town in Preston City and the likes of Manchester, Bradford and Leeds in the north, they have travelled as far as Birmingham, London and Sussex down south. In this time they have played with some of the most influential names in bhangra. These include people such as Malkit Singh, Safri, Alaap and Sahotas to name but a few.

Not content with stopping there, 1995 onwards saw them move in a new direction as they began dj’ing. After staging live shows such as Journey of Sound and Summer Sounds they began hosting nights entitled D’Grind. These were the first regular bhangra club nights to be held in Preston. By spinning the latest cuts in RnB, hip-hop and bhangra, these nights were a major success packing out club venues time after time.

Spinning records was all well and good but there was always a yearning to return to performing live music. Instead of continuing to play cover versions of hindi and bhangra classics though they began to work on creating their own songs. Combining the knowledge and talent of playing instruments with the inspiration to write lyrics and create music, they reformed the group as Affiniti.

Affiniti means the fusion or combination of different elements. Being Brit-Asians it is the perfect representation of who they are as they hold onto their roots and culture and integrate the western values into their life. The music they create will also reflect this by fusing together various musical influences from differing cultures. This can be seen from their first single which is an upbeat RnB track with a catchy punjabi hook. Entitled Casino Lady, it is soon to be released on the Purely Nachural 9 compilation. Alongside this they are currently at work in the studio producing material to complete their album. With forthcoming tracks such as Aaja and Rags to Riches, the album aims to show the unique flavour and talent that Affiniti has to offer.

Previously artists such as Jay Sean and Raghav have opened up the doors to the mainstream and established the sound of Asian RnB and Urban music. Now it is time for Affiniti and other up and coming artists in this genre to continue to show the depth and versatility that Asian music is capable of.

Asian music is no longer underground or in the background.

“The time has come for a new dawn, the awakening of a new sound.
Affiniti – the Sound of Realize’Asian”.

Wizard Quotes “I think the Amplified album has a good balance and mix of traditional styles as well as the more contemporary dance floor tracks. It is suited to lots of different tastes whether your in the club, cruzin in the car or just chillin at home. There is a track on the album for you. I think it also shows the blend between myself and Harj’s culture and tastes.

Harj D quotes “It’s about that time again! A long time coming, this Album is something new, something old with a twist. Whilst I’ve been DJ’ing in clubs across the UK I’ve heard bhangra music with the same rhythm the same desi samples, the same percussion and of course the same vocalist. So why change something that’s working?

I guess it’s alright to a limit hence why we’ve produced a track with non other then Lehmbar Hussainpuri, but with something old comes something new for you to compare. Jelly Manjeetpuri and Warayam Barnala, and the son of the living legend Maninder Shinda the versatility of these singers is phenomenal. The other twist of XS-BASS being amplified is the combination of Hip-Hop and Bhangra in one Album with Harj D introducing the Wizard to the Bhangra Market as the first black producer in the Bhangra Industry for 2008.