Basement Bhangra The first Thursday of every month, entrancing partygoers experience DJ Rekha’s trademark blend of South Asian bhangra music merged with hip-hop, dancehall, and electronic sounds that create an unforgettable New York City dance experience. Starting with a 2-hour happy hour in the Gallery Bar featuring eclectic programming, the night then accelerates to the main space with the aid of a live drummer. The signature Basement Bhangra dance lesson guides the uninitiated and the diehards into a high-energy night that has made Basement Bhangra a16-year plus club land institution.

From success half way around the world, Canadian born singer Raghav released his new CD, The Phoenix, on April 10, 2012, with the first three singles So Much, Fire, and Top Of The World already receiving an incredible response. Produced by Labrinth (#1 single in the UK Pass Out – Tinie Tempah), So Much features fellow Canadian Kardinal Offishall and inspired Raghav’s JUNO Nomination for Soul/R&B Recording of the Year. Fire, produced by the legendary Jim Beanz, burned its way up the charts and was certified Gold by Music Canada with over 50,000 sales. It has received a nomination for a SiriusXM Indie Award for Single of The Year, as well as nominations for two Canadian Radio Music Awards (CHR & HOT AC), with over 34,000 spins on Canadian radio and 21 weeks on the Canadian Singles Top 100 charts. His newest single, Love (also produced by Jim Beanz), is set to follow the same incredible trajectory.
 
Signed to Cordova Bay Records, the 31-year-old Calgarian first came on the Canadian national radar in 2007 when the Globe and Mail profiled him as one of “Canada’s best kept secrets in the arts”.
 
He has indeed been a ‘well kept secret’ but that depends a great deal on where you were living.
 
If you had been living in London, England, you would know Raghav sold an impressive 1.3 million copies of his debut CD Storyteller. You would also know that he won a MOBO Award for Best Collaboration, and two UK Asian Music Awards for Best Newcomer and Best Single. In 2005 he also won an Urban Music Award for Best Chart Act.
 
If you had been living in India you would know that Storyteller was the 6th best selling international album of all time for the Indian territory. You would also be familiar with his sophomore CD, Identity; would know that he had a #3 charted single and that he had won a Southern Asian Music Award for Best Artist, and an Asian Achievers Award.
 
And so you wonder who is this gifted artist? Raghav was born in Toronto but his family soon moved to Calgary and Fort McMurray and put down roots.
His parents enjoyed listening to Hindi and Indian classical music. As a child of 4 he remembers sitting in the back of their old Ford Granada with his mother listening to one of her favourite Bollywood tapes. One day when company was over, young Raghav decided to sing for them, and much to his parent’s dismay, he sang one of the songs he’d been hearing in the car. They were amazed! It was later discovered that the Bollywood tape was actually stuck in the car cassette deck and little Raghav had been hearing the same three songs over and over and over – the repetition paid off in his rather impressive performance!
 
At five he was enrolled in lessons and throughout his formative years his circle of musical influence widened to include Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Garth Brooks and Marvin Gaye to mention a few.
 
At 17 Raghav’s love of music took him to Los Angeles and vocal training with Seth Riggs (vocal coach for Madonna and Michael Jackson) and a year later he moved to Liverpool England where he studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. It was during this time that he joined an R&B band called 11/7, which led to the MOBO Award nomination.
 
In 2004 his debut CD “Storyteller” was released on A&R Records, producing 4 singles and a world tour in 2005 that included concerts in India, the U.S., Africa, Australia and his home country of Canada. His sophomore album followed in 2009. “Identity” released through Universal in India rose to #3 on the charts.
 
His music was once described as “South Asian-flavoured U.S. R&B music with hip-hop flourishes”. Looking forward Raghav sees himself as a mainstream artist – a cross between Pop and Motown – that happens to be South Asian.
 
With the release of the singles “So Much” and “Fire” from The Phoenix, Raghav brought a fresh new sound to the airwaves that built on his past successes and takes into account the learning curve that is music and life. He strove for a sound that was uniquely his, and as he noted “it’s like wearing a new skin, but being very conscious of the old one that lies underneath.”
 
On The Phoenix, his first North American release, fans will appreciate the connection to his past musical genius, and new fans will discover a melodic, well-spoken, charismatic artist. Raghav sees his next single, Love, as his opportunity to demonstrate his vocal ability to his North American fanbase, who may have only heard his previous club-inspired singles. Originally earmarked as the first single for Michael Jackson’s comeback album, Love is destined to be a hit, and will continue to propel Raghav’s North American popularity.
 
Raghav official site

DJ Rekha official site | DJ Rekha on Twitter | DJ Rekha on Facebook

DJ Rekha is a British born, New York City based DJ, curator, record label owner, educator and activist. Called the “Ambassador of Bhangra” by the New York Times and named one of the most influential South Asians by Newsweek, Rekha is among the first DJs to merge classic Bhangra and Bollywood sounds into the language of contemporary electronic dance music. Since establishing herself on the club scene with her inaugural event, Basement Bhangra nightclub in 1997, Rekha has produced some of the longest running and most successful parties in New York including Bollywood Disco, and Mutiny. Her weekly podcast, Bhangra and Beyond can be heard on www.breakthruradio.com

DJ Petra is a DJ, dancer, writer and organizer. She started throwing parties at her apartment in Washington Heights four years ago, and since then Petra has played all over NYC, including Bembe, South Paw, The Cove, Public Assembly, The Bowery Electric, The Delancey, Katra and others. She has studied with DJ Rekha and DJ Chela, and continues to study dancefloors everywhere. Petra is currently a contributing writer for Okayplayer.com, and hosts the weekly radio mix show “Hip Hop & Her Family” on WNYU with Genesis Be. Find out more at Hip Hop and Her Family.

FICTIVE aka Paul Clay is a New York City based award winning designer and media artist doing set, lighting, and video projection/LED design. Projects include Set Design for the Broadway production of the Musical RENT, the MoMA/Volkswagen Gala, Creative Time Spring Gala, the De Nederlandse Opera, National Theatre Wales/Welsh National Opera, the Bo-Pi-Liao Historic Center, Taipei City, Taiwan and more. Active in the New York night scene and he has done visual projections for numerous club nights and party crews including DJ Rekha’s Basement Bhangra, Bollywood Disco, Lipstick Optional, Blackkat, Sholay, Vinylholic, Complacent/The Danger and many others.
 

fictive.net