Feel The Pride

Monthly Archives: October 2013

Harpal Singh Sokhi

Harpal Singh Sokhi
Famous for hosting the show , ‘Turban Tadka’ , Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi became a name to reckon with in the hotel industry due to his fusion of Indian food with International cuisines . Harpal Singh Sokhi is a music lover and can speak fluently in English , Punjabi , Hindi , Bengali , Oriya and Telugu . He grew up with two elder sisters and a brother and was inspired by his parents in terms of cooking . His mother was a house wife and his dad was an Indian Railways worker . Harpal Singh Sokhi’s dad used to travel a lot during work and was culturally aware . He wanted his kids to know about the different cultures and the different foods of each culture . Harpal Singh Sokhi’s interest in culinary arts grew and it was in 1987 that he went on to complete his Catering Diploma from the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhubaneswar . He set out to be a chef and follow his passion . Harpal Singh Sokhi grew as a chef when he worked with an old time Ustad , Ustad Habib Pasha in Hyderabad . He learnt the intricacies of Hyderabadi cuisine from him and also Begum Mumtaz Khan who was an authority figure in Hyderabadi cuisine . Harpal Singh Sokhi claims that his love for cookery and food is mainly because it tells you a lot about other cultures and educates you about different types of food . After working in Hyderabad he went on to work for several famous restaurants and hotels . Some of them include , Vintage (Hyderabadi speciality restaurant) , Centaur Hotel (Juhu Beach) , The Oberoi (Bhubaneswar) , Vidarbha (Mumbai) and The Regent (Mumbai) . At hotel ,The Regent in Mumbai Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi had the privilege to develop the concepts for the restaurant and showcase his skills with a bigger responsibility . Currently Harpal Singh Sokhi has collaborated with Khana Khazana fame Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and together they share the dream of making Indian cuisine the number one in the world . He is hosting the much popular cookery show ‘Turban Tadka’ on Sanjeev Kapoor’s ‘Food Food’ Channel . He is also hosting the show ‘Sirf Tees Minute’ . Harpal Singh Sokhi also participated in the world gourmet summit in Beijing . He is also currently active in developing reedy to eat gourmet chutneys and pickles for the ‘Khazana’ brand . Concurrently he is developing various book contents for Sanjeev Kapoor . Harpal Singh Sokhi’s partnership with Sanjeev Kapoor dates back all the way to the first ever episode of ‘Khana Khazana’ in 1993 which Sokhi hosted himself .

Apache Indian

Reggae-Raja
A pioneer Indian reggae artist who mixed both world of the Jamaican rap and Punjabi Bhangra in his songs and presented it to the global audience is Steven Kapur also known as Apache Indian . Apache Indian was born on 11 may 1967 in Handsworth , Birmingham , UK . There have been many Bhangra artists and artists of Indian origin from Birmingham as there is a huge south Asian as well as black community there . But Apache Indian was one of the first artists to hit the top of UK charts and make a major impact on the trends with his hits in the 90′s . Early in the days Birmingham had the reputation of producing reggae artist and bands such as , ‘Steel Pulse’ . By the early 1980′s Apache Indian was working with local sound systems and rocking dreadlocks . In 1990 he went on to release his first single , ‘Movie Over India’ , which at first was a white label release but was later picked up by England reggae distributors , ‘Jet Star’ . The single consisted of him mixing elements from reggae and Bhangra . The track was appreciated by audiences of both genres . In the same year Apache Indian won the ‘Best Newcomer British Reggae Industry’ Award . Two years later ‘Fe Real’ went on to hit the 33rd spot on UK charts . Then in 1993 he released many singles out of which ‘Chok There’ , ‘Don Raja’ , ‘Arranged Marriage’ , ‘Boom Shack-a-Lack’ and ‘Nuff Vibes’ were cult hits and brought him to the attention of major labels . Also the same year he came up with his first album ‘No Reservations’ in collaboration with his cousins Simon&Diamond which was recorded in Jamaica . Apache continued his career with more single releases in 1994 . ‘Music Relief’ and ‘Wrecxx Shop’ went on to consolidate the 12th and 26th position on UK charts respectively . 1995 saw Apache Indian come up with two singles , ‘Make Way for the Indian’ in which he collaborated with Tim Dog and ‘Regamuffin Girl’ which featured Frankie Paul . In 1997 Apache Indian released another album under Island Records titled , ‘Real People / Wild East’ . The album was his most experimental album and had more Indian elements than the other albums . He went on to release many more singles over the years such as , ‘Om Numah Shivaya’ (2005) , ‘The Israelites’ (2005) , ‘Ruff n Ready’ (2008) and many more . Apache Indian usually sings in Jamaican patois, and is known for his sharp social criticism . In his career he has collaborated with many international artists such as , ‘Blackstreet’ , ‘Boyz II Men’ , ‘UB40′ , ‘Sean Paul’ , ‘General Levy’ , ‘Shaggy’ , ‘A. R. Rahman’ and many others . Reggae singer ‘Sean Paul’ , who has topped the Billboard charts with many of his singles , toured the U.S. with Apache Indian . Apache Indian’s single , ‘Boomshackalack’ was featured in five different Hollywood movies, including ‘Dumb and Dumber’ and also was the soundtrack for ‘Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed’ . In terms of awards , Apache Indian has won three UK Asian Music Awards . The first one for being the ‘Best International Success’ (2003) , followed by ‘Outstanding Achievement’ (2005) and the last being for a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ (2011) . Apache Indian is not fluent but can speak a few words of Punjabi . Therefore he has collaborated with several Bhangra artists . Some of these collaborations were with artists such as Preet Harpal(2006,’Teriyan Adawaan’) , Aman Hayer(2007,’Ground Shaker2′) , Punjabi by Nature(2009,’Sohni Lagdi’) , Jazzy B(2005,’Romeo’) , Miss Pooja(2012,’Gabroo’) and Malkit Singh (2003,Midas Touch 2) .

Fateh

Fateh
Over the last few year the Internet has seen an emergence of young Indian artist booming the desi hip hop scene . 2nd and 3rd generation Punjabis have been leading the charge with this change . All of them are making their own name and each of them have huge fan following . Out of these artist , Fateh Singh is one . Fateh Singh is a California native who currently resides in Toronto . He was born in Bangkok, Thailand and migrated into the states at a young age. He lived in the Bay Area (Hayward) until his move to Canada . Fateh discovered hip hop from his elder peers and one of the first few artists that he heard was Tupac and DMx . Fateh liked the rawness and the emotion presented by hip hop songs . His interest grew and today he has made a career out of it . Fateh Singh started out by producing high quality videos and releasing it on the net worldwide . He went on to release 3 mix tapes independently , ‘California State of Mind’ (2009)
 , ‘One Verse Curse’ (2010) and ‘Mr Wall Street’ (2011) . All of them were big hits which helped Fateh acquire a fan base . Later on when he shifted to Toronto he slowly got to know of the desi hip hop scene over there and collaborated with the likes of Humble the Poet , Babbu, Noyz , B-Magic and Villa and formed the band by the name of ,’Zoo Babies’ . In 2012 they released their first track titled ‘Zoo Babies’ . Fateh was also picked up by Nirmal Sidhu for a song in the Punjabi film , ‘Pure Punjabi’ . Jassi Sidhu’s B21 have worked with Fateh on their comeback album 1-2-B . Amrinder gill also approached Fateh to do the title song, for the film ‘Taur Mitran di’ . Fateh is an exceptional dholi and is also proficient at tabla and harmonium. Bhangra is also something that Fateh excels at. He is an amazingly talented dancer and a great role model for the young dancers. Part of what makes Fateh such an intriguing individual is how he has utterly embraced his culture and religion. He continues his musical career with tracks and several collaborations lined up with Dr.Zeus.