Published
Fri, Nov 12, 2021, 14:00
- The short film features Singh alongside originators of the sound like Surinder Rattan, SurjRDB and Metz N Trix.
The Birth Of Punjabi Garage, a new documentary produced by Yung Singh and Ministry Of Sound, is out on November 18th.
Exploring race, identity and agency, the 11-minute film traces the lineage of the UK's Asian underground movement, with cameos from Singh alongside originators of the Punjabi garage sound like Surinder Rattan, Indy Sagu, SurjRDB and Metz N Trix.
"The Punjabi garage scene is one of the most impactful, organic and uniquely British sounds that has ever come from these shores, a sound that went on to make global superstars from some of its early innovators, no less," Singh told Resident Advisor. "What this documentary does is, for the first time, shine a light on this particular scene on a mainstream dance music platform and let some of those innovators tell the story of how it all came about. This is done without the usual cliches that are often lumped onto South Asian artists where the artistry is ignored in lieu of fleshing out 'cultural' stereotypes."
He added: "This sound gave a generation of British Punjabi (and by extension, the wider South Asian diaspora) a voice and continues to do so. It was important we platformed this scene as it is the nucleus around which the next generation begin to build their own communities, scenes and narratives."
Watch the trailer and check out some stills from the film.
Read our recent Breaking Through feature with Singh.
Update, November 15th: The Yung Singh quote, film stills and lead photo were added three days after the original piece was published.
Read our recent Breaking Through feature with Singh. Update, November 15th: The Yung Singh quote, film stills and lead photo were added three days after the original piece was published.