To Be Bindrakhia or Not to Be Bindrakhia...

While channel surfin' at my cousin's house today, i came across Alpha Etc Punjabi awards. What caught my attention, as soon as I switched to Alpha Etc channel was, this newcomer, Simranjit Simmi's voice. The 10 sec clip which they played for his nominated song had an uncanny resemblance to the late great Surjit Bindrakhia's vocals. So I quickly headed over to my favorite bhangra messageboard punjab2000.co.uk to create a post, and within few minutes I had a few responses, in which someone said Simranjit is not the only one who sounds like Bindrakhia, thereis another person, Sukhdev Bitta. This generated a curiosity in me and thus this blog entry. So, I will take this opportunity to create these comparisons and let you be the judge yourself.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bindrakhia... - I don't know what you are doing on my blog in the first place - Anyways, ...in the next 2 lines you will know who i am talking about... he is responsible for bhangra hits such as "Dupata Tera Sat Rang Da", 'ooooh' "Geetan Da Guldasta" 'aaaah' and the anthem "Tera Yaar Bolda" 'oooh yeaaaah! Now i remember!'. However, my personal favorite Bhindrakhia track has been "Rumaal" with the chorus line "Deeta challa vi leh gayi koh keh mera o rumaal sut gayi". Classic!!

He passed away in 2006 but he lives in the minds and hearts of Bhangra lovers of all ages. His voice was fresh and original in the mist of all Jazzy B and Kuldip Manak wannabes. He was respected by his peers and loved by his fans. And bhangra fans had truely lost a great voice and talent who had a lot more to offer. So before I introduce the comparisons I would like you to first recognize the legend's voice and then onto the guys who sound like him:

Surjit Bindrakhia - Tera Yaar Bolda




Now introducing contender number one, Simranjit Simmi. My good friends at punjab2000.co.uk dropped some knowledge on this guy, as I was unaware of him. He is the nephew of Surjit Bindrakhia and under whom he studied punjabi music. Wow, what better teacher can you ask for? And judging from his songs it appears he has the blessings of Shamsher Sandu, who was responsible for writing most, if not ALL of Bindrakhia's hits and Atul Sharma who was responsible for the production. The song for which Simranjit was nominated for, on Alpha ETC awards was "Puttar Panj Dariyawan De", in which he sounds exactly like Bindrakhia. In this particular song Simmi's voice sounds like early, younger Bindrakhia as he did on "Rumaal".

Simranjit Simmi - Dil Khon Di Schema


Now for contender number 2, again my boys at P2K came through and pointed me to Sukhdev Bitta, who looks like love child of Diljit and Inderjit Nikku lol (I kid, I keed), but yet sounds like Bindrakhia. However in this song, at some parts I thought he sounded like Sukhdev Darapuria, but I'll let you be the judge...



So I would like your opinion on this, do you think this is acceptable for bhangra? Would you accept these artists as they are, without having to compare them to Surjit at all times? In hiphop you had Gurrella Black who sounded excatly like Biggy but he was quickly 'hated on' by all fans, which in turn hurt his career. However this is Bhangra, where artists have great amount of respect for one another, regardless of what they may think behind closed doors. And if you ask Simranjit , I am pretty sure he will be flattered by the comparison. Infact you sort of expect him to sound like Bindrakhia because of his upbringing around Bindrakhia and having Shamsher Sandu and Atul Sharma producing his work. He is what Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. As for Sukhdev Bitta, I don't know much about him, but I can see that he loves to imitate from his looks, presentation in videos to his vocals.