Here are 8 South Asian Canadian artists who should be on your listening list.
Abbas Hassan
Originally from Ottawa, Hasan is an R&B star in his current hometown of Paris, France. An average day for Hasan includes acting with Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan in the afternoon, then recording with producer Rishi Rich (who first discovered and produced Jay Sean) in the evening.
Blitzkrieg
From Mississauga, Ont., this MC’s sophomore album Get Blitz featured Choclair and Saukrates, among many other celebrated British-Indian artists and producers. Fitting, considering one of Blitzkrieg’s claims to fame is having three top 10 hits on the BBC Asian Network charts. Blitzkrieg is recording his next album in Canada with an eight-piece band, getting ready to give the Roots a run for their money.
Culture Shock
Led by famed Toronto DJ Baba Kahn, Culture Shock also includes R&B singer Lomaticc from Toronto and Punjabi vocalist Sunny Brown from Montreal. The group has worked with everyone from Britney Spears to Rihanna, doing Indian remixes of their hit pop songs, along with releasing their own original music collaborations with the likes of Kardinal Offishall and Twista.
Farahri
From Ottawa, Farahri saw a quick rise to fame in the Canadian pop/dancehall scenes when she enlisted the likes of Choclair and Gyptian on her first two music videos. Farahri's Kenyan-born parents raised her on a mix of African and Bollywood music, and adding a pinch of reggae/dancehall that Farahri heard on her friends’ mixtapes gave her the perfect mash-up recipe for music success.
Humble the Poet
Americans thought they were being progressive, embracing a white rapper from Detroit, but come up north for a real taste of diversity in hip-hop, with Etobicoke’s Humble the Poet.
Prita Chhabra
It may be hard to explain this Montreal singer being based in its polar opposite of Orlando, but then again not every Montrealer picks "character performer at Disney World" as her high school job. Chhabra continued on the path less travelled when she became the first South Asian recording artist to sing the anthems for the NBA and NHL leagues, along with adding HIV/AIDS advocacy to her causes.
Shweta Subram
From Ottawa, this South Indian singer paid her dues with 10 years of singing Bollywood cover songs, eventually paying off with a performance at the 2011 IIFA Awards in Toronto that put her on the map. A call last year from American band the Piano Guys, enlisting Subram for a cover of Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child,” gave the artist her first taste of what two million YouTube views feels like.
The Bilz & Kashif
From Montreal, think of a group that has been the equivalent of the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and even One Direction for millions of teenage girls from the South Asian diaspora for the past 10 years. Panjabi MC and Jay Z brought bhangra music to the American mainstream back in 2003, and we had our own homegrown version called “2 Step Bhangra” by the Bilz & Kashif in 2006, breaking barriers by receiving airplay on several Top 40 Canadian radio stations.
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