Catching Up With Manj Banwait

After taking over television and radio channels with his debut album PROJECT ONE, MANJ BANWAIT (Click Here To Listen To Promos) has provided us with this exclusive insight into how it all came about and what makes him the future of the UK Bhangra Industy.

Manj it’s a pleasure to have you doing this interview with you, you’ve obviously been a very busy person with the album release but we don’t really know much about you so can you describe yourself and what you do, to get us started.

Yeah sure, I’m a Derby lad, 20 year’s old and I’m a Bhangra artist, I released my debut album in March this year which did pretty well. I got into music at a young age when my dad used to buy lots of cassettes (back in the good old days!) and as I grew up I found myself singing along to everything, I then started to learn the dhol during my teen years which then led me onto to learning the harmonium to improve my vocal skills. I then got the opportunity to work with The Soundpipe Records and here I am today!

Which artist do you aspire to the most and who would be your dream artist to do a duet with?

That’s an easy one, the answer to both questions has to be the crown prince of bhangra himself Jazzy B, he has done a great job his whole career as I grew up listening to him and it would be a dream come true to work with him. I still look up to artists such as Kuldip Manak, Surinder Shinda, A.S.Kang and the list goes on as they all inspire me and are the pioneers of bhangra.

Speaking of duets I’ve got a duet on my album called ‘Delhi Sheher’ with Nitasha who is another up and coming Soundpipe artist so watch out for her people because she’s loaded with talent

What kind of things does a person such as yourself like to get up to in his spare time?

To be honest I haven’t really had much spare time lately! Since my release I been really busy with lots of things and it’s nearly time to return to university for my final year so it’s a tight schedule but all worth it! But when I do get a bit of time off I like to spend it with my friends, relax by shooting some pool and doing some bhangra, but music is my life so I enjoy it all to be honest even when it involves working.

Did you get the response you expected from your first album and are you happy with it?

Definitely, I was very happy with how everyone reacted to it especially on my debut, Taj-E and BEE2 from The Soundpipe did an exceptional job on the music I think and infused with the lyrics and vocal style it turned out to be a good combination.

My main track ‘Piche Hohke’ reached TOP 10 status on the BBC Asian Network Charts which showed the level of how much the public liked it.

The new music media channel ‘Brit Asia TV’ also allowed the track to receive a fair amount of television airplay which was great and let people all over listen to my work. The whole album was very pleasing for me though and it’s given me a good platform to work on my future tracks.

You were also spotlighted as ‘Bobby Friction’s Introducing Artist’ for the week, how did that feel and what did it involve?

I was shocked when I was chosen to be honest, basically it involves being chosen as talent that Bobby Friction thinks is going to have a bright future and has started to climb the ladder of success at a nice steady pace. I was very happy when I found out that I was going to be this artist for this week in May.

It involved my tracks being played twice a day on the Friction show also and an interview with the man himself. It was a privilege to have this honour and gave me a great deal of exposure.

We understand that you wrote your whole debut album, this shows some fantastic skills, are you looking to write more and more in the future?

Yeah I write my own tracks because it allows me to have the input that I think is crucial to link me to the youth of today and what they want to hear which allows the tracks to do well. I wrote my first album when I was 19 so moving a year on I think I’ve gotten even better if anything so I will definitely be writing my next album myself again. This also gives me a chance to demonstrate that even young British Asian talent is capable of writing good tracks.

After the release of your debut album ‘PROJECT ONE’ are you working on any new material and what’s in store for you next?

Yeah I’m working on a few projects at the moment actually, I should have a track on a big producer’s out in the next couple of month’s but I’m mainly working on my next solo album at the moment which will feature some of the UK’s finest production talent including the ranks of Mr Notorious Jatt and Bharat Goel who produced the recent hit ‘Mar Jawan’ just to name a couple of the producers.

It’s going to be a big project for me featuring some mega tracks, this will be out sometime in 2009 so watch out for that. I’m working on another track as well for an album releasing next year so it’s full steam ahead at the moment.

Time for a few quick fire questions now so just give me the first answer which you think is more suited to you out of the two:-

Red or Blue: has to be red, come on United

Fanta or Tango: Fanta

Hip-Hop or Bhangra: Bhangra all the way!

Audi or VW: Audi because I drive one

McDonald’s or Kebab: Hmm that’s a hard one, has to be kebabs

Piche Hohke or Thoka : ermm Piche Hohke that’s got the dance floors moving

You’ve definitely done well and wish you every success in the future with all your project’s, is there anything you want to say to our reader’s to finish off.

Thank you everyone out there for supporting me with my album and taking your time out to read this, I appreciate it all and I will reflect my gratitude to you all my trying my best to bring you new and fresh sounds through my lyrics and vocals in the future.

You can also contact me for any further enquiries by visiting my website on www.manjbanwait.com, thanks once again to all the readers of SimplyBhangra.com and all the staff who do a wonderful job and keeping the Bhangra scene kicking - much respect! Keep it Locked here for more updates soon!

Interviews