We took the best songs from December 1, 2015 up to December 1st, 2016, see what Jaz Dhami, Jenny Johal, Nimrat Khaira and Harbhajan Mann had to say in our first article of 3!

Jovan and Rupinder present to you some of their top Punjabi songs of the year in their 1st of 3 articles to end off 2016! We took the best songs from December 1, 2015 up to December 1st, 2016 and put them in these articles. We had the opportunity to chat with Jaz Dhami, Jenny Johal, Nimrat Khaira and Harbhajan Mann while Sunanda Sharma and Gupz Sehra we're unavaliable for comments on their great tracks.

Sunanda Sharma – Patake

Before Sunanda started her career in singing she was an ordinary girl from a simple family.

Sunanda stepped into the Bhangra industry this year with a bang as her debut single 'Billi Akh' with Amar Audio was a super hit. Then shortly after 'Billi Akh' she released 'Patake' which received a phenomenal response worldwide and even more recognition in the industry. She has shown her versatility in her music videos and no doubt in future will be bringing more surprises.

In this short span of time her music has been recognised globally and earlier this year she went on an international tour.

Harbhajan Mann – Ikk Ikk Saah

As everyone knows, Harbhajan Mann is one of the biggest names in the Punjabi film industry starring in many big name films. He had another strong year once again, he had “Ghaint Fan” which was featured in the film “Fan” which starred the Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan.

He was then cast as the lead for the successful film “Saadey CM Saab” where Harbhajan plays the role of Yudhvir , a young politician who becomes the Chief Minister alongside Gurpreet Ghuggi. He had tracks such as “Aad Sach Jugaad Sach”, “Chup Kar Jaa” and “Mere Vich Teri” in the film. His latest track is titled “Sher where he once again worked with Tigerstyle, he previously worked with them on “Husn – The Kali” which turned out to be a hit track and of course Ikk Ikk Saah which is featured in our top songs of the year. The Harbhajan Mann/Tigerstyle combination is brilliant and hopefully something we see a lot more of in the future.

Harbhajan had this to say when asked about the success of his track and what he had coming up in 2017:

"After the successful experience of working on ‘Husn – The Kali’ with Tigerstyle, we decided we would do another track together this time approaching a different genre and style. Since I had not recorded a romantic track outside of my films for a long time, I decided to record ‘Ikk Ikk Saah’, a track wonderful written by the talented Preet Kanwal. The song’s video was directed by Sukh Sanghera, and as a whole the song and the video turned out to be a very special and memorable experience for me”.

“2016 has been a very special year for me. My first project of this year, the film ‘Saadey CM Saab’ was a foray into a different genre of films for me. I was very appreciative of the immense support and positive feedback I received for the film. Clossing off the year with my new single “Sher”, I’m thankfully beyond words for the amount of love my dear fans have given to the song.

It is always a humbling feeling for an artist when their project is reaching the top of the charts and receiving appreciation. After “Sher”, next up is the release of “Satrangi Peengh 3” in early 2017.

Jaz Dhami – Munda Like Me

International icon Jaz Dhami released 'Munda Like Me' where the setting of the video was around a Punjabi wedding in India.

From a young age Jaz has had a lot of love and passion for music which turned into his career. Over the years he has released different genres of songs from 'Meh Punjabi Boli Ah' which has been praised by all generations to 'High Heels' for which he received a Punjabi Music Award. Jaz also released ‘Bhangra Machine’ which was a great dancing track alongside Punjabi hit maker PBN.

His recent release entitled 'Teri Ah' is very different to his previous songs. This must be one of the top songs he has sung as it has received an outstanding reponse within the first week of its release!

Jaz had this to say when asked about the success of Munda Like Me and what 2017 holds for him:

The idea came from my friend, rapper Ikka - he called me and said he's got a great song, he sang a few lines and I loved the idea of it straightaway. It had a real feel good element to it, I'd been looking to do a real happy Bhangra song. I think that is also why it's successful, because it makes people happy, it's a real churpy kind of a song with a great beat and bags of energy - in both my vocal and Jatinder Shahs beat.

In 2017, I'm going to focus on developing the R&B sound in India, with the immense response I've had for Teri Ah I can see the audiences in South Asia are ready for the R&B melodies in Punjabi and Hindi now so that's the direction my music will be taking. I want to bring that authentic R&B music and melody in a language more familiar to them, I'll still of course have something for my traditional Desi fans. I have some interesting collaborations lined up - which I can't say too much about yet. There's also stuff cooking in Bollywood but my lips have been sealed!

I'm really looking forward to the year ahead, 2016 was phenomenal, I made my Bollywood debut at the beginning of the year and have ended it with a song I'm so passionate about, this will help shape my 2017.

Thank you Simply Bhangra for always supporting me and giving artists like me a platform.

Nimrat Khaira – Salute Vajde

This year was the debut of Nimrat Khaira who was the Voice of Punjab 3 winner and it got her noticed all over the world. She carried her momentum from the show and created “Ishq Kacheri” which she worked on alongside Preet Hundal.

Nimrat had a total of 4 singles this year including “Ishq Kacheri”, “SP De Rank Wargi” which was a very popular Bhangra track this year, “Salute Vajda” which made our top songs of the year list and most recently she released “Changa Lagda”.

Its no secret that female Punjabi artists don’t get the respect or praise that male artists do and she had this to say in a previous article “If a woman singer shows versatility in her music, if she can sing folk, pop or any genre, well, then no one can stop her from shining”.

We asked Nimrat Khaira why she thought “Salute Vajda” became so successful she had this to say:

“First of all I loved the lyrics and composition which I thought was very catchy for people of Punjab as well as NRI's it was easy for them to understand most important is its music which I think is perfect to listen in car as well as for dj's.

In 2017 we wil bring our full album THE SOUND OF PANJAB, its first song will be released in December 2016 and then we will bring songs of all genres, urban numbers and some songs in movies”.

Gupz Sehra – Label Black

Gupz Sehra who started his career as a Punjabi music director released a dancefloor anthem entitled 'Label Black', not only was he the music director for the song, he also sung and featured in the video. No doubt this song is still on people's playlist.

This year Gupz has collaborated with many artists and one of them being Mankirt Aulakh, who has also had a phenomenal year. Earlier this year they worked alongside each other for the tracks “Putt Pardesiya” and “Kuwari”. Can you imagine what the outcome will be when two successful artists work together.... the song and video to 'Kuwari' received an outstanding response within hours worldwide.

Jenny Johal – Chandigarh Rehn Waliye

Jenny Johal has quickly established herself as one of the top female artists in the Punjabi music industry over the past year and a half. She started off with “Yaari Jatti Di” in early 2015 and then followed up with “Narma” which exploded and got her the real recognition that she deserved. Jenny then released “Mutiyaar Jatt Di” to end off a successful 2015.

This year is no different as she is still one of the best female singers out there. She had a track titled “Dowein Nain” which was in the popular film "Love Punjab”, featuring Amrinder Gill as the lead in the movie. Last but not least, in September she released “Chandigarh Rehn Waliye” which is one of the top Bhangra tracks of 2016 and the most popular from a female artist.

When asked about the success of “Chandigarh Rehn Waliye” Jenny had this to say:

“The lyricist for the song is Bunty Bains and he is the one who wrote this song for me. As a modern day girl from Punjab, I have seen the transition from traditional culture change to mainstream where western influences have begun to take over Punjab.

I love the traditional Indian culture and what it stands for and wanted to incorporate the stigmas behind "pindus" (villagers) and show the pros of being a villager. In my music and my style, I incorporate both traditional and western culture which makes me diverse and this was another inspiration behind the song".

Stay tuned for part 2 of the 3 part series which will be releasing on December 17th with more great tracks and artists.

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You can follow me at Follow @JovanHeer