He has been called the crown prince of Bhangra but anyone present at the SASGA (Sikh American Society of Georgia) sponsored JAZZY B concert on 21st November at Earthlink Live, came back with the feeling that it’s time for JAZZY B to be the King.
For over three hours the superstar hit every high musical note you could think of dancing and singing non stop carrying the crowd with him, his warmth and charm ruling the evening.
He was born in Punjab and named Jaswinder, migrating to Vancouver with his parents when he was 5 years old. Growing up he says he played ice hockey and pursued his passion for music. He joked that he changed his name to Jazzy because by the time they finished saying Jaswinder Singh Bains, the other team had already scored a goal!
In 1993 he released his first album “Ghugiyan da Jora” but it was the block buster “O Kedi” that took his music to a different level, and Jazzy hasn’t looked back since then.
SASGA had earlier invited the star to perform at the Vaisakhi function in April. In spite of his obvious fame, he was not allowed to enter the country, and this was not his first concert in the country either. For 40 hours the star tried different options, flying in from London, then going to Canada (- he has Canadian citizenship -) and trying to enter USA from there and denied entry again.
“It’s still mind boggling because I have heard that there was an attempt to sabotage the event. Maybe there were some people who had an axe to grind with the organizers. Lalli pa ji (Surinder Lalli) and the others on the team worked very very hard to have things sorted out. They don’t have to give any reason for refusing entry. They let my band into the States, but knew very well that I was the key man and held me back thinking the show won’t happen,” said the singer.
Well the show DID happen and in spite of Jazzy not being there, it was a super success with an outstanding performance by Raj Nijjar, an engineer and a very popular Punjabi singer from Washington D.C. and Jazzy B’s very talented disciple Pawandeep Pariwal who belted out all of Jazzy’s popular hits. The show went on past midnight and everyone enjoyed themselves and had a wonderful time.
On November 21st the organizers kept their promise of bringing Jazzy back to town and honoring the tickets purchased in April by hundreds of admirers of the singer.
Jazzy B was very appreciative of the fact that the organizers kept their promise and very outspoken about his reason for not being there. “I don’t know what those people, the ones who tried to sabotage the last concert were thinking. That the organizers were making tons of money? Sometimes people do things out of a sense of community,” Jazzy B said to the crowd before starting his concert. He said this was his first concert in Atlanta and he was really happy to be there, and that he was determined to sing every request, sign every autograph, and pose for every picture requested even if it took him all night. Surinder Lalli, one of the organizers mentioned that the singer was so touched by their integrity that he refused to let them pay for airfare. “Jazzy said in his entire career this was the first time any one had made the effort to bring him back for a cancelled show and let the audience in free of charge,” said Lalli.
Ranjit Singh the President of SASGA welcomed everyone and said he was happy to finally be able to keep the promise that was hindered earlier by circumstances beyond everyone‘s control.
Jazzy B said he was very happy that people in Atlanta had not forgotten their culture and music. There was a fun bhangra performance by local Sikh youngsters and then began what turned out to be an evening of non stop bhangra beats as people danced along with the singer. Jazzy started out with a religious number and then belted out one hit after the other, taking in requests, and joking that bhangra was very good for the knees and all the elders should join in the fun too. Those who couldn’t did the Jazzy wave, as he raised his hands and asked every one who wasn’t or couldn’t make it to the floor to either do the wave or clap their hands.
Jazzy had the crowd in frenzy as he sang Ghugiyan da Jora, Putt jatan de, Surma, and his super hit Naag, the song from the film Shaheed Udham Singh, along with Tappe and Boliyan to name a few. He began the first half in a western black and gold outfit and switched to the traditional Punjabi outfit of kurta jacket and lungi in a very attractive gray. The things that strike you immediately about Jazzy B are his humility and the warmth with which he treats his fans. He had people up on stage, including little kids dancing with him, reached out constantly to shake hands, sign autographs, pat little kids on their heads as some of them sat on the shoulders of their fathers to reach out to the singer. But even he was taken aback and at loss for words when a fan tried to hand him a cell phone and asked him to talk to someone who was obviously a crazy fan but couldn’t make it to the concert!
“That’s a bit much don’t you think?” said Jazzy amidst laughter and walked away to do some more moves on stage.
As a singer what really blew everyone away was the range and depth in his voice. The man can hold a note or an alaap forever, and not just that he sang and danced non stop without losing his breath. And to think a few years ago he had lost his voice and couldn’t sing for a year and a half, before getting a second lease. It has brought him closer to God he says and resulted in the release of two religious albums, something he intends doing every couple of years.
His disciple Pariwal came and sang a number as well. Jazzy B’s band was outstanding. Parveen Serra was on guitar, Inderjit Nanda on key board, Chimkara Singh on English drums, Raman Preet on dholak and Bhavinder Sandhu was amazing on the two colored Dhol.
It was an evening to remember and SASGA deserves kudos for their efforts to make this happen.