A London-born Punjabi, Richi Madan, is the man who introduced Bhangra to Australia He gave up his job with IBM and took to working as a disk jockey (DJ) introducing Bhangra and Bollywood music to Melbourne's nightclubs, corporate dos and other events.
Richi Madan
That was in the early 1990s. Today, Richi Madan is the face of Indian music in Australia. He hosts his own show Mumbai Masala on mainstream Australian radio every Monday at 7 pm, owns Rythm & Spice entertainment group, and has received many awards for contribution to multicultural arts from the Victorian government and Sikh Welfare Council.
He was drawn to music and dancing since the time he was a kid. "I always loved what the DJs were doing in parties, mixing the music, making the crowd dance.
I always wanted to play my selection in these parties, I knew I could make the crowd go even crazier," says Madan. So at age 19, he started organising club nights in the universities.
Buoyed by the success of his single "Diwali Aayi Hain on iTunes, Madan is now coming up with an album. "His take is that if the UK and the US have produced Bhangra singers who are not imports from India, it is time Australia too had one. Madan says there is not a dearth of local talent.His recent performance with Melbourne Bhangra Regiment was scintillating.
Richi Madan
He has DJ'd across Australia and overseas, including with MTV Europe award winner Panjabi MC and on the local and national radio.
Madan's parents migrated to England in the 1960s. "My mother is from Rawalpindi and my father from Lahore. After Partition, our family shifted to Uttar Pradesh and then Delhi." From England, they came to Australia in 1987 when he was a teenager. And music says Madan, is his way of connecting with his culture.
Madan organised the first ever Bhangra night in Melbourne back in 1993. This was Madan's broader scheme of introducing this music to the youth Australian youth and getting them `identify with Indian culture in a cool way .' "Back then they were into R&B and Black American music; they were not too keen to associate themselves with Indian music."
But Madan helped breach this obstacle. He started club nights introducing Bhangra and as in radio shows. Madan says the artists who popularised Bhangra were ones like Bally Sagoo, Punjabi MC, Apache Indian. This music is a merging of the East and West. "At the same time, he also started promoting Bhangra and Bollywood music. "People came to know Richi Madan and that Bhangra was great music. I wrote to the radio stations and the response was very good." Even The Herald Sun and The Age lauded his effort.
Richi Madan
Then Madan was invited to host his own show Mumbai Masala on mainstream Australian radio. He calls it a breakthrough because "it is the first show of its kind where we are playing Bollywood and Bhangra music to a nonIndian audience." The feedback is amazing. "The people who ring up or write are non-Indians and they are really enjoying our music, I think it says a lot about the appeal our culture and music."
The recognition of Indian music on mainstream channels could have easily come in the 1990s, rues Madan.That was the time when artists such as Bally Sagoo, Stereo Nation, Apache Indian were fusing reggae and bhangra and was so popular that it was big on world music.
Today, Madan also runs Rythm & Spice. Launched in 2004, it provides Bollywood themed events.Madan has a team of Bollywood dancers and dhol drummers and conducts workshops, shows, etc.
Richi Madan
Madan says exciting times are ahead with the Bhangra music having risen in popularity by leaps and bounds. Although he has lived away from India all his life, Madan is very Punjabi by nature and takes the best of both worlds.
For all his work in promoting Bhangra and Indian music, Madan has received awards over the years."I have been recognised, " he admits modestly. "I am not big on awards. The most important thing is seeing the youth born here in Australia starting to feel proud of their Indian heritage and culture.There has been some change in that over the time that I have been in the industry. The youth were much westernised... Now they are going to have the best of both cultures in this country."