Bally Sagoo: Punjabi munda with a mix of Bhangra, hip hop and Bollywood

By Neeraj Nanda

Melbourne: Bally Sagoo, the dynamic Punjabi boy from UK is the heart throb of desi music lovers all over the world. Sagoo performed in Melbourne live at Metro on 27th April and won the hearts of music lovers. Known as the ‘The godfather of bhangra’, he was here courtesy the Oorja Nights team. I caught up with him one evening at the Curry Club, South Bank. I was not really ready for what was in store for me. As the host Ashish Goswami arranged the drinks, Bally Sagoo came in with a young group. It was easy to spot the tall and handsome Punjabi munda in the crowd. Here was the ‘bhangra’ music master in front of me. Smiling and blushing we met. He shaked hands one by one with the boys and girls. The ambience seemed very youngish for me – the only man with white hair in the crowd.

“I am a traditional Punjabi boy with a lot of Western influences. My lifestyle is a traditional Sikh boy, goes to Gurudwara, believe in god and visit temples in India”, was Bally’s answer when I asked him to describe himself. And what should we call his music? “My music is a mix of bhangra, hip hop with flavours of Bollywood music”, he says. And “I am influenced by black, white and desi flavours of music”.

As to what is better – mixing an old Bollywood song or creating a new one? “I give a new lease of life to an old song.” And “in a way give it my style of music”, Bally says.

I ask him if anything new coming. He reveals: “I am now coming (as actor) in a Punjabi movie “Sajna wae Sajna” and it is a typical UK Punjabi movie. Some thing like “Bend it like Beckam”. Its about how we live in the UK, traditional living and a traditional girl …”

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Bally also talked about Nusrat Fathe Ali Khan and Amitabh Bachchan with whom he had the honour of working. He says: “Both came to my studio in UK. Amitabh is a good friend and we loved working together. The album was about Amitabh’s father’s poetry and so on. I have good relations with the Amitabh family. And Nusrat was a genius”. I then ask him: What do you say of Ash” Bally: “ She is my Ras Malai”

His dreams? Bally says “I want to keep doing music, stick to my culture. I am setting up a Music School in Delhi and a restaurant in Dubai.” Asked about his great achievement. He says, are his babies and family. And adds: “You know Bollywood copies me, making music for a one year old to 75 years old is an amazing experience. I make all types of music.”