Niraj Chag

Niraj Chag

Niraj Chag is a London-based musical artist and composer. His musical style mixes Indian classical influences with contemporary stylings and layered, complex beats. Niraj's tracks were initially released on the Outcaste record label. He has written and produced his own album Along the Dusty Road which was released in late summer 2006 on the B Channel label.

Biography

Born in Southampton (1976), England, Niraj's first professional experience in music was working on Mark Hill's label.

Moving to Outcaste Records in London, Niraj released the single "Walk Alone" and contributed four tracks to the album Outcaste New Breed.

Since leaving Outcaste Records, Niraj has worked on the British Asian musical Baiju Bawra, which opened in London's Stratford East Theatre in 2002, and numerous soundtracks.[citation needed]

In May 2006 he released "Bangles", the first song from his album Along the Dusty Road, on the B -Channel label. According to notes from his website, "Bangles" was inspired by the journey his grandmother made in migrating to the UK from India via Africa.

Along the Dusty Road was a "pet project"[1] three years in the making, and "Bangles" and "Khwaab" (another song from the album) attracted the attention of new fans less familiar with his earlier work,[citation needed] both songs being playlisted on BBC and local radio stations.[citation needed]

The success of the tracks led to Niraj recording a BBC session at their Maida Vale studios, and the song "Nomad" was selected to be the iTunes free download of the week in June 2006.[citation needed]

In 2006, Niraj won "Best Asian Underground" at the UK Asian Music Awards.[2]

Chag's follow-up album 'The Lost Souls' was released in early March 2009, featuring the singles 'Baavaria' and 'Ur Jaa'. On October 24, 2009 Niraj performed in concert with a live band at LSO St Lukes in London,[3] followed by a concert at the CBSO centre in Birmingham.

In April 2010 Niraj launched a new online 'music and life' blog called EasternSoul.net with the intention of 'providing an alternative to the modern trend of throwaway “here today, gone tomorrow” music.' EasternSoul.net features a podcast, interviews and features on contemporary asian musicians [4]

References

  1. ^ Welcome to niraj chag.com
  2. ^ "Desi hits the UK AMA's - London 2006 - on desihits.com". desihits.com. January 1, 2007. http://www.desihits.com/news/view/desi-hits-the-uk-amas-london-2006. Retrieved 24 August 2010. 
  3. ^ "Video footage of Kanya". Nirajblog.co.uk. 2009-11-04. http://www.nirajblog.co.uk/index.php/2009/11/04/video-footage-of-kanya. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
  4. ^ "About". Eastern Soul. http://www.easternsoul.net/about-eastern-soul/. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 

External links


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