Text by Ashanti OMkar (www.omkari.net)

Interview picture by Akin Falope (www.aworan.net)

Studio shots by Damien Duncan

 

A grateful son to a proud Mother dedicates his latest offering to the most important woman in his life. As an only child brought up by a single mother, Rishi Rich has been blessed with an encouraging mother who happened to be a lover of music, whether it be Bollywood, James Brown or Elvis. This eclectic musical view teamed with Guru, Nira Makandhi who trained him solidly in Classical music for 10 years, from the tender age of 4, in everything from Raag (Scales) to the Harmonium to the Tabla gave Rishi the foundation to become a composer and allow his imagination to direct him to places beyond belief and thus live his dream.

                   
                

Seated in a coffee shop near Kiss FM’s broadcasting house (Rishi has a Desi beats show there) with a bottle of water and fruit salad, he recalls with an obvious deep affection to his life giver who he requested touchingly to pick up his UK Asian Music Award back in 2003: “At the age of 14, my Mum bought me a home studio kit, the basic PC and keyboards set-up and I was in composition mode. Mum was always behind my dreams and she pushed me to carry on in my times of uncertainty.” 

He continues with his reminiscing: “I had been doing work experience from a young age at a studio down the road with Pankaj and he asked me to co-produce with him.” Pankaj being his co-partner and a cornerstone in his growth – he funded the music group 2Kool, which was Rishi’s 1^st group and it bore a cult following with his long-time collaborator, Veronica with whom he then built up the reputation of the moniker VR1, producing R&B fused with Bhangra and Indian vibes, unheard of in those days –it then transpired that Bally Sagoo’s Ishq records signed him and the rest as they say, is history!

On his Emergence into the business at that young age, he says: “I would always be there, after school and at weekends. I was totally passionate about the technology, sound manipulation and of course creation of new sounding stuff that deviated from the norm at the time - it also helped me with my GCSE in music.” Most touchingly and humbly, he admits: “For me, music is an emotion, I can’t read notation but when I touch the keyboard, I guess I just start to play by ear – it’s God given for sure.” Who can disagree with this notion?

From remixer to super producer, Rishi Rich has worked extra hard to carve out the amazing career he has had to date and continues to put in the effort without a sign of apathy – he continues to work long hours and is conducive to all promotion, as his is a cause that is worth fighting for. He epitomises the assets that British Asians are bringing to picture. Rishi is instrumental in painting the changing landscape for the UK and world over by showing that a strong work ethics alongside creativity make for tremendous success and setting a path that many young people are set to follow.

On being asked about a little known remix that made waves back in the day on the dance floors and still remains a ‘quality’ remix in it’s genre, Rishi speaks of Xplotion, one of the 1st Tamil song remix albums produced by him: “I was honoured when Pyramid records, who were the top record label in Tamil music at the time asked 2Kool to do this remix. I felt the impulse to take this on, as it was entering a new market and of course challenging myself to work with new material that I wasn’t used to from a language and musical standpoint. I had a Tamil rapper friend (Pradeep) and it made for an interesting partnership when I pulled in Ninja P to also help with this. I was amazed at the success of this album and to be honest am happy to be speaking about it after so many years.”

At the age of 15, Rishi was touring with the likes of Bollywood singers like Kumar Sanu and Kavita Krishnamurthy – now an A Lister in Bollywood, he has become part of the industry, by providing songs for certain soundtracks and he still remains in awe of music directors like AR Rahman – he even meets up with Bollywood moguls like Karan Johar on their visits to London. He has also worked on Asian remixes, for Mary J Blige, Britney Spears, Craig David, Ricky Martin, Misteeq and Estelle. Who can forget Britney’s performance at the American Music Awards, when she started with her ‘usual’ version of the “Me against the music”, the collaboration with Madonna and asked for the one of the 4 Desi Remixes (all by Rishi) to be switched on and creating a huge applause by the US audiences immediately – a proud moment for Asians world over. Rishi also spent an afternoon giving stalwart Hip Hop producer Timbaland musical tips, by encouraging him to buy around £3,000 worth of music from Little India, Southall!

His ‘project’ with 2point9 management meant that 2003 was a groundbreaking year for Asian Music – not only did Punjabi MC hit the UK Top 5 with his Bhangra infused track ‘Mundian’, but Rishi’s protégés, the young Jay Sean and Juggy D went to the Top 10 with ‘Dance with you’ – Rishi’s production, a slick video shot in Southall and catchy lyrics and music made this an instant hit. Since then, Jay and Juggy have a huge fan following and Rishi and his team have toured the world with their music and energetic performances.

Emphasising over and over again that music had the power to break boundaries and is thought to be the one thing that can bring people together, regardless of race, colour or creed; Rishi’s album “The Project” does just that, by combining Reggaeton with pure Hindustani Classical and Semi-Classical fusion and a sprinkling of Hip Hop and of course his musical heritage of Bhangra. Bringing together artistes from the world over teamed with some of Britain’s best ethnic talent. With vocalists like his new find, Amar, the daughter of Mangal Singh, Classical Icon in the making, Rafaqat Ali Khan, Mentor Kollektiv’s Des C, Mr Phillips, ex-So Solid crew’s JD AKA Dready, Juggy and Jay of course, Master Rakesh, Alison Hines (Bajan/Soca/Ragamuffin starlet), Veronica, Chhaya, Bhangra Star Jassi Sidhu, J2K, Silinder Pardesi, Sol, Aamir Khan and UK’s Baby Blue and Mana Bhatt (the New Jersey bred Desi singer who left the corporate world for music and works closely with Timbaland) this album is certainly different and it is obvious that Rishi has put in the time and effort in terms of production and variety – this album has languages like Punjabi, Hindi, English and French.

Foot tapping numbers like ‘Stomp’ with JD, Jay Sean and Mr Phillips and the addictive ‘Flipmode’, also with JD, which is enhanced by violins by Carnatic violinist Kartik Ragunathan, a 2point9 favourite for live recordings are bound to be huge hits, while my personal favourite, the classically infused ‘Sorry’ by Raafqat Ali Khan shows that there is no doubt that Rishi has called upon the God of ingenuity for a new wave of music for the generation of today who usually have albums with 1 or 2 good tracks causing many to illegally download, as buying a CD tends to be worthless in many cases. In my opinion, Rishi has put a stop to that with this with this all round different’ album and with humility, he says: “We recorded 40 songs and only 19 made the cut and went onto the album. I am not at all bothered about it being a chart hit as it is merely an album for my loyal fans.”

With the upcoming collaborative work, ‘Bhangraton’ with Luny Tunes, he already has his next work in the pipeline almost ready. Having stayed in an apartment by the beach in Puerto Rico and working at the studio with Luny Tunes (Daddy Yankee’s Gasolina producers), this is another eagerly anticipated project is already on the way, so fans get a double dose of Rishi’s music in 2006.

The video for Push it up is now in circulation on music channels and a second video featuring Jay Sean and surprisingly non-2point9 camp Asian star, Raghav who happens to be a friend of Rishi and co. The much-awaited album ‘The project’ is out now at all good record shops nationwide and Rishi Rich will be signing copies of his new album 'The Project' at:

Monday 7 August - 5.00pm - HMV Leeds Headrow

Tuesday 8 August - 5.00pm - HMV Leicester

Wednesday 9 August - 5.00pm - HMV Birmingham High St