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Intro: Welcome back everyone to your favorite show on air (I hope), Continental Drift, where we explore a different country's musical history every week! We once again got all 3 of our wonderful hosts in the station for today’s episode where we are going to take you on a journey on Punjabi Hip-Hop. Now, many of you students or anyone scrolling on tik tok in the last few months, may have heard of the dance Bhangra and even tried it in your own bedroom (I know I did), but there is so much more to Punjabi music.

For a little background, Punjab is a region that stretches across the border of northern India and eastern Pakistan. The name comes from Persian, where “panj” means five and “ab” means water, so it’s literally the “land of five rivers.” Those rivers made it some of the most fertile farmland in South Asia, and a lot of Punjabi music grew out of that farming life. Bhangra actually started as a folk dance farmers performed to celebrate the harvest, especially around the festival of Vaisakhi, all set to the booming beat of the dhol drum. Here’s one of those folk songs, sung by one of Punjab’s most famous voices, Gurdas Maan.

(1 song, Ki Banu Duniya Da)

In 1947, when British India was partitioned, the region was split in two between India and Pakistan, and millions of people were displaced. Many Punjabis eventually built communities abroad in places like the UK and Canada, and in the Punjabi diaspora is where Punjabi hip-hop was born. As Punjabis immigrated and started to integrate with Western communities, the music styles also started to intertwine. The old folk songs started to mix with the reggae, electronic music, and hip hop of the west.

One of the most prolific artists at this time was Jazzy B. He was born in Punjab, moved to Canada as a kid, and later moved to the UK to grow his music career. He eventually was called the “Crown Price of Bhangra.” Growing up, his hero was Kuldeep Manak, one of Punjab’s great folk singers, but he was also listening to Western hip-hop, and he blended the two into a sound all his own. Dil Luteya shows that perfectly: it features Apache Indian, a British-Indian reggae artist from Birmingham, which is where a HEAVY, HEAVY reggae influence in this song comes from.

(1 song, Dil Luteya)

Around the same time, over in Birmingham, England, another song was taking over the Punjabi diaspora: Kangna by Dr Zeus, released in 2003. A kangna is a bangle, the kind of bracelet Punjabi women traditionally wear, especially at weddings and celebrations. The song is a love song where the singer is driven crazy by a girl and the sound of her bangles. It’s a simple, old-school idea, the kind of romance you’d hear in a village folk song, but here it’s set to a smooth, slow, R&B-style groove you could hear in a UK club. The song also has English lyrics sprinkled in from UK rapper Shortie.

(1 song, Kangna)

Now let's jump to 2009 and to Netherlands born Pakistani-Punjabi rapper Imran Khan, not to be confused with the former Prime Minister and cricketer for Pakistan or the famous Bollywood actor Imran Khan.

For centuries, folk singers have sung about lovers who were betrayed, torn apart, or never meant to be. Imran Khan takes that old tradition and drops it into 2009. In his song Bewafa, the melody and the emotion in his voice feel straight out of a Punjabi folk lament, but underneath it is a modern R&B beat, tied in with traditional Indian instruments like the Iktara. So you guys understand the song and what Imran is trying to say a little better, “Bewafa” means unfaithful.

(1 song, Bewafa)

Now I want to fast-forward to the modern era and the artist who took Punjabi rap global: Sidhu Moose Wala. He was born in a small village called Moosa in Punjab, which is where his name comes from. Like so many artists in this episode, his career took off abroad, in Canada, where his hard-hitting style built a huge following. Unlike a lot of the diaspora artists we’ve heard tonight, though, he stayed deeply rooted in village Punjab, and you can hear it in his music.

The song we’re playing is “295,” from his 2021 album Moosetape. The title refers to Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code, the law about hurting religious sentiments, which some Sikh groups had tried to use against him. The song is his response. It’s about how, in his world, speaking your mind gets you attacked and censored, and how freedom of expression can feel like an illusion.

“295” became the first song by a Punjabi artist to enter the Billboard Global 200. In a way, this song carried his voice to the world after he was gone. Here’s “295.”

(1 song, 295)

Sidhu Moose Wala was shot and killed in Punjab on May 29, 2022. He was just 28. Fans quickly noticed something haunting: his date of death, 29/5, matched the title of this song. In the weeks after, “295” became the first song by a Punjabi artist to enter the Billboard Global 200. In a way, this song carried his voice to the world after he was gone. Here’s “295.”

To show you just how big Sidhu Moose Wala became, this month, four years after his death, he went back on tour as a hologram. The Signed to God World Tour opened on October 9th at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, the same arena where the Raptors and Maple Leafs play. A 3D hologram of Sidhu performed for a sold-out crowd, with fans paying hundreds of dollars a ticket. Only a handful of artists have ever been brought back like this, legends like Tupac and Michael Jackson, and Sidhu is the first Punjabi artist ever. The tour is in Calgary tonight. So let’s here another song by Sidhu, heres “Dawood”

(1 song, Dawood)

Now, remember Jazzy B and Dr Zeus from earlier? Ten years after “Dil Luteya” and “Kangna,” the Crown Prince of Bhangra and the Birmingham producer finally teamed up. In 2014 they released “Mitran De Boot,” a duet with singer Kaur B, one of the most powerful female voices in Punjabi music. Listen for the back-and-forth between Jazzy B and Kaur B, the classic call-and-response style of Punjabi folk duets, sitting on top of Dr Zeus’s heavy, modern beat. Here’s “Mitran De Boot.”

(1 song, Mitran De Boot)

If there’s one person who made the whole world pay attention to Punjabi music, it’s Diljit Dosanjh. He was born in 1984 in a village called Dosanjh Kalan in Punjab, and as a kid he was sent to live with his uncle in Ludhiana because his family was struggling financially. He released his first album in the early 2000s and spent the next twenty years becoming one of the biggest singers and actors in Punjab, then in Bollywood, then everywhere. In 2023 he became the first artist ever to perform at Coachella entirely in Punjabi, and his Dil-Luminati tour in 2024 broke records around the world.

The song we’re playing is “Morni”. The producer is Tru-Skool, a British producer from Derby who’s been called “the Dr. Dre of Punjabi music.” Tru-Skool is classically trained on traditional Punjabi instruments like the tumbi, tabla, dholki, and harmonium, and his signature move is laying those folk sounds over hard-hitting, old-school hip-hop drums.

(1 song, Morni)

Next up is the artist who is arguably the biggest Punjabi rapper currently: AP Dhillon. He was born in 1993 in Mullianwal, a small village in Punjab. He was raised by his grandmother, and his family struggled to make ends meet. In 2015 his father sent him to Canada to study business at a college in British Columbia, but like so many artists tonight, he ended up making music instead. He linked up with other Punjabi students and started his own independent label, Run-Up Records.

In 2020 they released “Brown Munde,” which means “brown boys,” a song celebrating South Asian guys in the diaspora. Sidhu Moose Wala even appears in the music video. It blew up worldwide and became an anthem for brown kids everywhere. AP Dhillon became the first Punjabi artist to perform at the Junos, Canada’s Grammys, and he went on to play Coachella.

Our first song from him is “True Stories,” with his longtime collaborator Shinda Kahlon. It combines Jersey club with Drum n Bass into a wonderful sound.

(1 song, True Stories)

A few weeks after “True Stories,” AP Dhillon dropped “With You,” and it’s a completely different vibe: slow, soft, and romantic. Instead of swagger, it’s just a love song. The music video is just as personal. AP Dhillon directed it himself, and it looks like a collection of home videos from a vacation, starring the actress Banita Sandhu. It racked up over 25 million streams in about two weeks and climbed into Spotify’s global charts. AP Dhillon said his goal has always been to take Punjabi culture global and make music that lasts for generations. With this song, a Punjabi love song was being played by people around the world who didn’t understand a word, and they didn’t need to. Here’s “With You.”

(1 song, With You)

Now for my favorite Punjabi artist and soon to be yours, Raf Sappera. He grew up in Streatham, South London, in a Pakistani Muslim household. Raf proudly represents the western, Pakistani side of Punjab, a side that often gets overshadowed in the music industry.

During the 2020 lockdown, he started posting videos of himself singing old Punjabi folk songs by legends like Kuldeep Manak and Surjit Bindrakhia, and they went viral. Before that, he was a filmmaker, and he even directed two music videos for Sidhu Moose Wala. He trained in classical Hindustani singing, plays the dhol, tumbi, and harmonium, and today he’s signed to Nas’s label, Mass Appeal.

What makes Raf special is his range, so we’re playing two of his songs (and cause I love every single one of his songs), both with a completely different sound. First up is “N.L.S.,” short for “Nach Le Soniye,” which means “dance, beautiful.” It’s built on UK garage, a British club sound, and it’s part of a scene called Punjabi garage that goes back to the early 2000s. His singing career took off when the DJ Yung Singh, a famous Punjabi DJ, played this song at Glastonbury in 2022. Here’s “N.L.S.”

(1 song, Nach Le Soniye)

For our last Raf-Saperra song, we’re going to my favorite song of his. “Nazara” comes from his 2025 album She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not…, a breakup album that moves through every stage of loss. “Nazara” is inspired by qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufi mystics, made world-famous by the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Qawwali is meant to build and build until the whole room gets swept up in it, and you’ll hear that here: the fast tempo, the hand claps, the huge call-and-response chorus. Raf says the song came to him when he woke up before dawn to break his fast during Ramadan. Here’s “Nazara.”

(1 song, Nazara)

Our last two artists show us where Punjabi music is headed. Firstly, Sukha was born in Toronto in 2003, the same year “Kangna” came out, the song from earlier in the show. The same age as my older brother! He dropped his first single in late 2022, and his breakout, “8 Asle,” was written by Chani Nattan, the same writer behind Diljit’s “Morni.” It racked up over 100 million streams and became one of the biggest songs in Canada. In just a couple of years he’s earned Juno nominations, Canada’s version of the Grammys, and charted his album on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. He’s a key part of what people are calling Canada’s “Punjabi Wave.” Here’s his song “Wang”.

(1 song, Wang)

Our final artist is Shubh. He was born in Punjab in 1997 and moved to Brampton, Canada, in 2014 to study mechanical engineering but, in classic fashion, instead started making music. Today his songs have billions of streams, and he’s selling out arenas.

Like Sukha, Shubh is the modern Punjabi sound: smooth, confident, and built on hip-hop and R&B beats. His newest song, “Sohniye,” released this summer, tells an interesting story. “Sohniye” means “beautiful one,” and it’s about a guy who’s completely taken with a girl he sees. To describe her, Shubh reaches back to the oldest images in Punjabi culture: girls dancing giddha (traditional folk dance performed by women from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan), folk couplets called boliyan, the jingle of glass bangles, a colorful chunni, a turban. Generations later and thousands of miles away in Canada, a young Punjabi artist is still singing about the same things, just over a modern beat. The sound of Punjabi music may twist and turn, but the story and heart remains the same. Here’s “Sohniye.”

(1 song, Sohniye)