Lebara Mobile Asian Music Awards Press Launch 2012

An artist-studded evening and a party atmospheric mood, the evening was ready to commence,
hosted by Tommy Sandhu.

First up was the introduction of the last 3 contestants for the unsigned Nokia competition artists in which only one artist will get the breakthrough opportunity to perform at Wembley Arena on the UKAMA show.

Kishen performed first with a Hindi slow track and must say the future looks bright for this lad.

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RaOol was next with a lively energetic club track that got the spectators rocking to the beat

Lastly it was Amanjot with an RnB track. Her singing abilities were witnessed with low and high notes within this track and that could possibly be the reason for her winning the contest.

Amanjot will go on to perform at Wembley and hopefully that will be the kick-start to a talented singing career.

Appearances were made by Dr Zeus, Shorty, Kanika Kapoor, PBN, Mumzy Stranger, Stranger Family, Aggro Santos, JK, Twin Beats, DJ Harpz, Panjabi hit Squad, Benny Dhaliwal, Arjun, Swami Baracus, Menis, Surinder Rattan + more

The votes were counted in and Nominations were ready to be published to the industry that included 13 categories of 5 nominees. They were:

BEST INTERNATIONAL ALBUM

        Yo Yo Honey Singh

        Amrinder Gill

        Satinder Sartaaj

        Miss Pooja

        Gurdas Mann

BEST INTERNATIONAL ACT

        Rahat Fateh Ali Kahn

        Yo Yo Honey Singh

        Mika Singh

        Shreya Ghoshal

        Gurdas Maan

BEST ALTERNATIVE ACT

        Nitin Sawhney

        Asian Dub Foundation

        Rumer

        Raghu Dixit

        Niraj Chag

BEST RADIO SHOW

        Noreen Khan

        Nihal

        Sunny and Shay

        Bobby Friction

        Neev

BEST CLUB DJ

        DJ H

        Jags Klimax

        DJ Kayper

        Panjabi Hit Squad

        DJ Fricktion

BEST PRODUCER

        Naughty Boy

        Surinder Rattan

        PBN

        DJ Sanj

        Envy Zeus

BEST URBAN ACT

        MetzNTrix

        Arjun

        Raxstar

        Roach Killa

        Mumzy Stranger

BEST VIDEO

        Jay Sean – Im All Yours

        MIA – Bad Girls

        Preeya Kalidas – Love Between Us

        RDB – Sachi Gal

        Foji Gill – Pumbeeri

BEST DESI ACT

Garry Sandhu

JK

DJ Sanj

Sukshinder Shinda

RDB

BEST ALBUM

        Sukshinder Shinda

        JK

        Panjabi Hit Squad

        PBN

        Aman Hayer

BEST NEWCOMER

        Junai Kaden

        Shide Boss

        Romy Artist

        Kanika Kapoor

        Banger Artist

BEST FEMALE

        MIA

        Preeya Kalidas

        Tasha Tah

        Kanika Kapoor

        Nindy Kaur

BEST MALE

        Jay Sean

        Ash King

        Gary Sandhu

        H Dhami

        Jazzy B

The night did not stop there. Panjabi hit Squad entertained on the Dj decks to get the party started followed by a session on the decks by Dj Harpz. Artists remained in the building to catch up with fellow artistes as well as interacting with the Media. Punjab2000 managed to speak to a few artists.

SURINDER RATTAN – What has been going on with you? What is in the pipelines? Just working away on new projects, new artists & established ones. Just concentrating on the music. Has Has and OMG, how well have those singles done for you? We’ve had success with Has and OMG releases so yeh just hoping to top those off.

RAPPER/SONGWRITER D.WUNDER AND DJ/PRODUCER MACKS WOLFE (RaOol) – When asked about being shortlisted as contestants and how does it feel being here right now? It’s Amazing being here right now, being a real big privilege. Just really excited. And if you win here tonight, how is it going to push you in to the future? I think it really will make a big difference for us you know. We’ve been doing our thing for you know just over a year now and so everything is moving so fast and lots of great stuff is happening. This will certainly be an absolute highlight. How did you two come together to do music? Through MySpace, we were both doing our own thing musically and then we decided to collaborate and it just really hit it off and. Max comes from a more dance DJ background and I come from more of a Urban background so it’s a mash up of both elements with Asian elements in there which holds truth to our identities.

PANJABI HIT SQUAD – How are you guys doing today? "All good man just chilling".
You’ve been nominated here today. "Yes we have, been nominated for best club DJ’s because we are and also for best album as well. Making some noise after a long time really".

It’s been a while. " I know but we’ve been waiting for this. Working hard so glad we have got recognized in this year".

What else can we expect from Panjabi Hit Squad coming up? "Basically we released our album this year, just working on single by single. Coming soon is a single called Shake It Off with Surinder Saini coming out and a track called Phulkari with the video releasing next month. Next year another album coming so working fast".
That’s great. Working on an Alysia single coming, working on that roughly about November release". And any live performances events coming up soon? "Yes got quite a bit going on, events lined up in Dubai and then back here for university tours in London, getting unis back in to Bhangra as its slightly fizzled out a bit. Want to try and rejuvenate that with a Panjabi Hit Squad flavor. Want to give students an experience as London and Bhangra in Uni events isn’t there".

KANIKA KAPOOR – How is it working with the Zeus camp?  "I am finding it really great. Feels different but is overwhelming".  

Nominated for 2 awards tonight how does that feel? " Very glad and appreciate the love. Jugni has been a good song for us and hope it continues as well as other future work".

DJ HARPZ – What is going on with Dj Harpz? What is coming out?  "Well Jaan Nachdi came out, done really well on iTunes. Now signed a new record deal with E3UK. New single, press release and teaser should be going out on Thursday 13^th featuring Sukhwinder Panchi called Nakhra Punjaban Da a very upbeat song followed by the album. A single in between coming out with D-Sarb.  An EP with Bikram Singh".

Wow Bikram Singh, that should be the one to check out then. Yeh, he got a really special duet on my album and I’m obviously working on his EP with him, 6 tracks just him and me. Is there a name for your album yet? You Think You Know. I want to know, are we going to see DJ Harpz performing at unis for Bhangra nights? "Actually yes I am, throughout London, Middlesex with Desi Beats in Hertfordshire plus standard Birmingham and Leicester".

TWIN BEATS  – what’s going on with Twin Beats, anything new coming out? Dropping a new single hopefully towards the end of October. Album hopefully early next year. We been away for about 3 years, last album 2009, haven’t actually done anything since then, I mean we’ve produced for other artist and a lot of people, especially abroad Canada and America. Our beats are getting out there slowly, some for U.S. dramas and serials.

So now Twin Beats ready for their album?  "Yeh we thought the time has come for us to come back with a little bit of Bhangra album. Our first track coming out soon and we got video coming out".

I got to ask you, is there going to be another track with Bikram Singh again? "100% man, Bikram Singh is our boy, we already got a track with Bikram sorted out and we done one for his album. He is a very good friend of ours, known him for good couple of years so we got one of his tracks on our album, just watch out for that one".

Will you be doing events shows at unis and other places? "Yes organizing those, not sure about Leicester as everything is drifting towards London. As soon as single promotions start up, we’ll see bit more action to be honest. We are from Leicester but its not looking too busy there like it did before. Slowly shifting and spreading out. Book us Twin Beats for all those promoters and organizers; catch us on twitter and Facebook and TwinBeats.com"

. Last question, Twin Beats is there someone who really want to work with in the future which you haven’t don’t so yet? "There’s too many. Number 1 would have been Surjit Bindrakhia but even if we got the chance, we wouldn’t work on his music. He is our idol and inspiration. But apart from him who is around would be JK".

JK – You’ve been nominated for the best Desi act, you must be ecstatic for bringing Desi roots with your music. Yeh man it’s all about keeping it real. Appreciate the fans that voted for me and now keep those votes coming in for the gabru. Bare respect. Also nominated for best album. You know what thanks to everyone involved in with it that has made it to what it is today. Without everyone this would never have been possible and I hope to keep making more good music.