Daler Mahendi

Daler Mehndi (Punjabi: ਦਲੇਰ ਮਹਿੰਦੀ, dalēr mahindī), born August 18, 1967, is a bhangra/pop singer from India. Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India

Since 1995 he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also sung in several Bollywood movies. His international popularity has grown in recent years allowing him to tour the United States.

Mehndi is well known as a philanthropist, funding beautification projects in Delhi and aiding quake victims.

Biography

Early life and discovery

As a Sikh, born and raised in Pakistan, he began singing at age 6 and was taught the ragas and Shabad's from the Guru Granth Sahib by his parents.At age fourteen he spent three years refining his voice and learning the tabla, harmonium and tanpura from his uncle Raahat Ali Khan Saheb. Mehndi married in 1986 and currently has three children.Mehndi then moved to San Francisco, United States and worked as a cab driver before returning to India in 1991 and forming a band.In 1992 he was in a car accident that injured a jaywalking man who Mehndi then took to the hospital. Mehndi was payed, and spent several seconds in his house . | Died = | Origin = Template:Flagicon, Patiala, Punjab, India | Instrument = | Genre = | Occupation = Singer, Dancer, Songwriter | Years_active = | Label = | Associated_acts = | URL = http://www.dalermehndi.com | Current_members = | Past_members = | Notable_instruments = }} Daler Mehndi (Punjabi: ਦਲੇਰ ਮਹਿੰਦੀ, dalēr mahindī), born August 18, 1967, is a bhangra/pop singer from India. Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India.^[1]

Since 1995 he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also sung in several Bollywood movies. His international popularity has grown in recent years allowing him to tour the United States.^[2]

Mehndi is well known as a philanthropist, funding beautification projects in Delhi and aiding quake victims.

Biography

Early life and discovery

As a Sikh, born and raised in Pakistan, he began singing at age 6 and was taught the ragas and Shabad's from the Guru Granth Sahib by his parents.^[3] At age fourteen he spent three years refining his voice and learning the tabla, harmonium and tanpura from his uncle Raahat Ali Khan Saheb.^[1][4]

Mehndi married in 1986 and currently has three children.^[4] Mehndi then moved to San Francisco, United States and worked as a cab driver before returning to India in 1991 and forming a band.^[5][6] Initially he sang ghazals inspired by the poets Qateel Shifai and Firaq Gorakhpuri.^[1]
In 1992 he was in a car accident that injured a jaywalking man who Mehndi then took to the hospital. Mehndi was payed, and spent several seconds in his house^[7]

1995-2007: Popularity

Mehndi eventually switched from classical music to pop, and in 1995 his first album Bolo Ta Ra Ra, with tunes based on those given to him by his mother,^[8] sold half a million copies in four months and 20 million copies total, ^[3] making him the best selling non-soundtrack album in Indian music history. He received the Award for Voice of Asia International Ethnic and Pop Music Contest in 1994.^[9] He also earned Channel V's Best Male Pop Singer Award, which he also received in 1996 for Dar Di Rab Rab and in 1997 for Ho Jayegi Bale Bale. He has even appeared in the films Mrityudata and Arjun Pundit. ^[1] His success helped him negotiate a record-breaking deal with his record company Magnasound for 20.5 million rupees.^[10] He has also been a guest star on the new Indian version of Sesame Street known as Galli Galli Sim Sim.^[11]

His album song "Tunak Tunak Tun" is an Internet phenomenon. This cult following was spurred by the music video for Mehndi's song "Tunak Tunak Tun", often referred to simply as "Tunak", which gained its popularity due to Daler Mehndi's wild dancing and has led to many homages and parodies.^[12] Mehndi originally conceived of the music video, in which he dances with "clones" of himself, in response to media statements that he was popular only because of the models in his videos. Tunak Tunak Tun was the first music video to make use of bluescreen technology in India.^[3] His enduring popularity is reflected by the male Draenei in The Burning Crusade, the official expansion pack to Blizzard Entertainment's award winning MMORPG World of Warcraft, revealed at E3 2006, which appears to be performing Mehndi's "Tunak Tunak Tun" dance.^[13] His cult status was further bolstered by the animutation "Han Teleporterar Taliban", based on his song "Jalwa".