All about love

Who would have thought the musical collaboration between a Dane and an Indian would eventually lead to a debut album going five times platinum? Such an international fusion is definitely not common. But it certainly does exist — in the shape of the Bombay Rockers.

This eclectic duo, which creates songs with upbeat lyrics in both Punjabi and English, consists of Danish Thomas Sardorf and Indian Navtej Singh Rehal (otherwise known as Naf). Their bhangra-infused songs are hyped up with fun pop beats and a groovy R'n'B vibe. It is, quite frankly, a sound that is entirely different to the ear. Best of all, they prove that they're not just hot studs who can sing — they both write and produce their own music too.

Massive airplay

With such a new sound, the Bombay Rockers have skyrocketed to fame in India where they have become, in their own words, pop stars. Their debut album, Introducing… was released in 2003 and had top hits such as Sexy Mama and Rock Tha Party, both of which received massive airplay in both Denmark and India.

Now they've just released their new album, Crash and Burn through EMI, also available in the UAE. Following are excerpts from a recent e-mail interview with the Bombay Rockers.

First of all, congrats on your new album. How are you guys feeling?

Thomas: Thank you very much. We're feeling good. Glad that the album is out. We worked very hard on it.

Naf: Yeah, we're looking forward to getting out there touring and meeting the fans again.

Has it been as successful as your debut album?

Thomas: We can't tell the full impact yet. It will be released in several more countries soon. But the response from the fans via MySpace and YouTube is very positive.

Naf: Yeah, a lot of people think it's better than the first album, and that makes us happy. It's always though to follow up on a big success, but according to the response we did it.

What is the overall meaning or 'theme', if you like, of this album?

Thomas: I wouldn't say that there is an overall theme on the album, besides, of course, the mixture of Hindi, Punjabi and English. But we've tried to make this album more complete than the first. Meaning that with Introducing… we took it track by track, and this time we wanted to have more flavours. A little more mature songs, due to all our travelling and expressions we've had touring, but, of course, still the uptempo party tracks. All in all, 50/50 of each.

Naf: Yep, from my point of view the theme (lyrics) is all about love. Not just superficial love, but deep love. And besides that we also have a different track like Lights, Camera, Action. It's about the stereotypical opinion of what a pop star's life is like. And how the way other people look at you suddenly changes.

Where did you get the inspiration to write your songs?

Thomas: It depends. Most of the time I've produced the track, and while doing that a melody line and lyric usually pop up in my head. The lyrics always suit the tracks. It just comes naturally. If it's a slow song, it won't be about partying and the other way around as well. So really it's all about the style of the production.

Naf: Like I mentioned earlier, I'm all about love. I try to describe it in a very poetic way.

Thomas: When a song is about love, I like to write about past relationships, so I definitely draw from my personal life as well.

Your music is an interesting fusion of bhangra flavoured with pop and R'n'B. How did this come about?

Thomas: It just happened naturally. I produce the tracks as well, and when we started out I didn't know anything about Indian music. I had produced a lot of pop and R'n'B, so I took the Indian elements I thought sounded cool and blended it with that.

Naf: Yeah, and on top of that I put in my Indian background, and because of our different approach, we ended up with a very different and interesting result.

Which artists can you relate to?

Naf: If you wanna put us in a box it would be with artists like Jay Sean, Raghav and Juggy D. But I still don't think we have the same sound. We stand out from the others.

Thomas: Yeah, the Indian and English 50/50 mix alone makes our sound different. And because I have no Indian musical background, the production stands out as well.

Do the Danes embrace your music?

Naf: Yeah, we've gone mainstream here. It was very surprising, 'cos we didn't expect it. But the Danes liked the mixture, because it was something new for them. And Indian percussion is very danceable, so it got people out on the floor.

Are you both working out of Denmark or has India drawn you more? Both countries are giving you lots of exposure so far.

Thomas: We considered moving to India for a moment when the first album became such a huge success, but we decided to stay in Denmark for several reasons. First of all, we have a big network here, and if we stayed in India I would maybe lose my different approach to Indian music, if I was surrounded by the culture all the time.

Naf: And also it would be a little stressing being in the spotlight all the time. When we're in India we write autographs and take pictures with fans all the time. We love it, but if it was like that constantly, it might get a little rough. We're famous in Denmark, but not superstars like in India.

Thomas: Yeah, it's nice to travel out being a big pop star, and coming home where you can chill out a bit more :0)

You shot a music video in Dubai for Wild Rose some years ago, and you've performed here as well. What is the connection to this city, and when are you planning on coming back?

Naf: Yeah, and we played here with Westlife. That was a great show.

Thomas: We're planning various tours right now, so hopefully we'll be back very soon. For updates go to www.bombayrockers.com.

What do you think makes you different from the rest of the world's Bhangra-infused singers and bands?

Thomas: First of all, it's the mixture of brown and white, Indian/English. And also the production and style of the tracks as well.

Naf: Yeah, we like to try different stuff. Experimenting is a big part of our style.

A little gossip here: How is your love life going?

Naf: Well, I'm in a relationship. I'm very happy, and I think she may be the one.

Thomas: I was in a relationship up until six months ago. I had to let her go though, 'cos it was just too hectic to manage a career and relationship at the same time. So right now I'm single and enjoying the dating game. So ladies give me a call!

Apart from your music, how is life otherwise? What are you spending your free time on?

Naf: We both like various types of sports. We sometimes play basketball together.

Thomas: Yeah, and you lose almost every time.

Naf: Not!

Thomas: I like playing soccer as well. Besides that we like going out to party, dance and have a good time.

Naf: Basically we like to rock tha party.

When you look back on the past five years, what is the most memorable moment in your career?

Thomas: That's a tough one. There are a lot of moments for me. Performing with Westlife in Dubai and Bahrain was huge. But so were some of our huge shows in India and Pakistan. I can't settle for one as you can tell. I loved New York and Hong Kong, for example.

Naf: For me it was the IIFA awards 2005 in Amsterdam. We performed and all the big Bollywood stars came over and said they were big fans of our music. That was huge for me.

Thomas: Yeah, it was cool. Funny for me as well, because I also knew a lot of them from watching Indian TV, but if I should put myself in Naf's shoes, it would probably be like if Robert DeNiro came up to me and said he was a big fan of my music. Crazy.

The Bombay Rockers have come a long way since 2002. What are your plans and hopes for the future?

Naf: We've had some offers to star in some Bollywood movies. It didn't fit our style, but if the right one comes along we'll definitely do it. It could be so much fun and a step up, careerwise.

Thomas: Yeah, and pretty cool for me personally as well. Who could have predicted a white guy like me starring in a Bollywood movie a couple of years ago? People would think I was insane. But now it's actually more than likely.

A final question: to you what is life about?

Thomas: Life for me is all about living it out to the fullest. I'm very focussed on achieving my goals. I wanna leave my mark, and besides that of course enjoying myself. All the travelling has been a blessing. It has brought me so many experiences. You can't put a price on that.

Naf: I meditate a lot, and I love achieving that inner peace. I'm religious, so God is a big part of my life. Other than that, I try to live my life to the fullest, and live for the moment.

City talk

Thomas Sardorf from the Bombay Rockers speaks about Dubai saying: "Our first [album] release besides Denmark was in Dubai. It was also the first place we played abroad.

"There's no city that resembles Dubai anywhere on earth. There's gold, amazing building construction everywhere you look, and they keep building and building."

Navtej Singh Rehal said: "People are very friendly, and the times we've been here we've received nothing but love."