The UK music scene is seeing fresh energy with Indian origin band Masti, known for mixing Punjabi beats with popular English songs. The group has grabbed attention again after releasing Jingle Balle, a Punjabi version of the classic Christmas song Jingle Bells. The track is performed by DJ Aamir Ran along with his father, Amjad and uncle Surinder. While the trio are getting praised for the beautiful blend. Things got even bigger when the trio performed the song live on BBC One.
Aamir, Amjad and Surinder performed the track with the same passion shown in their video. Listeners say the band managed to add a Punjabi touch without changing the happy feel of the original song.
The video posted on Instagram came with the caption, “Masti’s first live
BBC TV appearance!! We were on BBC One East Midlands.”
Reacting to the post, a user wrote, “Atleast they are in the spirit of Christmas. Not trying to destroy it.”
Another shared, “Nothing wrong with adding a bit of masala to Christmas.”
“Jesus was not European, he was from the Middle East, so idk why people think Christmas songs should sound European. Nice to see some rep for our Indian and Pakistani Punjabi (and overall desi) Christians,” a comment read.
An individual stated, “I’m jamming, love this better than the American version.”
One more jokingly asked, “The guy looks like Jay Sean?”
According to Mirror UK, DJ Aamir Rana formed the band because he wanted to see his father, Amjad and uncle Surinder perform on stage again. The two were part of a band called Nayi Roshni in the 1980s. Amjad later stepped away from music after becoming a father. Years later, the trio came together and found success once again. Their music has connected with many, and they are now a popular choice to perform at events, festivals, parties and weddings.
Revealing how Jingle Balle came to life, Aamir explained, “We were asked to create a Christmas song for a BBC event last year. We chose to reimagine Jingle Bells, which we performed. We then created a video for fun to go with it and I posted it online. I woke up to half a million likes, the number kept going up and it just exploded into the millions. The video spread like wildfire on TikTok and even reached Pakistan, India, Italy and Fiji.”
“No one has managed to bridge the gap between mixing English songs with Bhangra anthems. You’ve got my dad singing in Punjabi and Hindi with me on the English vocals, intertwining the two. There is a lot of chemistry on stage and the audience love that. I grew up listening to my dad’s songs and I kept saying to him, “I’ll get you back on that stage one day’, he’d just laugh,” the DJ added.
Masti has also won the Best Band title at the UK Bhangra Awards 2024.
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