Niraj Chag is a London-based musical artist and composer. His musical style mixes Indian classical influences with contemporary stylings and layered, complex beats. Niraj's tracks were initially released on the
Outcaste record label and later on his own Buzz-erk label. He has written and produced three albums released under his own name: ''Along the Dusty Road'' (2006), ''The Lost Souls'' (2009) and ''Mud Doll'' (2015).
Biography
Born in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, England, Niraj's first professional experience in music was working on
Mark Hill's label.
Moving to Outcaste Records in London, Niraj released the single "Walk Alone" and contributed four tracks to the album ''Outcaste New Breed''.
Since leaving Outcaste Records, Niraj has worked on the British Asian musical ''Baiju Bawra'', which opened in London's Stratford East Theatre in 2002 and was adapted into a radio play by the BBC Asian Network in 2011 and numerous soundtracks, including, for television, the BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated ''
Power of Art'' (2007), ''The Age of Terror'' (BBC, 2008), ''Darwin's Dangerous Idea'' (BBC 2008), City Beneath The Waves: Pavlopetri (2011), ''
Origins of Us
''Origins of Us'' is a British television series documentary series shown on BBC Two. It is about human evolution and is presented by Alice Roberts.
It consists of three episodes, each an hour long.
* Episode 1: air date 17 October 2011 – B ...
'' (BBC, 2011), Jimmy and The Whale Whisperer (Channel 4, 2012), ''
Rise of the Continents
''Rise of the Continents'' is a British Documentary film, documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 9 June 2013. The four-part series is presented by geologist Iain Stewart (geologist), Iain Stewart. The series hypothesizes how ...
'' (2013),
Our Girl
''Our Girl'' is a British television military drama series, written and created by Tony Grounds, first broadcast on BBC One on 24 March 2013. The series initially starred Lacey Turner as Molly Dawes, a young working-class woman, who joins the B ...
(2013), ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'' (HBO, 2003), The Mystery of Romes X-Tomb (2013), Food Prices: The Shocking Truth (Channel 4, 2014), Worlds Busiest Railway (2015), Six Degrees Of Separation (2015), The Secrets Of Your Food (2017) and, for film, ''
All in Good Time'' (2012).
In May 2006 he released "Bangles", the first song from his album ''Along the Dusty Road'', on the Buzz-erk label. According to notes from his website, "Bangles" was inspired by the journey his grandmother made in migrating to the UK from India via Africa.
''Along the Dusty Road'' was a "pet project" three years in the making, and "Bangles" and "Khwaab" (another song from the album) attracted the attention of new fans less familiar with his earlier work, both songs being playlisted on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and local radio stations
The success of the tracks led to Niraj recording a BBC session at their
Maida Vale Studios
Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London.
It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...
, a live set at the inaugural
BBC Electric Proms
The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate effec ...
, and the song "Nomad" was selected to be the
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
free download of the week in June 2006.
In 2006, Niraj won "Best Asian Underground" at the
UK Asian Music Awards
The UK Asian Music Awards, also known by the abbreviation UK AMA, was an awards show that was held annually in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2012. The awards show has been produced and broadcast by B4U Music since 2008. Awards winners were deci ...
. and in 2007 he composed the music for the Olivier award-winning stage play ''
Rafta Rafta'' (
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
).
Chag's follow-up album ''The Lost Souls'' was released in early March 2009, featuring the singles "Baavaria" and "Ur Jaa." On 24 October 2009 Chag performed in concert with a live band at
LSO St Luke's
St Luke's is a historic Anglican church building in central London, and in the London Borough of Islington. It served as a parish church from 1733 to 1959. It was designed by John James and Nicholas Hawksmoor, and is a Grade I listed building.
...
in London, followed by a concert at the
CBSO Centre
The CBSO Centre is the administrative home and rehearsal centre of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Choruses ( City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus and City of Bi ...
in Birmingham.
Niraj's third album ''Mud Doll'' was released in June 2015 and featured the singles "Rang Diya" and "Sab Qurban".
In April 2010 Niraj launched a new online 'music and life' blog called EasternSoul.net with the intention of 'providing an alternative to the modern trend of throwaway "here today, gone tomorrow" music.' EasternSoul.net features a podcast, interviews and features on contemporary Asian musicians
According to notes from his website Niraj has composed music for over 20 dance productions including
Shobana Jeyasingh
Shobana Jeyasingh (born 26 March 1957 in Chennai) is a British choreographer and founder of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.
Shobana Jeyasingh has been creating dance works for 30 years. Born in Chennai, India, she currently lives and works in London ...
s Where Is Dev?/Classic Cuts(
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
, 2012).
In 2012, Niraj composed the music for the West End Musical ''Wah! Wah! Girls'' and the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
's production of ''
Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
''. In 2014, Niraj composed the music for
The West Yorkshire Playhouse production of ''The Jungle Book'' and, in 2015, he composed the music for
The Royal National Theatre's production of ''Dara''. In 2017, he created the sound design and score for the
RIFCO Arts
Rifco Arts is a theatre company which focuses on bringing British Asian stories to the stage, and audiences from the community into theatres. The company was founded in 1999 by director Pravesh Kumar.
Rifco is an Arts Council National Portfolio ...
production of ''Miss Meena and The Masala Queens''. In 2018, he composed the music for ''The Captive Queen'' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Having worked on the
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
adaptations of The Mahabharata and The Ramayana in 2015 Niraj collaborated with radio production company Wise Buddah to create the new station sound
for the
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...
and in 2017 he created the music for one of
BBC 1's new '
Oneness
Oneness may refer to:
Economy
* Law of one price (LoP), an economic concept which posits that "a good must sell for the same price in all locations".
Religious philosophy
* Oneness Pentecostalism, a movement of nontrinitarian denominations
* Nond ...
' idents featuring a troop of Bhangra dancers.
Discography
* ''Outcaste New Breed'' (Outcaste Records, 1998)
* ''Along the Dusty Road'' (Buzz-erk Group, 2006)
* ''Rafta Rafta Soundtrack Album'' (Buzz-erk Group, 2007)
* ''The Lost Souls'' (Buzz-erk Group, 2009)
* ''Mud Doll'' (Buzz-erk Group, 2015)
References
External links
Official websiteEastern Soul
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chag, Niraj
Asian Underground musicians
Living people
1976 births
Musicians from London
British people of Indian descent