Rani Taj (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

British Pakistani British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...

dhol Dhol (IPA: ) can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes nort ...

player from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, United Kingdom. Although already well known in the Midlands, she rose to international fame in 2010 when she appeared in a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

playing live in the street along with a recording of

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

's song "

Rude Boy Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi, and rudy are slang terms that originated in 1960s Jamaican street culture, and that are still used today. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms ''rude boy'' and ''rude girl'', among other ...

Early life

The youngest of two children, from very early on her mother always called her 'Rani.' The nickname not only stuck but automatically became her stage name. In an interview with 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 ...

, she states that both of her parents were born in Mirpur, Pakistan. During the construction of The

Mangla Dam The Mangla Dam ( ur, ) is a multipurpose dam situated on the Jhelum River in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir. It is the sixth-largest dam in the world. The village of Mangla, which sits at the mouth of the dam, serves as its namesake. I ...

, like most other British Pakistanis, her family were also displaced from their home. One of those was Rani's maternal grandfather who left for Birmingham to look for work in the 1960s. After establishing himself he sent for his wife and children. Rani's mother was four years old when she joined her father in Britain along with her own mother and siblings. Rani's father joined her mother in Britain after they married in 1990. Rani Taj was born in Birmingham in 1993.

Musical influences

Although, Rani played the dhol since the age of nine, her first instrument was the

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

, which she picked up when she was only six whilst at primary school. Towards the end of her primary school career she attended a

Vaisakhi Mela Vaisakhi ( Punjabi: ), also pronounced Baisakhi, marks the first day of the month of Vaisakh and is traditionally celebrated annually on 13 April and sometimes 14 April as a celebration of spring harvest primarily in Northern India. Further, o ...

, where she saw the Dhol Blasters playing dhol. She immediately fell in love with the Dhol and asked her mum to buy her one so she could learn to play it. Subsequently, after leaving school she decided to receive professional training. She spent the first couple of years being taught by Gurcharan Mall of the Dhol Blasters and was later also taught by Harjit Singh of the Azaad Dhol Group. Gurcharan Mall had been a dholak player with the group Apna Sangeet and Harjit Singh had been a tabla player with the Azaad Group. Both groups were pioneers in their own right and were part of the first generation of bhangra music to hit the Midlands. As part of the Dhol Blasters Rani also learned to dance bhangra. To gain further experience and provide a service Rani started to play at all kinds of public events such as festivals, parties and weddings. She initially just wanted to be a regular dhol player like many others but this all changed after her YouTube video went viral.

Notable sessions

In the summer of 2010 Rani stood in a street in

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, Staffordshire, dressed in full Punjabi dress and candidly mixed to this and

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

's 'Pass Out'. This spontaneous mix was recorded and put on YouTube by a friend. People all across the world began watching this video and were shocked as well as pleasantly surprised not only to see a female playing a traditionally male instrument but effortlessly. Traditionally, a male domain Rani Taj has challenged the idea that certain instruments can be played by men only.

Tours

Even though only a teenager, Rani continues to be a role model to young people across the world and pursues her passion for the Dhol. She has also spent tireless hours playing dhol for charitable causes such as the flood relief in Pakistan and the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. After her YouTube video went viral, she was asked to perform at many venues all over the world including at weddings, charity events and nightclubs. To date, she has played Dhol in New York,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Hong Kong,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and all over Britain. Rani Taj performed at New York in live studio session. She performed along with

DJ Rekha DJ Rekha (born Rekha Malhotra, 1971) is a London-born musician, DJ, producer, curator, activist. She has been credited with pioneering Bhangra music in North America. Her first album, ''DJ Rekha Presents Basement Bhangra'', released in October ...

and Zuzuka Poderosa in Bhangraween 2011. She also appeared as a guest in a

program with

Noreen Khan Noreen, or BID 590, was an off-line one-time tape cipher machine of British origin. Usage As well as being used by the United Kingdom, Noreen was used by Canada. It was widely used in diplomatic stations. According to the display note on a s ...

Since 2011 Rani Taj has spent a lot of time with the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

dhol players of Pakistan, namely Gunga and Mittu Sain. She is not only fascinated by the 'Qalandari' style of dhol playing but has played alongside them in various Melas and Darbars all over Pakistan. These include the darbars of

Baba Shah Jamal Syed Shah Jamal Uddin Naqvi Bukhari (Urdu:; 1588–1671) also known as Baba Shah Jamal was a Sufi saint. He is also known as Hussaini Syed. Ancestry Syed Shah Jamal was descendant of Makhdoom Syed Sadruddin Rajan Qattaal, who was a son of Mak ...

, in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, Shabir Shah in Lahore, Baba Lal Shah in

Murree Murree ( Punjabi, Urdu: مری) is a mountain resort city, located in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range, within the Muree District of Punjab, Pakistan. It forms the outskirts of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area, and is about ...

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Hazrat Sayyid Usman Marwandi, (1177 - 19 February 1274) popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (), was a Sufi saint and poet of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was born in Marwand, Sistan to a family from Baghdad ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

, Heera Lal Qalandar Mela in

Gujar Khan Gujar Khan (Punjabi language, Punjabi/ ur, گُوجر خان) is a city in Rawalpindi District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is also the headquarters of Gujar Khan Tehsil, the largest tehsil of Punjab by land area. Gujar Khan is approximately southeas ...

and Datta Mela at Datta Darbar in Lahore.

Dholis Got Talent

At the United Kingdom's biggest

competition held in

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

, near

and organised by Gurcharan Mall, she was invited to become one of the judges of the tournament. Not only was she the only female judge in the final she was also the youngest judge on the senior panel that day.

Early life

Musical influences

Notable sessions

Tours

Dholis Got Talent

References

External links