Dancehall superstar Mr. Vegas has joined forces with Punjabi superstar Sonu Nigam for a high-octane collaboration. The collaboration is a mix of Vegas' top ten dancehall hit, Gallis, on a uptempo, drum-happy Punjabi rhythm. Sonu is the Punjabi singer is a highly acclaimed Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Telugu movies.
The collaboration blends dancehall with a whole new genre of music, opening up markets and possibilities for promotion on at least three continents.
"The song is already playing on BBC Radio One, the national station in the UK during their Punjabi music segment where Indian music is played. It has not officially been released yet but already, we're getting great feedback from the song in the UK," Vegas said.
Mr. Vegas said that the collaboration came as a result of a mutual friendship between his lawyer and a representative of Sonu Nigam.
"Well, it just happened by fate, I was speaking to my lawyer and she knows Sonu's representative in America, and I am open to any kind of music. She asked me if I would be open to the idea, I told her yes, I am always open to different kinds of music, I have done collaborations with Looney Tunes and with Machel Montano in soca. When she introduced us, we decided to do something on this track that we recorded on and that's how it came about," Vegas said.
For his part, Sonu Nigam said that music fans enjoy the mixing of different genres of music, resulting in colliding cultures, sounds and experiences, which if expertly done, can create a dazzling cocktail of sounds for the 21st century.
"When I get involved in any project, there's something I am doing with Akon, there's something coming up with Shaggy, I want to bring my touch to it, that's what's called a perfect blend...I bring a whole school of music with me. People want to see what the style of two different music styles sound like," Sonu told the audience during broadcaster Nihal's radio programme on BBC Radio One last week.
Vegas is a whiz at making songs with broad crossover appeal as evidenced by his experimentations with soca with Machel Montano, with Hispanic music with hitmaking producer Looney Toons from Puerto Rico and most notably with House music artiste Anani, a collaboration song which hit #2 on the Billboard House charts.
Mr. Vegas has appeared on several Reggaeton mixtapes in that community, especially after his Pull Up song inspired Pitbull to score a major US chart hit with Culo which has a similar melody. Mr. Vegas has consistently scored hits in the US marketplace ever since jumping into the spotlight with 'Nike Air'. Songs such as 'Heads High", had a successful chart run in the UK and a #69 peak on the Billboard R & B chart.
Mr. Vegas plans to shoot a video in India and a world tour to support the song. Sonu will soon return to the United States where he will be working on other international collaborations. Vegas will be gearing up for a series of award shows where he has received multiple nominations for his sterling work over the last 12 months.
