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If there is an Asian band that has blended east with west in an exotic groove and has shown sheer innovation and musical talent in their rapid ascendancy to musical stardom it has to be THE SAHOTAS.
THE SAHOTAS originally started performing Asian classical music called
Ghazals. During their academic years together John Biddulph head of their schools music
department soon realised the brothers musical potential. They entered The National
Festival of Youth representing their secondary school Valley Park in Wolverhampton. This
resulted in them winning the festival and being one of two acts chosen to perform at the
school prom's in 1987 held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
At this stage of their musical career their were only three member's, Surjit Sahota on vocals, Mukhtar Sahota on keyboards, Raj Sahota on Tabla.THE SAHOTAS recorded their first album, 'Gidda Pao' (which means Clap your hands) in their school holiday's. Then a recording agreement was signed with Multitone Records the largest Asian record company based in Hayes, Middlesex. The album did well and established them world wide as a Bhangra band in the British Asian Music Industry.
By this time three more members had joined the newly formed band, Prakash Sahota on Drums, Vijay Sahota on Keyboards and a friend Riley Daley on Bass Guitar. The band were now regularly performing at Bhangra shows across the country. A year later with the release of their second album, 'Sahota Beat' charted at number one in the Asian charts. They also toured England selling out at every venue.
Then a third album called, 'Ajaa' (which means Cum on) was recorded
which was the most successful of all the albums. It charted at number one in the Asian
charts for five weeks and was awarded platinum and gold discs. The album sent a new groove
to Asian dancefloors world wide. The band also released a E.P called, 'Are You Feeling'
which was also successful and the band performed with one of the songs on television.
THE SAHOTAS also appeared on a number of television programmes. They got
a good response from audiences who were watching at the time and created a firm fan base
with western audiences. The Record Company were so pleased with their success that they
were asked to record a fourth album called, 'Ishk' (which means Love). It was very
successful and charted at number one and stayed in the top ten for five months in the
Asian charts. At this time Riley Daley had to leave the band due to family commitments so
another bass player Samuael Roberts joined the band.
THE SAHOTAS have won awards for Up Coming Band by the Asian Pop Awards in 1991. The most recent award was for Innovation by the Bhangra Accolades in 1993.In 1992 THE SAHOTAS left Multitone Records due to financial problems and signed a recording agreement with I.R.S Records who want Bhangra to crossover into the Western Music Industry.
The recording agreement came about when Mukhtar and Surjit Sahota, who had written and produced the four albums and E.P., decided they were to write a track which would have the right musical strategy to crossover into the mainstream. That track was 'Out of Reach' and the lyrics were by long time friend John Tranter. A copy of the song was sent to Miles Copeland of I.R.S Records, he showed a great deal of interest in the band and this led to the signing of the recording agreement
A crossover album "Right Time" followed breaking in to the mainstream top 100. This was closely followed by a nation-wide tour with top reggae band Aswad.Then followed "Suniye" which spent six weeks at the top of the Asian charts.
Now "Decade", released to mark the band's tenth anniversary, is selling well all over the world and has received great critical acclaim. Finally the single "Maa da Pyar" is the sad ballad reflecting on the death of their mother in the summer of 1997. It has been released as a charity fundraiser.
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