“Nobody does it like Yung Singh. He stands as one of the most exciting DJs on the world circuit, having spent the last few years levelling up from local phenomenon to shining global star.”

Refusing to be boxed in by just one sound, Singh’s sets can vary from across the dance music spectrum to hip-hop, rap and everything in between - all blended perfectly with his Punjabi roots. If the last few years are anything to go by, expect the unexpected at a Yung Singh set. 

Awarded DJ Mag’s ‘Breakthrough DJ of the Year’ in 2021 buoyed by a string of viral moments - from an era-defining Boiler Room set to a spontaneous collaboration with singer Raf Saperra at Fabric that now sits in UK club folklore. Singh’s output has helped to re-energise the British Punjabi and South Asian music scene, with several stand-out performances at South Asian focused events cementing his position at the forefront of this resurgence.

Indeed, this ‘cultural responsibility’ has seen Singh contribute to numerous projects bringing to light Punjabi/Sikh & South Asian arts, history and culture. Keen to make sure those that came before are not forgotten - he partnered with the Ministry of Sound to produce ‘The Birth of Punjabi Garage’, a documentary about the much beloved but oft-forgotten sound brought back into focus after his scene shifting Punjabi Garage Mix. Singh has also collaborated with renowned Artist Jasleen Kaur to on sound design for her Sociomobile exhibition, consulted on a BBC Radio 4 Documentary on Partition with Kavita Puri & hosted numerous screenings and panels with Brixton Community Cinema. In more recent months, a truly memorable BBC Radio 1 Residency has captured attention - just like his sets, Yung Singh’s creative output spans disciplines & art forms. 

Showing his artistic range and sharp ear in new regions – with crowd reactions to match, Singh has established himself as one of the most sought-after club DJs & a festival circuit highlight. A position earned thanks to now-legendary performances at some of Europe’s most respected festivals & clubs, including Horst in Belgium, to Barcelona’s Sónar, MELT in Germany, a memorable Glastonbury performance or two and, of course, a ground-breaking debut at Panorama Bar in Berghain to cap it all off. 

With an unforgettable month long Phonox residency under his belt, alongside ferociously energetic shows on his “Global Gabru” tours, including yet another viral Boiler Room, Singh is well placed to continue his relentless trajectory as one of dance music’s most exciting names. 

Now setting sights onto yet more regions, curating his own events and evolving his artistic practice, Yung Singh won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Contact:
enquiries@yungsingh.com

Bookings:
barry@onehouse.com
josh@onehouse.com

Send music:
music@yungsingh.com

Here’s how it happened…

Ekta

Ekta is an event series & future label by Yung Singh, covering the entire spectrum music and culture. Meaning ‘unity’ or ‘oneness’ in the Punjabi language, Ekta aims to use the power of music and arts to bring people and communities together. 

Boiler Room: Southall

Following a surprise appearance for Raf Saperra’s performance, I worked with Boiler Room to ensure the correct terminology and history regarding the importance of Southall and it’s communities were accurately disseminated by curating a series of documentaries, informational slides & co-designed an exclusive t-shirt for a fundraiser Southall Black Sisters & YourSeva Organisation.

Being a predominantly Punjabi area, with an event heavily rooted in Punjabi & Jamaican music/culture, it was incredibly important to me, that the history of Southall, especially of the activism that would massively influence the music & culture Southall would become famous for, was shared.

The original sketch I made (above) versus the final outcome (right).

Punjab flood fundraiser

During the summer of 2023 Punjab and much of the North and North-western regions of India suffered severe flooding. As usual, Sikh and Punjab-based charities were the first to respond, supporting locally organised efforts to stem the tide and fix the damage. 

It was important for us in the diaspora to help so I, alongside @Intsukh organised  a fundraiser by designing 2 t-shirts based on Punjab-centric designs from @turbanoutfitter & @saffronswordart/@artbyjaswinderkaur for YourSeva Organisation.

IICON, Glastonbury 2023

Had the opportunity to headline one of the biggest and most iconic dance music stages at Glastonbury Festival in 2023. I really wanted to do something a bit different and play into the visual elements that the stage incorporated, so put together a set that leant more into the liquid jungle and DnB realm, with lots of Punjabi and Indian classical influences. I received so much incredible feedback from that set & it was probably the biggest crowd (approx.. 10,000 strong?) I’ve ever played to.

BBC Radio 1 Residency

In February 2023 I had the honour of becoming a Radio 1 Resident for their monthly 4 show series.

Across the month I presented 4 shows, each focussing a specific theme or sound that influenced me. Covering everything from post-dubstep to UKG, jungle, DnB and of course, a full Punjabi special, including a vinyl selections mix to finish off.

Boiler Room: Naarm/Melbourne

Currently clocking in over a million views on Youtube, this had another hugely viral moment & helped bring me to a bigger audience. This took place on the Australian leg of my “Global Gabru Tour” – my first proper overseas tour, well, outside of Europe anyways. It was only on this tour that it began to sink in the sort of impact some of the previous achievements had made. 

Hilariously, this wasn’t supposed to be recorded/published (hence why the sound isn’t the best) but with the reaction to that set, we had no choice but to share it. That moment was somewhat of an accident too – I opened the wrong playlist and felt like changing up the vibes. I saw Y U QT and 165BPM and I hit play…

Phonox Residency

In September 2022, I curated 4 sold out shows at my favourite club. Booked some of my favourite artists, covered the spectrum of dance music & even brought out a legend in Talvin Singh for his first DJ set in many many years. Finished the 4th night being carried by the crowd. 4 of the best and most fun shows I’ve ever done. Peep the after movies on my Instagram…

Panorama Bar, Berghain

P Bar twice in one summer. Played a bunch of stuff I know has never been heard in that now infamous building. Was told I was the first Singh to play there too, had to make sure I repped! 


DJ Mag Award

At the end of 2021, I was voted as DJ Mag’s Breakthrough DJ of the Year. Capped a truly memorable & life-changing 12 months.

GT Road, live at fabric

Elijah, the co-founder of the legendary Butterz record label, asked me to curate a takeover of Room 2 for their event at the equally iconic institution that is fabric. During my b2b with Kylin Tyce, a few MC he brought down jumped on the set so I asked Raf Saperra to jump on the mic. 

We were in the middle of a UKG set so I told him to just trust me and we’d work something out. In that moment I knew I had to play @panjabimc - GT Road, as I knew Raf would also know the lyrics from the original by the late great Kuldeep Manak and it would sound sick if he sung it on the UKG version of GT Road.

This was completely spontaneous and unplanned - in some of the photos/and videos you can see me put the headphones on Raf so he’d have some idea of what he was about to sing on. The amazing thing is that people who didn’t see him jump on the mic thought it was a part of the tune - testament to his talent & artistry.

Birth of Garage Documentary with Ministry of Sound

Worked with Ministry of Sound to co-produce a short documentary on the early pioneers from the Punjabi garage/uk bhangra era. 

We asked them to recall how the scene came together & how some of those early tunes came about. time this scene has been spotlighted in such a way, which is unbelievable considering how many global superstars it produced.

I wanted the focus of this to be on the music & community that gave us so many of the tunes we grew up listening to. What you see in the documentary is exactly that - a bunch of seriously talented lads from the North having loads of fun and putting out bangers. 

What I love most about this is how everyone’s personalities really shine through and how the music is infused with that joyous energy & passion. That might seem innocuous but what it represents is lived experience of the British punjabi community that still resonates with us today. Artists being introduced to one another, collaboration, resourcefulness & talent. A proper insight into the culture through the lens of art & community, eschewing the usual tropes forced upon Punjabi artists.

The Doc was co-produced by & Cameron Barsnfield and shot by Preston Hartley. Cam actually did most of the heavy lifting on this & came up with the idea in the first place.

Preston filmed & edited everything. without them none of this is possible. It was really heart-warming & refreshing to see 2 people from outside of the community approach this project with the upmost care & respect, platforming us & our artistry properly, instead of the cliched and pigeonholing narratives we’ve always had to deal with. Thank you to them & all the artists who were involved in this for telling their story.

Yung Singh Presents: Daytimers on Boiler Room

Curated the line up and worked with Boiler Room for what would become the first ever all “South Asian” line up on Boiler Room. Funnily enough it was originally called Yung Singh & Friends but changed the name last minute after the peeps at BR suggested.

The idea I had was to get as many Punjabi DJs in the line up as possible, but ultimately have it make sense from a music/programming point of view. I knew that we’d kick off with the summer sun shining, going into a sunset and night time vibe so wanted the running order & the DJs to reflect that those changing energies. Everyone smashed their sets 

I even ended up doing the entire guestlist, which is partially why it popped off – 90% of the audience was personally invited and understood & felt the magnitude of the occasion culturally & musically. 

I don’t think any of us expected what it ended up becoming. as well being one of the most talked about & viral moments that year, this event was truly a watershed moment and ushered in a new era in dance music post-Covid as well as for the Punjabi & S Asian music scenes & really put Daytimers on the map. To drill home the significance of this moment - my set is currently in Boiler Room’s Classics Playlist alongside some legendary names. Kicked off with a Giddah track, the rest is history!

SnS Members Mix
(The Punjabi Garage Mix)

This mix was the first time I really began to gain some traction on a global scale – recorded and released at the end of 2020 during lockdown. It went on to win a number of accolades, included RA’s Mix of the Day & one of Electronic Beat’s Mixes of 2020. As well as that, this mix was crucial in revitalising that entire genre & the beginning of the new Punjabi & wider South Asian underground revival. 

Part of the reason I put this mix together was all this as a pushback against the dominant narrative in the music scene surrounding the “UKG Revival” which had 0 acknowledgement of the Punjabi artists & scenes (especially in the Midlands and up North) from the late 90’s and early 00s that were massively popular & successful. Naturally, brown artists are always pushed to the margins by the mainstream press, so I dug out the CDs from my childhood and recorded this mix. I ended up posting a few snippets of those tunes on my socials which is when Josh from SnS hit me up to ask I’d like to host the mix on their mix series. 

The other side of this story was borne out of sheer curiosity. We all had a bit more time to reflect on things during lockdown, one day I decided to see if anyone was still making Punjabi Garage – there wasn’t much to be honest, but an artist called 2NV had just dropped his debut mixtape which featured a few UKG bangers, as well as that time coming into contact with Manj a few other producers who I’d end up working with at that time, sharing ideas and so on. 

In the end, the mix was built around a few brand new and unreleased tracks, as well as a few deeper cuts from that era, and some classics too. I wanted to make sure everything in the mix was platformed on the basis of it being a good song, rather than nostalgia, as the intended audience(s) wouldn’t necessarily have that context (either being from a younger generation, or who weren’t aware of this scene before). I ended up eschewing a few of the bigger tunes from that era for that exact reason. 

It all ended up being a perfect storm and gathered enough momentum to set the stage for where I am now 😄 

Currently listening to Yung Singh selects

Currently listening to Yung Singh selects

Recorded sets

Playlists