Bee2
| Bee2 | |
|---|---|
 Bee2 with the electric tumbi in 2016 | |
| Born | Bittu Singh August 24, 1977 London, U.K. |
| Other names | Bee2 |
| 💼 Occupation |
|
| 📆 Years active | 1999–present |
Bittu Singh (born 24 August 1977), known professionally as Bee2, is a British singer, musician, record producer, and songwriter..[1]
Early Life[edit]
Bee2 is the stage name of Bittu Singh, a British Asian musical artist. His father's family were active in music, where his uncles were singers of well-known Punjabi folk songs. Bee2 fell in love with Punjabi folk music, and taught himself to sing and play the tumbi when he was 7 years old. At the age of 14, Bee2 toured the world, performing on stage as a vocalist and tumbi player. By 16, he was Musical Director for Bhangra dance group The Great Indian Dancers[2]
Over the years Bee2’s musical interest intensified. He would engage in vocal training schedules in both Classical Indian and Punjabi folk music genres and began experimenting with his self-taught Tumbi playing skills. As a result he developed and constructed the very first electric tumbi with full range scale which he frequently uses in live performances.
Career[edit]
In 1999, after completing a degree in Sound Engineering at London Guildhall University, Bee2 trained as a sound engineer & music producer with highly celebrated, award-winning producer, musician, composer and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra at Red Fort Studios.[3] He worked on projects with internationally acclaimed singers and musicians such as Gurdas Mann, Ustad Sultan Khan and Pandit Brij Narayan.
By 2001, Bee2 opened his own recording studio ‘The Sound Pipe’ and worked on a number of music projects such as BBC’s Music LIVE and small theatre productions such as Indhu Rubasingham’s ‘The Ramayana’ at The National Theatre, London and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In 2002, Bee2 got his first taste of the West End by working as Indian percussionist for the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Bollywood-themed musical ‘Bombay Dreams’, working alongside Indian composer A.R. Rahman. In 2004, he was responsible for coordinating a directing a team of dhol players for a scene in Gurinder Chadha’s Hollywood movie ‘Bride and Prejudice’ starring Ashwariya Rai.
Bee2 is one of a very few professional tumbi players in the UK.[4][5] This has lead to many collaborations with many artists where Bee2 was able to lend his tumbi playing skills. In 2005, he toured Europe and World Music festival circuit alongside The Dhol Foundation culminating with and appeared on The Dhol Foundation’s album Drum-Believeable. In 2009, he toured the UK, performing alongside Graham Coxon, singer-songwriter and founding member of rock band Blur, as part of the Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble. In 2016, he appeared on the album Happy Machine[6] for Bosnian band, Dubioza Kolecktiv.[7] Bee2 also performed the Tumbi live on stage alongside Naughty Boy’s 2017 performance for BBC Asian Network Live.
Bee2 is no stranger to the live music circuit[8] and over the years he has bought the tumbi to the stage at Womad, Glastonbury and the Reading Festival. His promotion of the tumbi led to television and radio presenter Bobby Friction, nicknaming him ‘The Jimi Hendrix of the Tumbi’, and Bee2 continues to promote the musical instrument he has loved since childhood.
Music[edit]
Bee2 released his first album Recorded Delivery in 2001 with Fantronic Records. It was the first album recorded at The Sound Pipe Studios with all eight tracks composed and produced by Bee2. In 2003, his second album It’s All A Game[9] was released by Metro Music, again Bee2 composed, and produced all tracks. BEE2’s third album Jatta Get Ready, released in 2004 with Nupur Audio, saw the introduction of Bee2 to India where the single, Jatta Khich Tiyari, received wide mainstream airplay.[10] His next album, Edited by Faith was released in 2005 by Genie Records.
In 2005, Bee2 established ‘The Sound Pipe Records’ focusing on producing music from Bhangra, Asian Urban to Punjabi Folk and Sikh Classical. The label’s first album ‘Look Again’ by Taj-E was released in 2005 followed Bee2’s fifth album, Beedazzled released in 2006. Bee2 continued to concentrate on the label but found time to work on projects released through The Sound Pipe Records. In 2007, he collaborated alongside Rashi on the Desi Vibes single Baba Veh. That year he followed it up by collaborating with Miss Pooja on the single Majujane by DJ Phonenixx. In 2009, Bee2 featured on the single BIG, from the album Sik N Twisted by Taj-E. They worked together releasing many more singles through The Sound Pipe such as Dar Ladga[11] and Chak Glassy in 2011, and Jalebi and Bappu Veh in 2012.[12] In 2015, Bee2 released his sixth album Unstoppable in India with Nupur Audio.
From 2016, Bee2 focused on writing and producing music for other artists in Delhi and Punjab while writing and composing his own songs. In 2016, he wrote and produced Selfie released by PTC Punjabi. The following year he released the single Much Talwar which was also released by PTC Music, and Yalla with T-Series.[13] 2019 saw the release of Kingpin, followed by Nut Loose, both released with T-Series.[14]
Discography[edit]
Albums[edit]
- Recorded Delivery (2001)
- It’s All A Game (2003)
- Jatta Get Ready (2004)
- Edited by Faith (2005)
- Beedazzled (2006)
- Unstoppable (2015)
Singles[edit]
- "Baba Veh" featuring Bee2 & Rashi (2007) – The Sound Pipe Records
- "Majujane" featuring Bee2 & Miss Pooja (2007) – The Sound Pipe Records
- "Nach Bhabiye" (2010) – Venus Records
- "Dar Lagda" (2011) - The Sound Pipe Records
- "Chak Glassy" (2011) – Indya Records
- "Selfie" (2016) – PTC Music
- "Much Talwar" (2017) – PTC Music
- "Yalla" (2017) – T-Series
- "Hola" (2018) - Times Music
- "Suit Salwar" (2018) – PTC Music
- "Kingpin" (2019) - T-Series
- "Nut Loose" (2019) – T-Series
References[edit]
- ↑ "Bee2 - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music". BBC. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "DECADES OF MUSIC | The Southall Story". www.thesouthallstory.com. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Mantra: Musical Conversations Across the Indian Ocean - Kuljit Bhamra, Orlando Consort | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Tumbi", Wikipedie (in čeština), 2014-06-11, retrieved 2020-01-01
- ↑ "Get Ur Phryg On! Demystifying Timbaland and Missy Elliott's Famous Beat". Soundfly. 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Happy Machine – Koolarrow Records". koolarrow.com. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "About us". Dubioza Kolektiv. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Alchemy Festival showcases Indian culture". DESIblitz. 2010-04-07. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "BEE2 – Its All A Game | World Music Central.org". Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Bee2 trying to make big with bhangra in India:". nriinternet.com. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "The Punjabi Halloween Playlist - Some Scary Some Just Strange -". 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Heartbeat - brand new single by Taj E & Bee2 - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "YALLA YALLA | (Bee-2 & Taj-E) - New Punjabi Song | Official Video". Chandigarh Metro. 2017-06-24. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ↑ "Nut Loose - Bee2, New Punjabi Song (T-Series Apna Punjab) -". 2019-08-11. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
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