Daler Mehndi
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Daler-Mini-Pic.jpg
Daler Mehndi (Punjabi: ਦਲੇਰ ਮਹਿੰਦੀ, born August 18, 1967) is a bhangra/pop singer from India.
He has created many popular albums in India. He is also quite popular abroad, although his strongest following is in the United States and in South Korea amongst teenagers on the World Wide Web and elsewhere. This cult following was spurred by the music video for Mehndi's song Tunak Tunak Tun, often referred to simply as Tunak, which gained its popularity due to Daler Mehndi's wild dancing and spawned spoof/homages such as LordofDance.com (http://www.lordofdance.com). Daler even has an online Church of Daler Mehndi (http://www.churchofdaler.tk) dedicated to him.
Daler Mehndi specializes in a type of Punjabi-Pop that he infuses with Rababi singing, a Sikh musical tradition. The sound is similar to that of Techno, dance, and house music, with the folk sounds of an Indian tabla being played in the background. He was classically trained as a child by Rahat Ali Khan Saheb of Patiala Gharana at Gorakhpur, India. He is classified officially as a bhangra singer.
The small following that he has received over the internet with American teens is due to the hilarity they see in his clothing and his musical style. The clothing he wears in his videos is designed by himself, and due to the similarity to his name "Daler" and the American Dollar currency, it is difficult for some to make the distinction from Daler as his name and some crude attempt at having a name associated with bling-bling. The clothing style is that of a Punjabi Miami Vice.
Although his name is a homonym with money, his favorite vehicle is a Volkswagen Beetle. He is, however, a collector of rare items, precious stones, and pearls.
Mehndi's music videos abound over the internet, and he has put out numerous albums, all with a smiling Daler sporting a diamond-banded turban on the front cover.
Illegal immigration fiasco
Mehndi was arrested by the Delhi police on the afternoon of December 19, 2003 for allegedly smuggling immigrants abroad. Of the charges, he was accused of accepting money from a man, which, in return, was to receive a musical crew and passage from the country. Daler did not send the man away with a musical crew, because the man had not yet paid the full amount agreed upon. He was later acquitted of the charges of human trafficking.
External links
- Mehndi's official website (http://www.dalermehndi.com/)
- An early comedic music video set to Tunak Tunak Tun (http://www.lordofdance.com/newssi/video/tttentry.shtml)
- Flash animation parody of the original video set to Tunak Tunak Tun (http://www.funfreepages.com/flash/flash.php?f=dollarmending)
- The Universal Life Church of Daler Mehndi (http://www.geocities.com/ulchq)ko:달러 메헨디