The sound of the Dhol sent Kiran’s pulse racing, her adrenalin pumping and her stomach churning… No matter how hard she’d party to get past the sensation, nothing would conquer the way it made her feel…
…Until one day she realised the only way to conquer the feeling was to conquer the drum!
Hold on a sec: We’re in the early 90s. The Bhangra scene is filled with hairy male musicians, overflowing alcohol and masses of testosterone. Kiran had more chance of convincing her folks to let her tatoo herself from head to toe than to pick up a 15kg beat-making barrel and tour the world with a bunch of sweaty teenaged boys!
Well, if you want something and you want it bad enough… By 1996, with the help of Johnny Kalsi and The Dhol Foundation (and the blessings of her mother after a few harsh words with the band), Kiran was doing just that!
They took the Dhol-crazed Kiran on board and with those boys as her true foundation, she toured some of the most prestigious venues throughout the UK and as far as the Middle-East, Europe and the USA. (Usually in a ‘Kim’ hire van with torn seats, a loose gearbox and a make-do steering wheel, with windows still covered in dried mud from the week before at Glastonbury, departing from Jet petrol station at the top of Southall Broadway)!
…It was because of that van that they almost always arrived just before the stage announcement, jumped on stage and rocked the crowd the best way they knew how…
…It was because of the inability of the band to check the petrol gauge before they left, that after a gig, they almost always found themselves stuck on an unlit country road at 4am!
…But best of all, it was because of those days that Kiran had the honour of gigging with the cream of British-Asian artists including Alaap, Fun^Da^Mental, Transglobal Underground and the 4x4 Dancers.
Her dedication and experience led to a string of performances with one of the UK’s top live Bhangra bands: DCS, Desi Female Hip Hopper: HardKaur, DJ Ritu’s World Music band: Sister India, Des-C from the Mentor Kolektiv and most recently, Sukhshinder Shinda.
The question still left to be answered: Has Kiran managed to conquer the rush she feels from the sound of the Dhol? Like the World, it goes on… nobody knows when it’s going to stop. As the Dhol is her World, she too may never know. But while Kiran waits to find out, she plays on...
