Two young boys — a music director and a singer; but music isn’t the only common factor between the two. Besides music, they have a common godfather too, Bollywood lyricst Kumaar aka Rakesh Kumaar, who has been instrumental in helping them taste fame. Meet the two emerging musicians of the world
of Punjabi music. Jassi Katyal, 28, Jalandhar Jassi was always interested in music, so much so that he gave up studying for his computer degree midway and started teaching sound editing at a company called Multimedia Creations in Jalandhar when he was all of 22. “After working there for two years, I became a sound engineer at Radio Mantra, Jalandhar. That’s where I met Kumaar bhaji who had come for an interview. I made him listen to a few songs that I had remixed and after listening to them, he encouraged me to work in Bollywood,” says Jassi. Jassi’s first project was the title track of Punjabi movie Mar Jawan Gur Khake in 2010. He has since worked on four songs for the upcoming Punjabi film Yamley Jatt Yamley. Currently, Jassi is reeling in the appreciation he is receiving for the music of Punjabi film Jatt & Juliet 2’s song Akhiyaan. “I have composed music for three songs of upcoming Punjabi film Jatt Airways, which will be sung by Sonu Nigam, Master Saleem and one item number by Sonu Kakkar. Punjabi movie Young Malang also has music and rap done by me as does the film Desi Dude, for which I lent music to four songs,” Jassi informs.

Not just Pollywood, Jassi has also had the chance of making music for Bollywood. He shares about his stint in the Hindi film industry, “A project that I’m eagerly waiting for is Santa Banta, starring Boman Irani and Vir Das. Again, it was Kumaar bhaji who pushed me to make music for the song Tuti Boldi, which he has written the lyrics of. The song was liked by Santa Banta’s filmmakers so much that they gave me two more songs to work on. One of these is a romantic number called Ishq Karle, sung by Mika and shot in Fiji, and the other is Hit Kardi Naina Wali, an item song sung by Diljit Dosanjh.” Jassi will also deliver music to Hindi film Zalim Dilli. Amber Vashisht, 20, Ludhiana One-song old Amber shouldn’t be taken lightly. Having already tasted the charm of fame after his song Akhiyaan from the recently released Punjabi film Jatt & Juliet 2 became popular, Amber is raring to go. Currently a student of bachelor’s in performing arts at Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, the upcoming singer tells us, “Akhiyaan was initially a dummy song for the film. Dummy songs are usually heard by the main singer so that he can ascertain the lyrics and music of the track. But when Diljit Dosanjh heard the song, he really liked it and said my voice should be retained in the song,” says Amber. A self-taught singer, Amber will next be singing a solo track written by Kumaar, whose music is given by Jassi Katyal. The singer says it will be out in a month.