Every so often, an Indian song or film hits a global nerve and finds its way beyond the already huge market of Bollywood and the diaspora, suddenly appearing in the international charts. The British DJ Panjabi MC did it with his massive hit Mundian to Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys), which was picked up for a remix by Jay-Z. A R Rahman had a phenomenon on his hands with Slumdog Millionaire's famous track Jai Ho, particularly when repurposed as a Pussycat Dolls track. Cornershop's Brimful of Asha topped the charts when remixed by Fatboy Slim.
One of the more ubiquitous of these breakout tracks was Snoop Dogg's Singh isKinng, the title track from the 2008 Akshay Kumar film. Its earworm-worthy refrain and hip-hop-meets-bhangra production came courtesy of RDB - Rhythm, Dhol, Bass - one of the most successful production teams to come out of the Indian tradition, and certainly the most successful to come out of Britain's northern city of Bradford.
Over the course of 10 years, RDB have gone from local UK bhangra DJs to in-demand Bollywood music producers to working with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Ludacris. They have also experienced a recent tragedy that left the worlds of bhangra and Bollywood reeling: in May, their brother and leading light, Kuly, died in Houston after a year-long battle with brain cancer. The remaining brothers, Manj and Surj, have released two free-to-download tribute songs, Yaadan and Tut Gaya Dil, featuring MC Smooth and Nindy Kaur, and are encouraging their fans to donate to Brain Tumour UK.
"Cancer is such a swear word in this day and age, but it hits everyone in some way," says Surj. "Everybody has a story about cancer, and it's so sad to hear; it's a common conversation right now. We tried to tackle it with Kuly for over a year, and unfortunately didn't succeed. I wouldn't wish it upon my enemies, I'll be honest with you."
Surj and Manj have not only lost a dearly loved brother, but a musical collaborator as well.
"Kuly was RDB," says Surj, emphatically. "He was the head, the master, the guy who originated it all. It was his idea originally, when a track needed to be started; it was his creative ideas."
For Surj, who still lives in Bradford, and Manj, who has moved to Toronto, the continuation of RDB without Kuly is a tribute to his musical legacy, and a few months on, they are about to embark on a tour to India, Pakistan and North America, as well as finally complete their long-awaited fourth album Worldwide.
There's no doubt that Surj and Manj remain thrilled by music. Surj confirms two forthcoming collaborations with major American artists, though the details are top secret. Both brothers continue to work with Bollywood, which explains the delay on their album: "We've been working on Worldwide for three or four years now," says Surj. "Every time we finish a track Bollywood comes along and say 'Oh, that's a nice track, we'll take that, thank you very much'."
And when the success of their songs outstrips the films they're featured in, you can't blame RDB for enjoying the ride. "We did a big banger called Aloo Chaat," says Surj. "The film Aloo Chaat didn't do very well but the track exploded all over the world. To this day I think it's my personal favourite. You just say the words 'Aloo Chaat' at a concert and people go crazy. And when you're standing in front of 50,000 people and you say, 'Put your hands up', they really do react. It's a great feeling. I don't think anything compares to it."
The duo are not simply leaving their painful past behind, though: far from it. They are intent on working their way through Kuly's ideas in parallel with their own, as a lasting tribute to the man and the musician.
"In the studios he used to have creative ideas every two minutes," says Surj. "So he'd have an idea and put something together in the studio and then leave it, store it, and then start another one. He was constantly coming up with new ideas and me and Manj would go, 'Hold on, Kuly, slow down, you're giving us so many ideas! We can't produce them all!'"
"Kuly's passing has really brought people's true feelings out," Surj adds. "He was always positive, always graceful. It's only after his death you realise that people have been affected all over the world by this one guy, not because of his music but who he was as a person. So now it's mine and Manj's job to continue. We're not going to stop, for his sake. We're going to go on in his name, his legacy."
For details on RDB's tour, album and singles, visit www.rdbmusic.com
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Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
