Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Britney Spears goes bhangra!

September 22, 2003 17:53 IST

Guess who's the newest balle-balle belle on the block?

Britney Spears, of course!

Miss Spears' comeback album, remixed by British Asian producer Rishie Rich, sees her transformed into a mewling sex kitten. And one can't forget her stripped-down photoshoot for Rolling Stone recently.

But while sexuality has always been central to Spears' image, bhangra hasn't. This is the first time her music would resonate with an Asian sound.

Rich feels the demand from music bosses for bhangra-flavoured hits was a response to the large volume of manufactured music dominating the mainstream.

'Bhangra in America has just kicked off, and it's not as big as it is here,' Rich told BBC World Service Radio. 'People are loving the sounds and they want that sound.'

Rich, who has previously mixed songs for Westlife, Ricky Martin and Craig David, said the Britney track arrived in his hands as a commercial pop song. The version he sent back had 'a real street edge with a bit of Asian influence.'

What next? Britney se bachke?

Slim, shady and... guilty?

Just when Eminem seems to be floating clear of past controversies, here's another one to tug at his conscience.

Yes,

conscience. You heard that right.

A 70-year-old woman from Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement against the Grammy-winning rapper who, she says, used a clip from her late husband's composition in a song. 

Harlene Stein claims Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, used a clip from her husband Ronald Stein's Pigs go home in his song, Guilty conscience from The Slim Shady LP (1999), which won a Grammy for Best Rap Album the next year.

Will that interrupt Eminem's show?

Wings clipped, but Chicks unruffled

It wasn't the warmest of welcomes in Scotland for the Dixie Chicks.

The private chartered jet carrying the Grammy-winning trio had just touched down safely in Glasgow, when its wing grazed a nearby building. The aircraft had just flown them from Dublin, Ireland.

But though the plane and the building suffered minimal damage, the Chicks were unhurt, an airport official confirmed.

The Dixie Chicks, comprising sisters Emily Erwin and Martie Seidel and lead singer Natalie Maines, are on their Top Of The World tour, which wraps up on October 4 in Sydney, Australia.

Here's to smooth touchdowns.

Blind Melon