Daler Mehndi (, ), born August 18, 1967, is a bhangra/pop singer from India. Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India.

Biography

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Early life and discovery

Born and raised in Patna, India, he began singing at age five and was taught the ragas and Shabad's from the Guru Granth Sahib by his parents. By age fourteen left home to study under his uncle Raahat Ali Khan Saheb to refine his voice and learn the tabla, harmonium and tanpura. Mehndi studied under him for three years. Mehndi lived in San Francisco, United States and worked as a cab driver for a while. He first formed a band in 1991. He initially began by singing ghazaals inspired by the poets Qateel Shifai and Firaq Gorakhpuri. Mehndi married at 19 and has three children.

1995-2006: Popularity and controversy

He eventually switches from classical music to pop, and in 1995 his first album Bolo Ta Ra Ra, with tunes based on those given by his mother, sold half a million copies in four month and 20 million copies total, making him the best selling non-soundtrack album in Indian music history. He received the Award for Voice of Asia International Ethnic and Pop Music Contest in 1994. He also earned Channel V's Best Male Pop Singer Award, which he also recieve in 1996 for Dar Di Rab Rab and in 1997 for Ho Jayegi Bale Bale. He has even appeared in the films Mrityudata and Arjun Pundit. He signed a record-breaking deal with his record company Magnasound for 20.5 million roupes. He has also been a guest star on the new Indian version of Sesame Street known as Galli Galli Sim Sim. Mehndi's is also popular in the United States amongst teenagers, where his album song Tunak Tunak Tun is an Internet phenomenon. 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 has lead to many homages and parodies. Mehndi originally concieved of the music video in response to media statements that he was popular only because of the models in his videos. Tunak Tunak Tun was the first music video to make use of green screen technology in India. His popularity is reflected by the Alliance Draenei race in Blizzard's World of Warcraft, revealed at E3 2006, which appears to be Mehndi's Tunak Tunak Tun dance.

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Mehndi, Daler - Twitter Search

@buddhifree Daler Mehndi FTW! http://tr.im/HKuc
ankurb (Ankur Banerjee) Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:34:27 -0000
@buddhifree Daler Mehndi FTW! http://tr.im/HKuc
After hours of trolling the interwebz, I've come to one conclusion... Daler Mehndi rocks!!! Tunak Tunak Tun 4evarz! @sailormidori
PyroDrake (Ray) Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:39:51 -0000
After hours of trolling the interwebz, I've come to one conclusion... Daler Mehndi rocks!!! Tunak Tunak Tun 4evarz! @sailormidori
[Rated 93%] need kings XI punjab's title song by daler mehndi http://tynt.com/3oBm
attinderdhillon (attinderdhillon) Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:21:46 -0000
[Rated 93%] need kings XI punjab's title song by daler mehndi http://tynt.com/3oBm
Chingado, desde ayer traigo el último éxito de Daler Mehndi en la cabeza. Si Tunak tunak era pegajoso esto es... http://bit.ly/5VD0D8
Chocowawa (Chocowawa) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:46:29 -0000
Chingado, desde ayer traigo el último éxito de Daler Mehndi en la cabeza. Si Tunak tunak era pegajoso esto es... http://bit.ly/5VD0D8
@jaaperific could you teach me to dance like Daler Mehndi?
SulaymanF (Sulayman F) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:16:05 -0000
@jaaperific could you teach me to dance like Daler Mehndi?
ZeeTV: Judges Anandji, Jatin Pandit and Daler Mehndi enter the show in the final of Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Mega Chall http://url4.eu/utdy
zeetvindia (Zee TV India) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:37:18 -0000
ZeeTV: Judges Anandji, Jatin Pandit and Daler Mehndi enter the show in the final of Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Mega Chall http://url4.eu/utdy

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