Tunak Tunak Tun

Last updated

"Tunak Tunak Tun"
Tunak Tunak Tun Cover.jpg
Single by Daler Mehndi
from the album Tunak Tunak Tun
ReleasedFebruary 28, 1998
Genre Bhangra music, Indi-pop
Length4:16
Label
Songwriter(s) Daler Mehndi
Music video
"Tunak Tunak Tun" on YouTube

"Tunak Tunak Tun" or simply "Tunak Tunak", is a Bhangra/Indi-pop song by Indian Punjabi artist Daler Mehndi, released in 1998. It was the first Indian music video made using chroma key technology. [1]

Contents

The song and the video were a success in India, cementing Mehndi's status as India's biggest and most popular popstar at the time. [2] It later gained international success and garnered a cult following, [2] especially after it became an internet meme in the 2000s. [3] [4]

Background

The "Tunak Tunak Tun" lyrics are a reference to the sounds made by a tumbi (also called tumba), a traditional musical instrument from the Punjab region in the northern Indian subcontinent. [5] The lyrics also refer to the ektara or tuntuna.

Music video

Mehndi claims his music was often criticized for only being popular due to the abundance of beautiful, dancing women in his videos. [1] The singer responded by creating a video that featured nobody but himself. The music video was the first made in India using bluescreen technology, [1] which allowed the singer to superimpose his image over various computer-generated backgrounds including desert and mountain landscapes as well as St. Basil's Cathedral.

The music video was produced on a budget of ₹25 million [6] ( $610,000), [7] equivalent to ₹113 million ($1.52 million) adjusted for inflation.

The music video follows a simple plot about four men, all played by Mehndi, who represent the four classical elements and dress in lavish Indian clothing. The earth Mehndi wears red/maroon, the fire Mehndi wears orange, the wind Mehndi wears brown, and the water Mehndi wears green. The men start off as comets made of water, earth, air, and fire before transforming into clothed Mehndis. Each of the Mehndis take turns singing, dancing and pointing at each other as though they are discussing something. The Mehndis later fuse by first reverting to their comet states and then merging to form one big Mehndi, who is predominantly clad in garb of gold and emerald.

As of 1 October 2022, the music video has received over 200 million views on the Sony Music India channel at YouTube. [8]

Reception

The song and the music video received a negative review from Rashtriya Sahara magazine in 1998. [9] Despite this, the song became an incredible commercial success in 1998, becoming the biggest Indi-pop hit at the time. [2]

By 1999, the song found an international cult following, particularly among the South Asian diaspora in countries such as the United Kingdom and United States, as well as in Far-Eastern markets such as Japan. [2] In China, it attained popularity for its lyrics, which sound like nonsensical words, gaining the song the Chinese name, "我在東北玩泥巴" ("I'm playing with mud in Northeastern China"). [10]

In the 2000s, "Tunak Tunak Tun" found greater international popularity on the internet as a viral video. In response, the video game company Blizzard Entertainment incorporated the "Tunak Tunak Tun" dance as a character animation in their multiplayer role-playing game World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in 2007. [11] This dance is also included as an easter egg in the video game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Spearhead . [12]

Chart performance

Chart performance for "Tunak Tunak Tun"
Chart (1998–2016)Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [13] 28
India Hit Singles1

Related Research Articles

Bhangra is a type of non-traditional music of Punjab originating in Britain, specifically Southall. It is a type of upbeat popular music associated with the Punjabi diaspora in Britain. The style has its origins in the folk music of Punjab as well as western pop music of the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to this musical fusion, Bhangra existed only as a dance form in the native Punjab. This Punjabi music was unique in that it was not traditional nor did it seek any authenticity. While the traditional folk music of Punjab has a set of melodies that are used by various singers, Bhangra was a form of strict "band culture" in that new melodies were composed for each song. Therefore, the musicians were as important as the singers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daler Mehndi</span> Indian singer (born 1967)

Daler Singh, better known as Daler Mehndi, is an Indian singer, songwriter, author, and record producer. He has helped to make Bhangra popular worldwide, as well as Indian pop music independent of Bollywood music. He is best known for his dance songs, voice, turban, and long, flowing robes.

Kompressor was a parody industrial hip hop act (2000-2005) performed by "Andreas K.", a stagename of webcomic artist Drew Fairweather from Washington Court House, Ohio, United States.

Jawahar Wattal is an Indian cultural entrepreneur, music director and producer, best known for being a pioneer in the Indian non-filmi music field and for shifting the focus of the industry to Delhi. He has worked with singers Baba Sehgal and Daler Mehndi in the 1990s. Over the years he has composed 3,000 jingles, given music for television series like, The World This Week, Himalaya Darshan and Ru Ba Ru, besides he has composed 73 music albums out of which 19 have gone multi-platinum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed Zahur Khayyam</span> Indian music director and composer (1927–2019)

Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi, better known mononymously as Khayyam, was an Indian music director and background score composer whose career spanned four decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian pop</span> Pop music produced in India

Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema. Indian pop is closely linked to Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and the Asian Underground scene of the United Kingdom. The variety of South Asian music from different countries are generally known as Desi music.

Malkit Singh, MBE is an England-based Punjabi bhangra singer. Born in Hussainpur and raised in Nakodar, he moved to Birmingham in 1984. Singh was the first Punjabi singer to be honoured with an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He is most famous for the songs "Gur Nalo Ishq Mitha", "Tootak Tootak Tootiyan", "Kurri Garam Jayee", "Dekh li vilyait", "Chal Hun", and "Jind Mahi", the latter two from the soundtrack to the popular film Bend It Like Beckham.

Navtej Singh Rehal, popularly known as Naf, is the lead singer of the Indo-Danish music band named Bombay Rockers. His co-partner is Thomas Sardorf. Rehal delivers the Punjabi vocals and plays guitar and keyboards in the band. His debut album Introducing has gone five times platinum with sales of over 100,000 albums. It was No.1 for 15 consecutive weeks on the Indian album charts.

The Indian Music Industry (IMI) is a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in India. It was founded on February 28, 1936, as Indian Phonographic Industry (IPI). It is the 2nd oldest music industry organization in the world that was involved in protecting copyrights of music producers and supporting growth of music entertainment industry. In 1994, it was renamed as Indian Music Industry (IMI) and represented India at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It is also registered with the West Bengal Societies Registration Act. All major music labels in India are part of this association. Record companies like Loudetone Music, Saregama (HMV), Universal Music Group (India), Tips Industries, Sony Music India, Virgin Records, Magnasound Records, Aditya Music, Times Music, Zee Music Company and T-Series several other prominent international, national and regional labels are part of the IMI. The IMI represents over 75% of all legal music sales in India.

Foji(Punjabi: ਫ਼ੋਜੀ, foji) is a Birmingham-based Punjabi singer, writer and producer,. First rising to fame in 2010 with hits such as Dafa Hoja and Bruah, Foji has continued with a number of successful releases and has featured in the top 3 of the Official Asian Download Chart for longer than any other bhangra artist. Foji Gill was sentenced to five years imprisonment for committing offences related to money laundering in April 2015 until January 2019.

<i>Bombay</i> (soundtrack) 1994 soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman

Bombay is the soundtrack to the 1995 Indian film of the same name, with eight tracks composed by A. R. Rahman. The film was directed by Mani Ratnam, and stars Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, while the soundtrack album was released on 24 December 1994 by Pyramid. The Indian film was originally a Tamil film dubbed into Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. The soundtrack was thus released in multiple languages. The lyrics for the Tamil version were written by Vairamuthu, except for the song "Halla Gulla", which was written by Vaali. The lyrics for the Hindi and Telugu versions were written by Mehboob and Veturi, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chammak Challo</span> 2011 single by Akon and Hamsika Iyer

"Chammak Challo" is a song performed by Akon and Hamsika Iyer, and composed by Akon, Giorgio Tuinfort as well as music director duo Vishal–Shekhar and by Gobind Singh, as a part of the soundtrack for the 2011 Bollywood film Ra.One. It is Akon's first musical collaboration with Indian artists. There are four other versions of the song in the album, including a remix by Abhijit Vaghani, another remix by DJ Khushi and an international version sung solely by Akon. The song, along with the rest of the soundtrack, was officially released on 21 September 2011. However, the song faced controversy when the rough version was leaked on the Internet on 31 May 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folk music of Punjab</span>

Punjabi folk music is the traditional music on the traditional musical instruments of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. There is a great repertoire of music from the time of birth through the different stages of joy and sorrow till death. The folk music invokes the traditions as well as the hardworking nature, bravery and many more things that the people of Punjab get from its gateway-to-India geographical location. Due to the large area with many sub-regions, the folk music has minor lingual differences but invokes the same feelings. The sub-regions, Malwa, Doaba, Majha, Pothohar, and hills areas, have numerous folk songs. Punjabi dance OP Bhangra music which is a genre of Punjabi modern music invented in Britain by the Punjabi diaspora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deewani Mastani</span> 2015 song by Shreya Ghoshal,

"Deewani Mastani" is a song from the 2015 Bollywood film, Bajirao Mastani. The song is composed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and sung by Shreya Ghoshal, while backing vocals were given by Ganesh Chandanshive, Mujtaba Aziz Naza, Altamash Faridi, Farhan Sabri. The lyrics were majorly penned by Siddharth-Garima. Ganesh Chandanshive penned the Marathi lyrics while the Qawwali lyrics were written by Nasir Faraaz. The song features Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra in the video. The movie was dubbed in Tamil and Telugu and hence the song was also released as "Thindaadi Poagiraen" in Tamil and "Mastani" in Telugu on 25 November 2015. Shreya Ghoshal rendered her voice to all the three versions of the song. The song was reprised in MTV Unplugged Season 6 and was also rendered by Ghoshal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guru Randhawa</span> Indian singer and composer

Gursharanjot Singh Randhawa is an Indian singer, songwriter and music composer associated with Punjabi, Bhangra, Indi-pop and Bollywood music. He is known for songs like "Lahore", "Ishare Tere", "Slowly Slowly", and "Tere Te". Guru Randhawa's debut song was "Same Girl" in collaboration with Arjun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saahore Baahubali</span> 2017 song by Daler Mehndi, M.M. Keeravani, Mounima

"Saahore Baahubali" is a Telugu song from the 2017 film Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. Sung by Daler Mehndi, the song is composed by M. M. Keeravani, with lyrics penned by his father Siva Shakti Datta and K. Ramakrishna. Most of the lyrics were composed in Sanskrit.

<i>Bolo Ta Ra Ra..</i> 1995 studio album by Daler Mehndi

Bolo Ta Ra Ra.. is the 1995 debut album of Punjabi-language Bhangra singer Daler Mehndi. The album remains the biggest selling non-film music Indian pop album. The album sold 20 million units, including more than a million in Kerala alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahore (song)</span> Guru Randhawa song

Lahore is a Punjabi Indi-pop single by Guru Randhawa, released by T-Series on 13 December 2017. It is one of the most-streamed songs in India. It has over 1.5 billion views on YouTube. It was recreated by Sachin-Jigar as ''Lagdi Lahore Di'' from the film Street Dancer 3D (2020), voiced by Guru Randhawa and Tulsi Kumar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloodywood</span> Indian metal band

Bloodywood is an Indian heavy metal band from New Delhi, formed in 2016. They began as a parody band that uploaded metal covers of pop songs on YouTube and later wrote their own music. They have cited Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, Alter Bridge, and Limp Bizkit as musical influences.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tunak Tunak Tun". dalermehndi.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Bhangra Beat Transforms Indipop Scene". Billboard . Vol. 111, no. 39. Nielsen Business Media. 25 September 1999. p. 101.
  3. ↑ Rizwan, Sahil (5 December 2016). "How Daler Mehndi's "Tunak Tunak Tun" Became A Global Viral Phenomenon". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  4. ↑ AnjaliGera, Roy (2016). Bhangra Moves: From Ludhiana to London and Beyond. New York: Routledge. p. 91. ISBN   9781351574006.
  5. ↑ "Coffee Run!!! ft. Daler Mehndi! (4 minutes)". deadmau5. 14 March 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2018– via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "Better luck next time: Daler Mehndi". Rashtriya Sahara . Sahara India Mass Communication. 6 (7–12): 147. 1998. With sum of Rs 2.5  Crores Daler was supposed to make Music Video.
  7. ↑ "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average)". World Bank . 1997. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  8. ↑ Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun Video on YouTube
  9. ↑ "Better luck next time: Daler Mehndi". Rashtriya Sahara . Sahara India Mass Communication. 6 (7–12): 147. 1998.
  10. ↑ "我在東北玩泥巴". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "Daler Mehndi Tunaks his way into World of Warcraft". asiancorrespondent.com. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead Easter Egg - Make the Player Models Dance". The Easter Egg Archive. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  13. ↑ "Ultratop.be - Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun". Ultratop . Retrieved 3 July 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.