Born in India, brought up in Canada, and now, back in India - Gurjit Rahal’s rekindled the relationship after living for 15 years in Toronto. “I had to come back to my roots someday,” smiles this brand-new Punjabi singer who has cut his first album Peenghan Pyar Diyan with Universal Music. “Although I have no background in music, my passion for it got me learning six years back,” Rahal mentions his Guru Mahesh Malwani in Toronto, and the many legends who’ve inspired him to sing. “I come from a land which has offered Punjabi stars of the highest acclaim; right from Harbhajan Mann to Debi Makhsoospuri, Jazzy B to Gursewak Mann,” he’s hoping to be the next big thing! Meanwhile, all these years Gurjit’s been performing in Canada in various community shows and events. Last year, he started working on his musical debut album with the help of Manpreet Tiwana (a well known Punjabi lyricist) and music director Sukhpal Sukh. “The album’s been recorded in Spain with folk and hip hop flavour, and Sukhpal has recorded the sound at the Parrot House Studio in Spain, the studio from where he has belted out 35 hit albums till date,” tells Rahal. As for the songs, they are a blend of traditional Punjabi folk and progressive electronic beats. “We aim to provide high quality entertainment throughout the album, right from a rural audience to the iPOD audience,” he adds. While Peter Ware from Parrot House has done the final mix, the videos were shot by Navraj Raja, who has been part of Punjabi videos for Sukhshinder Shinda, Nacchattar Gill and the most recent video Jazzy B’s, Rambo. “We shot the ‘Peenghan’ video complete with the monsoon backdrop at the Khalsa Heritage College in Amritsar, the same place where Shahrukh Khan shot for ‘Rab ne bana di jodi’!” Gurjit signs off.