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Mushtaq Omar Uddin

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Mushtaq
Also known as
  • Mushtaq
  • MC Mushtaq
BornMushtaq Omar Uddin, (1973-08-14) 14 August 1973 (age 51)
London, England
Genres
Occupations
Years active1987–present
Labels
Websitewww.fhosmusic.com

Mushtaq Omar Uddin (born 14 August 1973), also known simply as Mushtaq, is an English music producer, singer, songwriter, and former lead vocalist for British hip hop group Fun-Da-Mental when he was known at the time by his stage name MC Mushtaq.

Career

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Asian Dub Foundation

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As a young boy, Mushtaq joined the community band Joy Bangla as a drummer where he met brothers Sam (State of Bengal) and Deeder Zaman which led to the foundation of the Asian Underground movement provided British Asian youth with a homegrown alternative to the more standard/mainstream Asian dance music fodder of the time, bhangra and Bollywood.[1][2] The collaboration became a regular on the UK electronic music scene through the Nineties and gained more prominence in the new millennium after gaining the attention from the likes of Icelandic singer Bjork and UK trip hop group Massive Attack. The group included Producer and DJ Sam Zaman, his brother Deedar and MC Mushtaq. State of Bengal took off when Zaman composed his best-known track to date, “Flight IC408[1],” which appeared on the 1997 Talvin Singh-helmed compilation Anokha ”“ Soundz of the Asian Underground. The compilation also included another track by Zaman, "Chittagong Chill".[3]

Fun-Da-Mental

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In the summer of 1993,[4] Mushtaq met Aki "Propa-Gandhi" Nawaz and joined Fun-Da-Mental as the lead vocalist under the stage name of MC Mushtaq.[5][6][7] This is the band who have mixed rap and hip-hop with qawwali singing from Pakistan or Gypsy music from Rajasthan, and recorded albums with titles like Why America Will Go To Hell.[8] The bands first album Seize The Time Album was released in 1994 and peaked at No. 74 on the UK Albums Chart. The New York Times concluded that, "if their hard-edged music reflects a growing sense among nonwhites that they have little choice but to abandon traditional passiveness, it also reflects a broader and complicated effort to find an identity that transcends their Britishness."

1990s/2000s: Hip hop & R&B

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During the 1990s, Mushtaq started his career as a "beat maker" in New York for a number '90s hip hop groups, including Cypress Hill, House of Pain and Souls of Mischief. On his return from America, Mushtaq co-wrote and produced several R&B albums. In 2001, he worked on Damage's album Since You've Been Gone, he co-wrote and produced the tracks "I Don't Know" (featuring Emma Bunton), "Good Folk", and "Maria" (featuring Kele Le Roc), and co-wrote "So What If I" (featuring Iceberg Slimm). He co-wrote and produced Mis-Teeq's album Lickin' on Both Sides, including the track "B with Me".[9] Mushtaq worked on Liberty X's album Thinking It Over, Mushtaq co-wrote and co-produced the track "No Clouds",[citation needed] and co-wrote the track "Saturday".[citation needed]. He produced several tracks from Tyler James' 2005 album The Unlikely Lad,[10] including the single "Foolish",[11] and the track "Best for Me" (featuring Amy Winehouse). Mushtaq co-wrote and produced the song "Take Your Time" from Simon Webbe's 2006 album Grace.[12][13][14]

Terry Hall & Mushtaq

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Mushtaq joined in a collaboration with the Specials fun boy Terry Hall; stated as "Two of the pioneers of multicultural British pop are back with a daring, thoughtful set." by the Guardian[15] Mushtaq co-wrote and produced the album The Hour of Two Lights with Terry Hall, released in August 2003.[16][17][18][19][20]

British pop

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Mushtaq co-wrote and produced Amy Winehouse's 2003 album Frank and 2006 album Back to Black, including a remix of the song "Back to Black".[21] Mushtaq produced Skepta's 2012 song "Hold On", the track "Des Mots" (featuring LFDV) from Kery James's 2013 album Dernier MC,[12][13][14] a and 2013 song "On My Way". Mushtaq co-wrote and co-produced Tich's 2013 song "Dumb".[22][23]

Solo album

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On 24 July 2000, Mushtaq's debut solo single "That Feelin'" was released by Mercury Records. This was followed by his debut album released later that year. The album features blues, reggae, funk and classic rock.[24]

Indian pop music

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In 2004, Mushtaq worked on most of Raghav's 2004 album Storyteller[25] and 2012 album The Phoenix[26] including Let’s Work It Out,Can't Get Enough, No; Bad, Bad, Bad and Ain't Nobody[27] The album reached No. 36 on the UK Albums Chart.[28] In 2023, Mushtaq started working with Raghav again after 20 years since Storyteller album was released. He produced Raghav's first come back song since Desperado Raghav's Indo-Canadian's new come back song featuring fellow desi-origin artist Tesher. Produced by Mushtaq, the song samples R.D. Burman's "Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko" (from the 1973 film Yaadon Ki Baaraat) and while it was too done-before for Raghav, the artist says his producer convinced him because they were using the oft-lesser heard Rafi vocal portion for "Desperado".[29] The song which was released in April 2023 garnered over 36,054,388 views on Spotify alone. Besides being a certified hit on the popular video sharing platform, the independently released song managed to pave its way into everyone's heart through.[30] Mushtaq followed with release of Chingari featuring Indian Rapper Divine. The song celebrated Indipop sensation from the 2000s in collaboration with Raghav and Divine, which samples a couple of lines from Kishore Kumar's song Aadmi Jo Kehta Hai from Amitabh Bachchan's 1974 film Majboor.[31] In February 2024 Choro was released on all social platforms.

Personal life

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Mushtaq was born in London to Bangladeshi and Iranian parents.[9] He attended Quintin Kynaston Community Academy and studied sociology at Maria Fedeilis. He later received a scholarship at Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study contemporary composition. Mushhtaq is a Muslim.[18][20]

Discography

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Albums

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Title Album details
The Hour of Two Lights

Singles

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Year Single Label
2001 "That Feelin'" Mercury

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Mr. Sam Zaman". Swadhinata Trust. 28 March 2006. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  2. ^ K, Sanj (20 May 2015). "Sam Zaman: Musician who emerged from London's Asian Underground to work with Bjork and Massive Attack". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  3. ^ Nerm (20 May 2015). "State of Bengal". Rolling Stone India. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  4. ^ Hunt, Ken (7 January 1995). "The Rough Guide to Rock". Billboard. p. 403. ISBN 9781858284576. Fun-Da-Mental
  5. ^ Lavezzoli, Peter (2007). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. Continuum-3PL. p. 344. ISBN 978-0826428196.
  6. ^ Fox, Marisa (7 January 1995). Fun-Da-Mental Sets Sights on U.S. p. 16. {{cite book}}: |magazine= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Hunt, Ken (1996). On the Issues. Vol. 5. Choices. p. 28.
  8. ^ Denselow, Robin (19 July 2003). "Fun-Da-Mental". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b Smith, Sean (2012). Alesha. Simon & Schuster. p. 28. ISBN 978-1471102172.
  10. ^ Cairns, Dan (27 February 2005). "Pop: New Kids in Town: Tyler James". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Tyler James releases Foolish". Music-News.com. 15 February 2005. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  12. ^ a b "Mushtaq Omar Uddin". Irishcharts.com. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Mushtaq Omar Uddin". Austriancharts.at. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  14. ^ a b "Mushtaq Omar Uddin". Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  15. ^ Denselow, Robin (18 July 2003). "Terry Hall and Mushtaq: The Hour of Two Lights". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  16. ^ Denselow, Robin (18 July 2003). "Terry Hall and Mushtaq: The Hour of Two Lights". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  17. ^ Davies, Ollie (21 July 2003). "Terry Hall and Mushtaq The Hour of Two Lights Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  18. ^ a b Harris, Will (8 January 2004). "Terry Hall & Mushtaq: The Hour of Two Lights". PopMatters. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  19. ^ "Terry Hall & Mushtaq – The Hour of Two Lights". Uncut. 1 September 2003. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  20. ^ a b Brown, Jeff (September 2003). "Terry Hall & Mushtaq". CMJ New Music Monthly. p. 50.
  21. ^ "Album release Back to Black (Mushtaq Remix) – Single by Amy Winehouse". Muzoic. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  22. ^ "Tich – Dumb". Female First. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  23. ^ "Tich". Drafted Magazine. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  24. ^ Williamson, Nigel (15 July 2000). Global Music Pulse. p. 67. {{cite book}}: |magazine= ignored (help)
  25. ^ "Raghav's debut album 'Storyteller'". Redhotcurry.com. 6 August 2009. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  26. ^ "Raghav Releases New Album, "The Phoenix"". UrbanAsian. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  27. ^ Rizvi, Husain. "Two decades on, 'Angel Eyes' singer Raghav Mathur hopes for an 'impactful comeback' or he is going to 'die trying'". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  28. ^ "UK Albums Chart", Wikipedia, 20 April 2024, retrieved 22 April 2024
  29. ^ Tagat, Anurag (13 May 2023). "Raghav Talks About Finding a Little Brother in Fellow Artist Tesher After Making "Desperado"". Rolling Stone India. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  30. ^ "Raghav And Tesher Break Down Their Latest Viral Hit Song' 'Desperado' | Exclusive". News18. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  31. ^ "Raghav Mathur calls his track Chingari an ode to hip-hop, shares why he collaborated with rapper Divine | Exclusive". DNA India. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
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