Pagol

The song

Pagol came out in 2019, the same year as Deep Jandu’s collaboration with the rapper Divine, Bombay To Punjab. It was not the pair’s first record together: Wikipedia’s discography of Bohemia lists a run of Jandu productions featuring him from 2016 onwards, including Jandu’s own single Good Life.

Wikipedia’s discography of Bohemia lists the track as Pagol (Bengali), and an artist biography on Shazam describes it as a Bengali-infused single. The same discography credits the music to J Statik.

The video and its award

The music video was co-directed by Rupan Bal, with Rubbal GTR, according to Wikipedia’s article on Bal, which describes him as an Indian-Canadian YouTuber, actor and director who has made videos for Karan Aujla, Jazzy B, Deep Jandu and Bohemia.

On 2 November 2020, PTC Punjabi reported that Pagol had won Best Music Video at that year’s PTC Punjabi Music Awards. Held online, the ceremony was organised by the PTC Network and broadcast on television and on PTC Punjabi’s Facebook page. Wikipedia’s list of Bohemia’s awards records the same win.

About Deep Jandu

Deep Jandu is a Canadian record producer, rapper and singer, and the founder of the record label Royal Music Gang. DESIblitz describes his sound as urban hip-hop infused with Punjabi elements. After his first album as a singer in 2011, he turned to producing and music direction for other artists in the middle of the decade, then returned to singing in 2017. His work on the Channa Mereya soundtrack later earned a nomination for Best Music Album at the Filmfare Awards Punjabi.

The Tribune counts his December 2019 collaboration with Divine on Bombay To Punjab as the move that many Punjabi singers followed in 2020.

About Bohemia

Bohemia, whose real name is Roger David, has parents from Pakistan; Wikipedia gives his birthplace as Karachi and records that he moved to the United States at 13. Dawn credited him in 2010 with bringing Punjabi rap into mainstream music, beginning with his debut album Vich Pardesan De in 2002, followed by Pesa Nasha Pyar in 2006 and Da Rap Star in 2009.

Although some would label him the father of Punjabi rap, he told The Tribune in 2018 that he prefers to be seen as its big brother, and that he would rather be called a shayar, a poet, than a rapper.

In Emblem World, Pagol sits in the India music collection, where people discover and rate local food, drink and music.