Raf Saperra: A Potential Cultural Phenom?
Raf Saperra breathes new life into his Punjabi folk, early 2000s Bhangra and Hip Hop influences on his new mixtape 'Ruff Around the Edges'. It is an audacious and compelling body of work, which has the power to become a British Asian cult classic.
I came across Raf Saperra at the back-end of 2020, when he released the self-directed music video for ‘G’lassy Riddim’. It was produced by Birmingham born and bred producer, G-Funk, who was one of my close friends at primary school. I’ve since fallen out of touch with him. I only really clicked on the video out of the intrigue, resulting from this loose connection and looking back it has proved to be one of my better decisions; I have been an avid Raf and G-Funk fan ever since.
I love my parents and am immensely grateful for all they’ve done for me over the years. Despite this I have at times struggled with being raised without much real exposure to Asian culture. I don’t know too much about my roots, I lack knowledge of the traditions and can’t speak the language - bar the swear words and insults, which are really fun to say. This has often led to the conundrum of essentially being ‘too brown for the white kids, but too white for the brown kids’.
Luckily I feel I’ve done a pretty good job of getting on with people and generally getting by. I haven’t really felt the need to change parts of my personality or even frantically revise Jazzy B lyrics the night before I’d go to a family function or wedding. However, when I first heard Raf Saperra I was hooked and I felt like I wanted to get involved with more Punjabi culture and learn the language and more about where I came from. These feelings have been compounded by his following releases and debut mixtape last week.
“His mixtape ‘Ruff Around the Edges’ is an ambitious project that showcases his versatility and dynamism as an artist.”
Saperra proves he is as comfortable lending his booming and engaging vocal range to hip hop inspired beats, see ‘Modern Mirza’ and ‘Saperra (Gang Jatt Di)’, as more traditional stripped back qawwali and boliyan numbers, see ‘Table Top Boliyan’ and ‘Mast Qalandar’. Saperra is a real student of Punjabi music and has essentially built a bridge from the era of folk singers such as Kuldeep Manak and Shaukat Ali Khan into the modern day. As a Hip Hop head, following Raf has allowed me to learn about this evolution in an accessible and entertaining format.
The accessibility of Raf’s material underlines his rare ability as a Punjabi artist to make music that pervades the boundaries of ethnicity. For example the track ‘Nach Le Soniye’, produced by The Culprit, is inspired by UK garage and has found its way being played on stages at the likes Glastonbury and Berghain via DJ Yung Singh. Singh is another artist at the forefront of the movement pushing British Punjabi culture into the mainstream. I’ve been fortunate enough to see him live, where he was extremely well received by diverse crowds. His success has been magnified by his recent Radio 1 residency, where he has showcased many of his musical influences from liquid jungle and house to traditional and contemporary Punjabi sounds.
Since coming into contact with this rapidly evolving British Punjabi scene, I have been motivated to learn more about my personal and family connections to Punjabi culture. For example, I've since found out that Amarjit Sidhu, someone I’ve played a casual game of 5-a-side with a couple of times, was a member of the legendary group Apna Sangeet. I listened through their back catalogue and quizzed my Dad about them. He didn’t exactly count himself as a huge fan, he too has had his challenges with embracing the Punjabi culture and language.
“However, he recalled having the Soho road legend Sardara Gill train with his old football team Mahal Warriors a few times, Gill also recorded their club anthem to the Match of the Day theme tune.
Given his aforementioned struggles with getting to grips with the language, during training my Dad confused Sardara’s name with the stage name of his group. Following him around the pitch shouting ‘Apna’ at him, wondering why he wasn’t receiving the ball back.”
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
After becoming enamored with the new wave of cultural figures such as Raf and Yung Singh (and hopefully to reduce the likelihood of situations like the one above occurring to me), I am currently embarking on a journey to learn the Punjabi language and more about my roots. Raf’s music has had a massive impact on me and I’m looking forward to seeing how he evolves as an artist and person. He slickly combines genres, aspects from different cultures and elements from different eras into a unique sound with a huge personality. His mixtape is a rich tapestry of his influences and visions for his future sound. He has the potential to become the figurehead for a new generation of British Asian kids in the mainstream cultural spheres.
Written by Rohan Ram
Listen to ‘Ruff Around the Edges’ on Spotify