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Steven Kapur/Apache Indian
Apache Indian is a musician and songwriter known for his fusion of Caribbean and South Asian musical styles
Other names
Don Raja
Place of birth
About
Steven Kapur, known as Apache Indian, is a singer, songwriter and reggae DJ. Kapur was born in Birmingham. He grew up in Handsworth in a family of Punjabi heritage. Handsworth was home to both South Asian and Black communities and it was in this intersecting environment that Kapur first began encountering local sound systems and making a name for himself as a dancehall DJ.
In 1990 he released his first single, ‘Movie over India’, a song that distinguished itself for its mix of ragga and bhangra. His follow up singles, ‘Chok There' and ‘Don Raja’, led to him being signed by Island Records in 1992. He is known for his fusion music known as raggamuffin or bhangramuffin, which he developed on his debut album, No Reservations (1993). He then released the album Make Way for the Indian, which featured the song ‘Boom Shack-A Lak’, which was a breakout hit in 1993 and charted in the top ten in the UK, Ireland and Canada. Among his many collaborators, he has worked with A. R. Rahman, Bappi Lahiri, Sameera Singh, Asha Bhosle, Malkit Singh, Bally Sagoo and Raghav.
He was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for his song ‘Arranged Marriage’, and No Reservations received a Mercury Music Prize nomination. In 2013 he opened the Apache Indian Music Academy, based at South and City College’s Handsworth campus. He was also part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Birmingham.
He is the recipient of three UK Asian Music Awards and won Best Newcomer at the British Reggae Industry Awards in 1990.
Select discography:
No Reservations (1993)
Make Way for the Indian (1995)
No Problem (1996)
Real People/Wild East (1997)
Karma (2000)
Time for Change (2005)
Sadhu – The Movement (2007)
Home Run (2012)
It Is What It Is (2013)
In Ja (2017)
On the Weekend (2018)
What’s Not to Love (2020)
Acciari, Monia, ‘British Asian Music and Its Networks: Notes from a Music-Making Workshop at the Apache Indian Music Academy, Handsworth, UK’, South Asian Popular Culture 12.3 (2014), pp. 181–8
Cooper, Carolyn, ‘Mix Up the Indian with All the Patwa: Rajamuffin Sounds in “Cool” Britannia’, Language and Intercultural Communication 4.1–2 (2004), pp. 81–99
Roy, Anjali Gera, ‘Black Beats with a Punjabi Twist’, Popular Music 32.2 (May 2013), pp. 241–57
Image credit
© Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1930s – present
