Humble The Poet To Collaborate With Su Real On India Tour

Humble The Poet

The Toronto-based spoken word artist Kanwer Singh, better known as Humble The Poet, is back in India this month for a five-city tour with veteran bass producer, Su Real aka Suhrid Manchanda. The Sikh Punjabi rapper’s lyrics reflect his life as an Indo-Canadian and often speak out against the religious and political challenges faced by an immigrant.

Singh and Manchanda met at a gig in New Delhi last November. Says Singh, “I met Su on my last night here at a party at Raasta (a club in Hauz Khas Village). We had some common friends and we really hit it off. We were discussing the idea [of touring together] and we thought it would be great.”

For their first performance together at Blue Blazer in Chandigarh this week, Singh rapped to Manchanda’s beats – each adapting to the other’s pace and rhythm, fluidly blending dubstep and hip hop. Says Singh, “We’ve divided up our sets according to the speed of the music. In terms of understanding each other, we take each other’s leads and I think it’s wonderful, refreshing and entertaining.”

The rapper already has a packed calendar with festival appearances across the country later this year and plans to test new material at every gig, modifying the songs with every performance so that he can consistently improve on his work, based on the idea that his music should be something that the audience can be involved with, instead of something produced and then presented to them. Says Singh, “I wanted my next full length release to be guided by the live show. Su has been helping me out and there’s a lot of brand new material. We’re developing them according to the crowd’s reaction.”

Schedule:

March 1 ”“ Chandigarh ”“ Blue Blazer
March 7 ”“ Bengaluru ”“ Loft 38
March 8 ”“ Mumbai ”“ Bonobo
March 9 ”“ Pune ”“ High Spirits
March 14 ”“ Delhi ”“ Raasta