Billboard Canada magazine profiled rising wave of Punjabi-Canadian music stars calling AP Dhillon, Karan Aujla, Gurinder Gill and others as the Punjabi Wave. “Punjabi music history is being made in Canada,” Billboard Canada wrote. “An innovative new wave of diasporic artists is blurring boundaries between genres and setting chart records. They’re blending traditional and contemporary sounds to create something undeniably their own — and it’s spreading worldwide.”

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

TORONTO – Billboard Canada magazine profiled rising wave of Punjabi-Canadian music stars calling AP Dhillon, Karan Aujla, Gurinder Gill and others as the Punjabi Wave.

“Punjabi music history is being made in Canada,” Billboard Canada wrote. “An innovative new wave of diasporic artists is blurring boundaries between genres and setting chart records. They’re blending traditional and contemporary sounds to create something undeniably their own — and it’s spreading worldwide.”

With its massive population and an ultra-profitable film and music industry, India is one of the top entertainment markets in the world. Punjabi music has emerged in its own right, with labels like New York hip-hop legend Nas’s Mass Appeal and Universal Music teaming up to spotlight music in both India and North America. This year, singer/actor Diljit Dosanjh became the first artist to perform at Coachella entirely in Punjabi.

It’s not just an Indian phenomenon, but a Canadian one. Diplomatically, the relationship between the two countries is suddenly volatile, but it hasn’t dulled the power of the music. There are over 2.5 million people of South Asian heritage in Canada, and they account for some of the most popular music on both sides of the world. Three of the top 10 tracks in India in 2022 were made by Canadian artists. On Spotify, the top streamed track of the year was “Excuses” by AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill and Intense, who broke out from British Columbia. Canada, where artists express freely and blend cultural influences fluidly, is proving to be fertile ground for an international movement of genre-spanning music.

Collectively, artists like AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill, Karan Aujla, Jonita Gandhi and Ikky continue to amass billions of streams on Spotify and YouTube and perform on the country’s biggest stages. They’ve starred in documentaries, collaborated with hip-hop stars like YG, and turned audiences who might not speak a word of Punjabi into overnight diehards.

But despite all of their measurable success, it’s taken the Canadian music industry a long time to recognize and support the artists who have been proving themselves on their own terms. That’s finally starting to change, even during a challenging time, Billboard Canada writes.