The Making of the ‘Everywhere That Wog Army Roam’ video

We have neglected this medium for a while, and intend to put a stop to this by quickly writing something.

I thought I should write about the ‘Everywhere That Wog Army Roam’ video from the new album ‘England Is A Garden’.  The song had been earmarked for release a few times, but was put back a few times because the fear of offending those that go weak at the sight of the Wog word.  I mean they are offended by Wog, not the word word, that would be silly.

To take out the harshness we thought an animated video would help soften the hurt, and be a good way to move a lot of ground quite quickly.  As a result, we got in touch with graphic artist Ian Viggars whom we have worked with quite a few times now, over the last few years.  His previous video for us was ‘Double Denim’ where he created a whole musical group of characters to depict double-denim nights, people used to do these things not so long ago.

At a cafe meeting we talked about ‘Everywhere That Wog Army Roam’ which he heard prior, and within minutes many ideas came out.  As we love reggae the idea of a cartooned reggae record cover such as was prevalent with Yellowman or Scientist cover art in the late 70’s early 80’s became the focus.  Character types were decided, and Ian went away to create them.  After a few weeks his ideas were very strong, and excitement began to built.  His big scene was going to be fight between Police and Thieves, but we decided that might be too expected, so the Policemen, whom look very India military to me, join in rather than let all hell break loose, with music being the common denominator.

There are some many nuances in the characters that he brought to life with special effects and humour.  The smoking cricketer is a favourite.  Ironically, I used to have a deputy head that was an amazing cricketer, ex of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Team who smoked a lot of Embassy number1

The audio I cut down to keep the video single edit sized, and Ian continued to work hard on putting it all together.  The result was excellent, but we hit a lot of resistance as the Black Lives Matter movement, one which consider most splendid was hitting most streets across the world, and no establishments would really chance putting out the video, and certainly not gamble on talking about it too much.  It seems timing to put out such a song was always going to upset someone’s applecart.

Brimful Of Asha meaning explained

Many people always ask us to translate songs, especially the foreign language ones.

Here is a good explanation of Brimful, most of which we agree with:

Brimful of Asha, Explained

By splitpeasoup in Culture
Fri Aug 08, 2003 at 07:54:20 AM EST
Tags: Music (all tags)


Cornershop‘s “Brimful of Asha” is one of those songs that are simultaneously poppy and deeply meaningful. Unfortunately the wealth of meaning in the lyrics may not be readily apparent to most non-desis, or for that matter, to many desis either.

At the risk of diminishing the enjoyment of those who do understand the somewhat esoteric message, this essay attempts to make it clear enough for anybody to appreciate. In the process we’ll be touching on Indian culture in general and specifically on that great opiate of the Indian masses, the movie industry.

Cornershop is an East-West fusion pop-rock group. The East part comes from Tjinder Singh, who grew up in England but is of Punjabi origin. Tjinder strongly identifies with his Indian heritage; the group’s name itself derives from a play on the stereotype of the Indian/Pakistani street-corner grocery store clerk.

“Brimful of Asha” came out in 1997. With its catchy refrain it became a hit on US radio, as well as in Cornershop’s native UK.

To understand the song, one must understand the Indian movie industry. Ever since cinema was introduced to India, most commercial movies have been heavy, sweet, musical productions. The song-and-dance interludes are not incidentals, but staples, and often are what make or break a movie. An American friend of mine was under the impression that singing was a necessary skill for Indian actors and actresses! Actually, the singing is almost always done by background singers. The background singers, of course, are not required to possess charisma or looks, and in fact in early times, care was taken to not expose them in the media, to preserve the romantic association with their voices in the minds of the moviegoing public.

Why is all this so important? Right from the beginning, movies took over the hearts and lives of common Indians in a manner that nothing has done before or since. The happiness, the tragedy, the passionate and tender love, and the conflict are all designed to speak to the melodrama-loving Indian heart. As Hindi grew more popular, Hindi movies took over the whole country. The heart of the Hindi film industry in Bombay, whimsically nicknamed Bollywood, eventually became a force larger than the one it was named after. The songs are no exception, and over the last sixty years or so filmi music, as it is called, has become by far the most popular kind in India.

Two female background singers perhaps distinguish themselves from the rest in sheer prolificness and popularity: Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeshkar. The two, as it happens, are sisters, and recently there has been much focus on their professional and sibling rivalry. At any rate, their singing formed the emotional soundtrack of India, as it were, for many years.

That, in essence, is what “Brimful of Asha” is all about.

Here are the lyrics, with notes:

There’s dancing behind movie scenes,
Behind those movie screens – saddi rani.

Saddi rani – “our queen”, in Punjabi.

She’s the one that keeps the dream alive,
From the morning, past the evening, till the end of the light.

Brimful of Asha on the forty-five.
Well, it’s a brimful of Asha on the forty-five. (x2)

‘Asha’ is a pun. It refers to Asha Bhosle, but the word also means “hope”. What does “hope” signify in this context? The movies and songs are in many ways a fantasy of something better than people’s own lives. For instance, Indian youth whose overbearing parents would never permit them to marry those they fall in love with may yet indulge themselves in the romances they see onscreen and hear about in these ballads. The “45”, for you of the CD player generation, is the 45 revolutions-per-minute record player.

Incidentally, the word ‘Asha’ is normally pronounced with both ‘a’s long, as in ‘father’. Tjinder, with his British accent, pronounces it like “Asher”, touchingly making the song both more and less genuine at the same time. As a result the refrain often gets misheard, sometimes in quite hilarious ways.

And singing
Illuminate the main streets and the cinema aisles.
We don’t care about no government warning,
About the promotion of the simple life and the dams they are building.

What is he talking about? The movies and songs are an escape: they are what allow people to forget important concerns, at least for a while. The reference to dams might need a bit of explanation. In India, these often are unnecessarily huge and costly projects that are designed that way with the aim of being points of prestige, and besides, for lining the pockets of politicians and contractors. They displace thousands of people and impact the environment in massive ways. The project currently approved on the Narmada is one present-day example. So these are issues that people should be worried about.

But this escapism is not presented as being bad. The spirit of the song is that movie fantasy is a lovely and comfortable thing.

Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow, everybody needs a bosom, (x3)

Isn’t that a beautiful line? But the last one’s even better:

Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow, mine’s on the forty-five.

To me, at least, that’s poetry.

Mohammed Rafi – forty-five. Lata Mangeshkar – forty-five.
Solid state radio – forty-five. Ferguson Mono – forty-five.
Non public – forty-five.
Jacques Dutronc and the Bolan Boogies …
The Heavy Hitters and the chi-chi music …
All Indian radio – forty-five. Two in ones – forty-five.
Ovvo records – forty-five. Trojan records – forty-five.

These are historic icons of filmi and pop music. Rafi and Mangeshkar are other background singers. Solid state radio is self-explanatory. All-India Radio is the one, public radio station that existed all the decades before privatized radio stations and FM came to India. Two-in-ones are radio-cum-casette players. I confess the other references are strange to me.

7-7,000 piece orchestra set,

Huge orchestras are intrinsic to filmi music. Of course 7000 is a little hyperbolic.

Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow; mine’s on the RPM…
(fadeout)

Why do I find this song so remarkable? Most people, when talking of Indian culture, tend to make statements which fall in two categories. The first consists of glorifications of classical Indian culture, philosophy, tradition, and so forth. The second consists of lamentations about the corruption, poverty, dirt, and how the whole country is going to the dogs.

It is relatively unusual for someone to touch on the spirit of the ornery hard-bitten yet cheerful street-corner Indian, the one who always has to worry about the expenses for next month but yet decides on an impulse to splurge on hot samosas. Cornershop manages to celebrate and showcase this joie de vivre, and to do so with skill and sensitivity, and for this, they deserve to be congratulated.

BBC interviews Nikki Bedi, Hardeep Kohli, & Cerys Mathews

Tjinder Singh interviewed……

Nikki Bedi BBC Radio London interview with Tjinder

Hardeep Singh Kohli BBC Radio 2 interview with Tjinder

Cerys BBC 6music interview with Tjinder

Cerys BBC 6music interview with Tjinder

Cornershop & The Double ‘O’ Groove Of – full tracklist & Pre-order details

Ample Play Release

Artists: Cornershop featuring Bubbley Kaur

Title: Cornershop & The Double O Groove Of

Release Date: 14 March 2011   Label: Ample Play Records

CD Cat: AMPLA CD 09   Download Cat: AMPLA DD 09

1 United Provinces Of India 3:26     Full fat funk melds with the cream of Punjabi folk, asking the question, why has such naturalness never been done before.

2 Topknot 3:39     ‘The band’s now-classic 2004 single Topknot,” Spin magazine.  A massive track for urban stations, turban stations, clubs as well as Indian weddings.  So big that M.I.A. asked to drop a rap on it.

3 The 911 Curry 3:33     The A-team meet up for an afternoon meal – a plan comes together, until Murdock has to flirt with the waitress.

4 Natch 2:34     The other part of the double ‘A’ sided Topknot single, and often even more loved by the DJ for its simplicity and French legion immediacy.

5 Double Decker Eyelashes 4:13     Already being used by select USA bass clubs to get the party started, keep the party going, and ending the party.  Being laidback & having the space is leading dancefloorers to improvise, and they take great joy in having the ability and scope to do it once more.

6 The Biro Pen 4:28      A sharp pen in its day was prime currency, guaranteed to get you out of any tight spot.  This lament lays it down heavy, even with its drum solo reprieve.

7 Supercomputed 3:44 Kraftwerk meet Irene Cara in a dune buggie.

8 Once There Was A Wintertime 3:14      Capturing the snow drenched wintry season with human warmth and northern brass.

9 Double Digit 3:38     Military again, until its slow build boils over with bass funk, as if the Brontë sisters came from an Indian cowshed.  This is maybe why Tjinder thinks Punjabi Folk Music was the first form of hip-hop, and has written a White Paper report on it.

10 Don’t Shake It 5:42      Don’t play this one too loud, it will stay in your head for a week, and then move in with you after another week.  All is well that ends well.  So well that it has extended beats, ending an album that intends to live forever – fame.

To Pre-order please go via our PledgeMusic page here

or you could send us a Paypal payment direct to: info@cornershop.com £8

for a download, £12 for signed CD including postage
Please state if you would prefer them signed by at least one member

of the band.

Cornershop & The Double 'O' Groove Of ft Bubbley Kaur Cover

‘TOPKNOT’ VIDEO directed by Prashant Bhargava http://bit.ly/eL5jW0

‘UNITED PROVINCES OF INDIA’ VIDEO directed by Chris Hemming http://bit.ly/f9OUhl

For further information please call

+44 7989 566 949 or email info@cornershop.com