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Rani Taj (Urdu language: ) (born 3 October 1993) is a British Pakistani dhol player from Birmingham, United Kingdom. Although already well known in the Midlands, she rose to international fame in 2010 when she appeared in a viral video playing live in the street along with a recording of Rihanna's song "Rude Boy".
In an interview with the BBC Asian Network, she states that both of her parents were born in Mirpur, Pakistan. During the construction of The Mangla Dam, like most other British Pakistanis, her family were also displaced from their home. One of those was Rani's maternal grandfather who left for Birmingham to look for work in the 1960s. After establishing himself he sent for his wife and children. Rani's mother was four years old when she joined her father in Britain along with her own mother and siblings. Rani's father joined her mother in Britain after they married in 1990. Rani Taj was born in Birmingham in 1993.
Subsequently, after leaving school she decided to receive professional training. She spent the first couple of years being taught by Gurcharan Mall of the Dhol Blasters and was later also taught by Harjit Singh of the Azaad Dhol Group. Gurcharan Mall had been a dholak player with the group Apna Sangeet and Harjit Singh had been a tabla player with the Azaad Group. Both groups were pioneers in their own right and were part of the first generation of bhangra music to hit the Midlands. As part of the Dhol Blasters Rani also learned to dance bhangra. To gain further experience and provide a service Rani started to play at all kinds of public events such as festivals, parties and weddings. She initially just wanted to be a regular dhol player like many others but this all changed after her YouTube video went viral.
Since 2011 Rani Taj has spent a lot of time with the Sufi dhol players of Pakistan, namely Gunga and Mittu Sain. She is not only fascinated by the 'Qalandari' style of dhol playing but has played alongside them in various Melas and Darbars all over Pakistan. These include the darbars of Baba Shah Jamal, in Lahore, Shabir Shah in Lahore, Baba Lal Shah in Murree, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sindh, Heera Lal Qalandar Mela in Gujar Khan and Datta Mela at Datta Darbar in Lahore.
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