DJ Rekha's a fixture on the North American Bhangra scene - she's been throwing parties and DJing in NYC for over a decade and her regular monthly event called Basement Bhangra just celebrated its 10th year with an amazing lineup of performers including Jonny Kalsi and the Dhol Foundation, Panjabi MC, Bikram Singh and more...  Check out this clip on myspace: 

Indian Electronica Radio will hopefully be broadcasting the first-ever desifest LIVE tomorrow, all day long, from Dundas Square - in the core of Toronto, Canada.

Be sure to tune in and check out live performances by over 20 artists/groups from around the Toronto area!

You'll be kicking yourself (all all your friends will also be kicking you) if you live anywhere near NYC and don't make this gig tonight:

DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra party has been rocking manhattan with the freshest Panjabi wickedness since 1997 peops - tonight Pnajabi MC, Johnny Kalsi, Bikram Singh, Rekha, Eddie Stats and more epic chaps and lasses will be bloody rocking it yaar - so get your ass down there and yell buuuurrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! all night long.

Deets: http://basementbhangra.com/ 

For anyone interested in developments of the Asian Underground scene in London through the 90s - I *highly* recommend checking out Vivek Bald's film, Mutiny, Asians Storm British Music.

The film is a documentary showcasing the musical efforts of young South Asians in the UK at a time when pursuing such artistic endeavors was frowned upon within the community and South Asians were in a more precarious social position.

You can find out more about the film @ http://www.mutinysounds.com and if you're in NYC this weekend I urge you to head over to NYU for a special screening - details are below. 

If you're in or around NYC this Friday, be sure to check out Sub Swara -its already their 16th installment of this excellent world-electronica/bass-step night and features Edit - a los Angeles based artist who's released with smart-hiphop pushers like Ninjatune's Big Dada label.

Sub Swara is an event and crew; which includes performances by residents Dhruva, Sunder, Haj and Jua Kali - combining DJ mixed-sets with turntablism/scratching and love vocals.

This definitely makes for an interesting weekend - as Dhamaal reincarnates through SubSwara on the east coast of the USA and Worldly over in San Fran.

II highly recommend checking out Shaanti's 8th birthday parties this weekend if you're in the UK...

First up they'll be at the Custard Factory in Birmingham on Friday with mainstream/established industry stalwarts Panjabi MC and UK Apache plus, get this, JOI!  Yup, none other than Real World recording artist Farook Shamsher - a man integral in the development of alternative electronic musical movements in the UK.  The venue's got 2 rooms - expect a mix of thuggish Birmingham rudeboys alongside a few open minds.

The next night, Shaanti's at London's well-known Cargo nightclub - a great cosy venue.  Special guest on the bill: Asian dub Foundation! 

Wow!  I just got word about this from our friend Silvie over @ massive vibrations in bali that there's going to be a one-of-a-kind event going down tomorrow in Indonesia and thought to let everyone reading this know.

For all those in North America, read the press release/news bit below and let me know what you think tomorrow @ dishoom... or simply leave comments ;)

http://www.subswara.com

click for the full image

That's a lot - considering they're pretty much monthly, I suppose its been a while since i moved from NYC.. freaky.

As usual, I highly recommend hitting this gig up guys and gals - two super special guests this month including another San Fran resident - Cheb i Sabbah, and  Lorin Ashton, aka Bassnectar! This line-up promises an eclectic mix of beats from around the world to match a great diverse crowd - check it yaar.

click to popup the flyer!

...to Dishoom! :)

The hiatus is over!  We're back in Toronto from a successful stint in the UK and ready to bust some fresh world-electronica cuts for you on September 29th 2006!

This will be a special event once again merging live performance with visuals and interactive DJing - this time we welcome our new Toronto-based resident selecta Medicineman, known about town for spinning top class beats live and on his CIUT radio show!

We will be recording the night for rebroadcast on Indian Electronica Radio - so come by and give a shout out on the MIC to be heard on the next IE podcast with Abdul Smooth ;)

In addition to amazing performances, this is one of the last gigs to be held at Cobalt as this Toronto staple for lounging is due to close its doors soon - so come by and enjoy the space before it closes :(  

...along with thousands and thousands of other people! :)

This year's mela is going to be super wicked (not that I've attended any in the past 4 years they've been running, ahem!) - for sooo many reasons (I've got an interview with the artistic director to post in the next couple of days and well, he can explain) - namely, this year [drum roll]... there's going to be an indo-electronica stage!!!

That's right kids, a full stage running from 12pm - 830pm with nothing but amazing South Asian flavoured beats... Mmmmm.

Sharing the stage with me (as 'Abdul Smooth' of course) we'll have Pathaan, the Infinate Scale, Nerm + the Shiva Soundsystem and some really crazy shell-shaped things (don't ask, just come check em out for yourself!) that supposedly pick up sound, reprocess it and spit it out, remixed! Nuts.

For all the juicy details, click into our special section detailing the whole shebang:

http://www.indianelectronica.com/londonmela 

See you there peops. 

The event's name is Dishoom! and its basically a totally-free monthly party we throw to make the music we love talking/writing about  accessible.  We've just completed the first draft of our showreel and I thought to blog it here for all yall to check - hit play once you see the little player on the dishoom website and you're good.

Dishoom!'s going down again on the 30th of June and 20th of July (@ ie06) and you can find out more info at http://www.dishoom.info : 

Sneha Mistri

The project, which started off in January in response to the Tsunami in Asia, was given further impetus by the recent earthquake in Kashmir.

Dhamaal's Logo

If you're in the Bay Area, Indian Electronica urges you to mosey on down to Worldly III and be prepared for what feels like the largest house party you've ever been to - friendly folks with amazing musical and an overall super-chilled vibe; why not take an appetite with you too? A cafe will set be up all night serving Indian Chaat food and authentic masala chai!

The main room will also host Cheb I Sabbah with Dhol Champion, Mitch Hyare, Karsh Kale playing his electronic tablas & Dhamaal’s Janaka Selekta with MC Colonel performing their patented mix of heavy breakbeat and MCing. Live Classical Indian and Pakistani folk music will be performed by Ustad Sukhawat Ali Khan & Riffat Sultana as well.

Check out:

• Photos we took@ the Dhamaal's Worldly II party
• Info @ Dhamaal's site
• Performer Details

Rinse it Bobby.

Ever Felt Dumped On? Like poor farmers around the world, Bobby Friction and Nitin Sahwney have now been dumped on in support of Oxfam's campaign to make trade fair.

Click on Read more.. to see the images and learn more about what you can do to help make trade fair around the world with Oxfam.

Poster for Exhibition

From Soho Road to the Punjab is a unique and fantastic Bhangra Exhibition extended due to popular demand! We've got a glimpse here online at Indian Electronica in the Media Gallery - so click in and check the images out! You can post comments (when viewing full sized images) and even email your friends images you thought were interesting!!!

You can also click on Read More below for a full story on the extension!

Janaka (Dhamaal cofounder)

Throughout the month of March Dhamaal will be presenting the Second Annual Dhamaal Sights and Sounds Festival. They plan to build on the success of last year's Festival by further showcasing artists and music culture from South Asia - "Our goal is to not only bring cutting edge art forms to the San Francisco Bay Area, but to also build community by celebrating the creative evolutions of South Asian-American culture in the greater Bay area and beyond."

MMM 2004 was the largest FREE South Asian cultural festival in North America and we've got it covered!!! The 4th annual festival extravaganza happened in Toronto and was headlined by The Rishi Rich Project from the UK, also featuring Dya Singh from Australia. Over 80 performances and presentations featuring more than 200 artists in Music, Dance, Film, Theatre, Visual Arts, Natural and Ancient Health Practices, Social Issues Discussions, Food, Bazaar Vendors, lots of Parties and much more!  MMM 2004 topped last year's attendance of 80,000 people and was a blast, all in all.

• Check out the M!M!M! photos in our Media Gallery!