Bobby Friction

Bobby Friction will be joining the BBC Asian Network to present the Album Chart Show!

It'll start on Saturday 2nd April and will be a rundown of the top 20 albums in British Asian music.

You can catch the show on Saturdays between 1 and 3 pm.

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."

Cheb i Sabbah

dj Cheb i Sabbah is working with several musicians and singers from North Africa in addition to MIDIvaL PunditZ member Gaurav Raina, Karsh Kale and Bill Laswell to bring La Kahena to the world. This record featuring women singers of North Africa is a new chapter in the rich history of one of Six Degrees most sought after artists. The record's production will span the globe with recording and mixing sessions taking place in Morocco, Paris, India, New York and San Francisco.

Bombay Dreams Poster

The news was barely announced and the Indian press is already salivating at the prospect of trotting out its own theatre critics. Bombay Dreams, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which made a tidy profit in London but fared much worse in New York's Broadway, is planning to go back to the city that gave it inspiration - Bombay.

• Click here to read Sneha's bio on Indian Electronica!

• At present, DJ Asif is a Resident Dj every month at Shaanti. (Award winning for ‘Best Asian Underground/Fusion Night) which takes place at the Medicine Bar in Birmingham every month.
• Fusing Naked Beats track 'The Music The Message' featuring Najma Akhtar out now on the Asian
• Garden Compilation on Clubstar Records 2004 (Germany)
• Fusing Naked Beats track 'Digital Asia' coming out on the Shaanti presents 'Desi Dance Beats Vol 1 compilation released later this year 2004.
• Fusing Naked Beats track "Love Of A Prophet" out on Oriental Garden 3 compilation out now on clubstar records (Germany) 2004.
• Fusing Naked Beats new five track e.p 'The Crunch E.P' promo coming 2004.
• Followed by new album 'Digital Asia' 2005.

Kalpana mistry from AsiansinMedia writes of a new compilation's release.

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!

The Little Chilli is a unique festival celebrating the rich diversity of Asian music and dance. This year it will include an exciting blend of artists from India, China and Indonesia. The Asian Music Circuit have decided to dedicate this year’s festival to the memory of the great sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan.

The aim of the Little Chilli is to fill a gap with an annual festival, which can provide an opportunity for venues and promoters around the country to invite the participating artists to perform in their region where possible.

In 2004 the AMC has planned The Little Chilli to take place in July in London to coincide with its annual summer school to be held this year at The Royal Academy of Music. The concerts will take place at the South Bank Centre in the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall and also at the Royal Academy of Music. Some of the artists have already been booked to perform in other regions of the UK.

Featuring are some of the finest of musicians from India and China who will also be teaching at their summer schools. In future years AMC also wants to widen the range to cover other areas of Asia. There are plans for example in 2005 to include music from Japan and Indonesia.

This year's festival includes music to thrill and excite, to help sooth and meditate, to take one beyond RASA to that highest of states of mind: it includes traditional classical - vocal and instrumental, Qawwali, kathak dance as well as contemporary forms from India and the beautiful courtly music of China.

The artists are:
Nizami Brothers / Qawwali / 16th July Purcell Room
Trilok Gurtu / jazz/fusion / 22nd July Queen Elizabeth Hall
Deepak Maharaj / kathak dance / 28th July Purcell Room
Purbayan Chatterjee / sitar / 28th July Purcell Room
Ning Baosheng / Chinese dizi / 31st July Purcell Room
Hu Bin / Chinese erhu / 31st July Purcell Room
Uday Bhawalkar / dhrupad singer / 26th July Purcell Room
Sunanda Sharma / khyal/thumri / 26th July Purcell Room
Prof Li Xiang Ting / Chinese guqin / 29th July Purcell Room
Cheng YU / Chinese pipa / 29th July Purcell Room
Rajan + Sajan Misra / khyal - vocal / 30th July Royal Academy
Shivkumar Sharma / santoor / 31st July Purcell Room 7.30pm
Rahul Sharma / santoor

FUSE
w/the 5 track EP; 'Transformations'

"Passionate songs from the soul written whilst touring over the past 5 years recorded for the world to listen; Transformations is a taster of what's to come - brilliant songs with emotive themes from Love to Religion and more observations on human behavious than a scientist with an open mind!"

Audiences from America to Austrailia, via the Middle East, have tested these solo live performances- extensive touring before hitting the studio has supposedly tightend up a very , raw, deep and honest sound.

Getting heavy rotation on Kundalini Dub Lounge, a show broadcasted on Totally Radio (http://www.totallyradio.com/kdl) to over 140,000 people globally via the Internet, this EP is now available for purchase at Kusha Deep (http://www.kusha-deep-unlimited.com).

Check it out and send us your review!

The latest quarterly results from the radio measurement body RAJAR show both Sunrise radio and the BBC Asian Network losing their audience share heavily in the last three months. The system has been heavily criticised by AiM Editor Sunny Hundal however in a letter to the current issue Media Week for its bias against Asian stations.