MUTINY: Asians Storm British Music

MUTINY: ASIANS STORM BRITISH MUSIC
(2003; 77 min.; color & b/w)
Directed by Vivek Bald
Produced by Claire Shanley & Vivek Bald

Featuring Asian Dub Foundation, Talvin Singh, State of Bengal,
DJ Ritu, Fun^Da^Mental and many others....

FREE and Open to All

The director Vivek Bald will be present at Saturday's screening for Q&A

Full Info about Beats, Breaks, & Culture + Directions:
http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldroutes/festivals.cfm?festival_id=...

About the Film

"An astounding documentary ignited by an incendiary soundtrack."
-- Melbourne International Film Festival

"Great fun - a journey through some of the most historic moments of the diasporic musical movement."
-- Gurinder Chadha, Bend it Like Beckham

Combining music documentary and social documentary, MUTINY: Asians Storm British Music charts the meteoric rise of South Asian music in 1990s Britain and the years of cultural cross-pollination and political struggle that led up to that historic decade. Shot independently on digital video over the course of seven years, MUTINY features Asian Dub Foundation, Talvin Singh, Fun^Da^Mental and a host of other British musicians of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi descent in a dynamic mix of live performances, candid interviews and seldom-seen archival footage.

MUTINY presents the story of a generation that grew up in the 1970s and 80s, defining itself in an environment of racial violence while drawing strength from both British street culture and South Asian roots. The artists who emerged from this generation became some of the greatest innovators in British music, mixing the influences of their parents' cultures with electronica, hip-hop, reggae and punk and producing unique and powerful new sounds. The film follows these musicians from their early forays in music and activism through their negotiation of record deals and press attention during the "Asian Underground" hype of the mid 1990s, to dealing with the loss of industry backing by the end of the decade. MUTINY'S artists are undeterred, pushing forward with their music and laying the foundation for the next generation. Outspoken and uncompromising, they remain in command throughout this fast-paced and uplifting feature.

More info: http://www.mutinysounds.com/film/

About the Director
Vivek Bald is a New York based documentary filmmaker and electronic musician. In addition to Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music, Bald's film work includes Taxi-vala/Auto-biography (1994), which documented the lives, experiences, and activism of South Asian immigrant taxi drivers and Bengali Harlem (in production, with Alaudin Ullah), which uncovers the hidden history of a group of Bengali Muslim men who jumped ship from British merchant marine vessels in New York in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s and settled among Harlem's Puerto Rican and African American communities. In 1997, Bald also co-founded the Mutiny club-night, which became the first monthly in the U.S. dedicated to the sounds of South Asian electronica and over the course of its six-year run, introduced New York audiences to musicians and DJs from across the diaspora.

Beats, Breaks, & Culture is presented by NOW Toronto and Smirnoff Ice
and is part of World Routes Festivals 2008, presented by RBC

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[Mutiny graphic by Chiraag Bhakta/Pardon My Hindi] - www.pardonmyhindi.com