After 4 years, Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw to go off-air

When we last caught up with you in May of 2008 for an interview, you had almost spent 1 year on the airwaves at the BBC Asian Network - since then, the show has developed a loyal international following and commissioned a wealth of bespoke 'World Odyssey' mixes from the globe's premier DJs and producers.

Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw is scheduled to go off-air permanently in about a month so we thought  we'd re-cap the past 4 or so years that your show has been around.

1. What has set Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw apart from other radio shows and podcasts out there?

It’s unique nature of global beats, eclectic grooves and asian chill like no where else on the airwaves  

2. The 20 minute DJ-mix is an incredible feat to accomplish - any producer or DJ submitting a World Odyssey Mix to your show has been faced with a tricky task of exemplifying their musical style/taste in a very short period of time.  Where did the concept come from and how have artists reacted to the commission?

The concept which is a great idea came to me, when the show moved from 2hrs to 3hrs after the 1st year. Artists on  the whole have really enjoyed the task, whilst finding it some what tricky to air their sound/styles/influences in a 2omin mix. The acts have ranged from William Orbit to Gaudi, Bombay Dub Orchestra to Thievery Corporation, Gui Baratto to Ulrich Schnuass [this weekend] + many more – a great idea, indeed        

3. Any memorable anecdotes from the experience of working on your show which you'd like to share?

There are so many to mention but TOP 3 are :

   1. Interviewing Ravi Shankar
   2. Hooking up with Thievery Corporation @ The Big Chill Festival for a live recording
   3. Driving to Birmingham from London for a whole year doing the show live from midnight

4. How do you think you've developed as a live-DJ through the experience of hosting a weekly radio show?

Massively !! Considering I used to be quite reserved to speak on the mic; now I can’t get enough.

5. Now that you've been a radio presenter for 4 years, is it something you think you'll pursue?

For sure !!

6.How has being broadcast on the BBC Asian Network affected the programming of your show?

Well, obviously I’ve had to have an Asian slant, but overall the BBC Asian Network have been very flexible with regards to the music I’ve played.

7. The BBC Asian Network's listener-ship is down, (as reported by AiM) and I think this has resulted in the station's management to recently focus on protecting their core audience - the desi mainstream and 'South Asian family' stereotypes.  What do you think of this?

I would say that a fair assessment. A shame but true !

8.Bobby Friction is set to host a new Asian Charts show on the BBC Asian Network; who do you think the show's audience will be comprised of and why would the network itself attempt to establish a chart for a non-genre such as 'Asian Music?'

No doubt it’ll be for the kids.  I’m sure  a few years of research has gone into setting this up with the appropriate body to justify having the ‘Asian chart show’

9. Over the past few years, traditional broadcasters have had to cater to, and develop, audiences online - we've seen this with the BBC's iPlayer.  What do you think, musically-speaking, is the future of radio broadcasting?

Well obviously the WorldWideWeb will play a major role and no doubt more tastes will be catered for.......