MixTogether & Friends

The Asian Network Download chart was launched last Sunday.

Compiled by the Official Charts Company (who also compile the UK Top 40 for Radio 1), the Asian Download Chart tracks sales of specifically Asian and Asian-influenced music across 25+ digital retailers.

Although slightly overshadowed by the recent announcements on the fate of the Asian Network, the launch of the chart is a real coup for Mark Strippel, Head of Music at the Asian Network. I know that he has campaigned for many years for chart recognition of Asian music sales.

Phil Matcham of the Official Charts Company has kindly confirmed to MixTogether & Friends the criteria for entry into the Asian Download Chart: the song must be newly released (within the last 8 months) and be by an Asian artist or have a distinct Asian influence. The record label must be registered with PPL, and on the radar of the Official Charts Company.

This formal recognition structure for Asian music presents an opportunity to forced marriage and honour campaigners.

If an established Asian artist or group of artists would agree to record a song campaigning against forced marriage and honour based violence, then with enough sales the song is guaranteed airplay on the Asian Network.

In the past this would not have been guaranteed.

With the right song and the right campaign, a record could top the Asian Download Chart and break into the UK Top 40, as Jay Sean has done this week.

This is an opportunity that the honour campaigning community will not miss.

The dangers of cousin marriage- mostly among Britain’s Pakistani communities- might finally be taken seriously according to the Times:

Rise in marriages between cousins ‘is putting children’s health at risk’

The dangers of marriage between first cousins are to be highlighted by a leading professor, with a warning that their children are at risk of genetic defects.

Baroness Deech, a family law professor and crossbencher, will call next week for a “vigorous” public campaign to deter the practice, which is prevalent in Muslim and immigrant communities and on the rise. She will reignite a debate started five years ago when Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, drew attention to the number of disabled babies being born in the town and called for cousin marriage to be stopped…

She will note that the practice has always been associated with immigrants and the poor and is “at odds with freedom of choice, romantic love and integration”.

Both Ann Cryer and Phil Woolas have been criticised in the past for raising this issue. It is great to see them vindicated by the recommendations of cross-bench peer Baroness Deech, which Inayat Bunglawala of the MCB has welcomed.

It is also great to hear Ann Cryer back on form:

‘We have been told to be careful, as discussing it could cause deep offence. Blow that, it does not matter. If people wish to be offended, they will be offended.’

She will be sorely, sorely missed from Parliament after the Election.

Reputable Asian media news outlet BizAsia has an exclusive interview with Andy Parfitt, controller of BBC Asian Network.

In it, he talks about the importance of music to the Asian Network, but goes on to say:

Of course, music is only one of the public service content areas that the Asian Network produces – high quality news, current affairs and language programmes are the others. On the day of the AMAs Nihal brought his afternoon show from an East London School hearing from Asian pupils about the challenges of growing up in households where English is at best a second language.

He goes on to outline the 5 proposed areas that the reduced Network will reach: Birmingham, Leicester, London, Manchester and North Yorkshire. 85% of the Asian audience live in these areas, so the loss of a national network will not affect the vast majority.

His views on the public service aspect of the Asian Network echo the views expressed by this blog last week.

My only disagreement with his analysis concerns the role of the Asian Network in driving digital takeup. Although it’s easy to argue that the audience hasn’t taken to digital, the Asian Network has to face the fact that its core offerings have also proved a turn-off to Asian listeners.

The Asian Network has not changed with time to reflect the changing lifestyles of its younger audience. It remains wedded to a slightly chauvinistic expression of desi culture, even on the ‘coolest’ shows.

Desi music is undoubtedly ‘cool’. It may even seem revolutionary to those who have agitated for its promotion since the beginning. However the real revolution in young Asian people’s lives has been the shift away from the traditional lifestyles of many first generation parents.

It is revolutionary for some young Asians to chose a partner of a different race. It is revolutionary for some young Asians even to seek further education or to refuse an arranged marriage. If the Asian Network wants more listeners to help justify its continued existence, it needs to start reflecting these life choices and supporting those who make them.

Great news this weekend in the murder hunt for the killers of Sukhwinder Singh.

Sukhwinder Singh

The police have arrested two teenagers in East London:

Two arrested over murder of Sukhwinder Singh in Barking

As we’ve said before, this isn’t strictly the kind of news we cover on MT & Friends but it seems appropriate to do so.

Sukhwinder Singh is a hero who lost his life defending a young woman, in the name of what is right.  I hope his killers are brought to justice soon.

I have to declare an interest at the start of this post… I voted for Shiva Sound System to win best alternative act at the UK Asian Music Awards. Members of their collective have been very supportive to MixTogether since its inception, and they represent a truly punk alternative to the traditional Asian lifestyle.

That said, it is encouraging to see that Natasha Khan picked up the Alternative award. From the point of view of many couples on MixTogether who will have mixed race children, it is good to know that there can be space for them alongside the more traditional desi culture that forms most of the AMAs.

Shiva Sound System’s productions are streets ahead of the budget laptop beats that go with a lot of desi music (and that includes Imran Khan). However Bat For Lashes have the kind of production that a record contract and a dedicated studio team can bring, and the AMAs seem to have been mostly about rewarding mainstream success: Jay Sean scooped 4 after cracking the States, and Nihal got one for his Radio 1 show. The notable exception was Kayper not winning best DJ, but those of us who’ve been there since ‘Bridge and Bar Rumba dayz know she’s the rani.

It’s also nice to see that MixTogether favourites the Grewal Family were invited.

They presented the Best International Album award to  Miss Pooja, whose rrrrruffneck Riverdance-meets-gangster-Jatt love anthem ‘Romantic Jatt’ is a bit of a guilty favourite on my Ipod (there’s nothing rrrromantic about guns or the caste system really).

The Grewals are a Jatt family, and the mixed-caste relationship between Shay and Sunny was the principal reason her family abandoned her on her wedding day. Many MixTogether members have suffered the same kind of abandonment, and it is encouraging for them to see that happiness, success and love can flourish even after one’s own family have turned their back.

The Grewals’  continued celebrity is a testament to the genius of Channel 4 in screening their story.  If the BBC Asian Network could come up with something even half as compelling to highlight problems like disownment, they might have a stronger case to make for staying national.

Despite some shambolic moments (if the live Tweets are to be believed) it seems like the AMAs were a success. Let’s hope that they will continue to give room to less traditionally Asian artists and celebrities.  It might seem incidental, but it’s important.

Geeta Aulakh, who worked at Sunrise Radio, pictured with her estranged husband Harpreet Aulakh. His trial for her murder begins in October.

We are currently getting a lot of visitors looking for information on the trial of Harpreet Aulakh and Sher Singh for the murder of Geeta Aulakh last year.

At the time of Harpreet Aulakh and Sher Singh‘s arrests, the press reported that the trial for Geeta Aulakh‘s murder would begin on 1st March.

The CPS has confirmed to MixTogether & Friends that the date has now been moved back significantly.

There will be a Review Hearing on the 21st May, but the main trial is not scheduled to begin until the 18th of October.

This is a blow for all of us who were hoping for swift justice. However, it is better for the Police and CPS to take the time to form a concrete case that will result in a successful conviction.

We will keep you informed of anything else we find out.

Thanks to the CPS for their help in producing this report.

To begin this post, let’s just take a moment to be clear about the proposed plans for the BBC Asian Network.

Anyone who has read the actual BBC Strategy Review (and if you haven’t then you can’t really comment) can see the outline of the plan: Asian Network will lose its national status, and be re-focused on 5 key areas. Listeners in the 5 proposed areas make up 70% of the existing audience, so the vast majority will not lose a service.

What we are discussing, then, is not the total loss of Asian Network but the makeup of a future service that will be more efficiently targeted.

Many commentators are trying to shout for more Asian music provision. They argue it is ‘all about the music’ and express fears that Asian artists will not be able to make a living if the station is cut down to a smaller size.

What they don’t seem to recognise is that the BBC’s remit goes far beyond just music. It is specifically NOT concerned with commercial viability or the livelihoods of musicians or promoters (despite the suggestion of certain YouTube videos which I won’t link to… for now…) The BBC is specifically trying NOT to encroach on the commercial sector, which should look after industry figures if they are any good.

Those demanding a license-fee funded copy of commercial radio need to re-evaluate. It is right that the BBC represents different demographics- including the many different Asian demographics- in its programming. MixTogether and friends will be submitting a strong case for the inclusion of the most vulnerable Asian demographic in the future makeup of the Asian Network.

It’s not all about the music.

This post is based on my comment left below Sunday’s Observer piece Why we should celebrate the end of Asian Network:

Last week a group of 100 actors, MPs and musicians wrote to the Guardian in defence of the BBC Asian Network. Leaving aside the fact that some of them are not license fee payers, the really shocking thing about the list was that it did not feature any campaigners against so-called honour crimes.

This was despite an offer of their help to some of the organisers of the letter.

It is unfair to sideline those who represent the most vulnerable in Asian society. Aside from the odd phone-in and documentary, the Asian Network has done little directly to challenge the mindset that makes girls a prisoner in their homes in eg. Bradford, Birmingham or Southall. There is no content for survivors of forced marriage or disownment, to help them find acceptance in the Asian community where their very existence is treated as a dark secret.

When MixTogether drew up a proposal last year (supported by the EHRC and several high profile charities) for a show aimed at more vulnerable members of the Asian community, it was turned down by the Asian Network. 

The Asian Network‘s ‘coolest’ shows are produced and presented by British Asians who live on the party scene and have all the freedom they could wish for. Their lives have no ‘deep connection‘ to, say, a girl in Keighley who is told she must forget further education and marry a first cousin from abroad.

The Guardian letter shows that there is still a distaste for the vulnerable among the BBC Asian Network’s trendy supporters. If the future of the Network does not include plans to redress the balance, then maybe it HAS reached the end of its useful life.

Update: Apparently the letter was organised by Sunny Hundal.

News has reached us of a new website set up to coordinate the campaign to try and save the Asian Network.

www.savetheasiannetwork.com will provide a single source for information as it unfolds relating to the BBC Asian Network.  The site provides real-time news from multiple cited sources including conventional media and micro-blogging sources like Twitter.

The BBC Asian Network faces closure, but Vijay Sharma (the head of the Network) is nowhere to be seen.

Yesterday the Guardian published an article by Nihal, one of the top presenters from the Asian Network. He appears to have been drafted in to make the case for the survival of the Network in its current form. Although Nihal is probably the most widely known presenter from the Asian Network (he also has a show on Radio1) he is by no means the most senior member of staff at the station.

BBC Asian Network is ultimately under the control of Andy Parfitt, who controls BBC Radio 1, Popular Music, BBC 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network and BBC Switch.

Vijay Sharma is responsible for managing the Asian Network, followed by Husain Husaini and ‘Markie’ Mark Strippel. None of these senior staff members has made any public comment since it was announced that the Asian Network faces closure.

Dhiren Katwa, senior news editor at Asian Voice, complained over a month ago that Vijay Sharma had been ‘in hiding’. Nothing appears to have changed.

It is quite unbelievable that DJs and presenters are being left to defend the station, while the senior management team (who have attracted much of the criticism for the station’s troubles in recent days) are nowhere to be seen.