Looking Back At Desi Beats on BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 will broadcast the final Desi Beats show early tomorrow morning. The show has been broadcasting for over 12 years. During that time, the show withstood changes in schedules, presenters and music trends.

Put together by the BBC, Bobby Friction and Nihal won a Sony Award a few months after the show launched. When it broadcast from 9pm on a Wednesday evening, the show had more listeners that the whole of Sunrise Radio or the BBC Asian Network. Bobby Friction and Nihal even launched their own compilation CD. Through the listen back feature the duo had fans all over the world.

Thanks to the brilliant Wayback Machine, track listings are available for many shows including the early ones. It's like opening a mini time capsule. Not only is it interesting to see what music was played at the time, but also which artists are still around and making music today. Tigerstyle, DJ Swami, and Tarli Digital all featured on the first show and are still in the industry.

David Starfire - Transformation

David Starfire, whose grandfather was a famous horn player in New Orleans, has released a new EP. Transformation was inspired by transformational events in David's life.

There are four tracks on the EP featuring 15 exotic instruments including the zurna, koto, sarangi and daburka. The theme is psychelic world music meets hip hop with a lot of bass. There is an exploratory vibe to Transformation. The first track on the EP, Darshana, is particularly interesting due to the structure and changed is pace. 

Transformation has been released on David's own label Amrita Recordings and is available to download free for three weeks here.

Rimshox - Ambersariya

Rimshox has put a new track on his SoundCloud page. The Newcastle based producer has remixed Ambersariya from the film Fukrey. Rimshox has kept Sona Mohapatra's vocals intact and added his own effects over the top. The remix works well. It has a light summery quality to it with a chilled out vibe.

Rimshox has promised a download, so hopefully it will be out soon.