Raag Glitter & Chips. Asian music, British society - ACE433.2

Man playing tabla (drum). Man’s daughter channel-hopping on television, bored by pop music, runs video of Indian musicians, goes back to different kinds of music on television, then settles on the video. She is confused to see the musicians apparently smiling at her and runs away as smoke fills the room, overturning her father’s instruments. Jaydev Mistry, Freelance Musician, interviewed, says he listened to Asian music when he could, but society gave him a poor image of "Asian" and the media didn’t pay much attention to anything except Western music, so he listened to that, to reggae, etc., and started playing guitar. He says his interest in Asian music has grown recently but that that the opportunities to perform are limited. Abbas Qureshi, Singer of Ghazals (Poetic Songs), talking about the wide availability of Western music, and the difficulty of finding places to learn (about) Asian music. Stills of Qureshi performing with his group Shahkaar which played a wide range of music. He talks about his liking for ghazals. Balvinder Singh, Saagar [or Sagar] Group, saying that it’s increasingly hard to hear traditional instruments and music in bhangra. Henna, Saagar Group, thinks that younger musicians are trying to make such fusion music sound more Western. Saagar performing. Singh says traditional music is only heard from artists coming over from India, and even many of them are phasing out traditional instruments.