West London

To the West is where London becomes a Bhangra town. For fifty years South Asian families settled in Hounslow, Acton, Ealing, Uxbridge and Southall. West London offered jobs to willing workers; at the Sun Blest bakery, at Walls Pies, at Quacker Oats and famously at Heathrow Airport. Here in the 1970's local people stood together against fascist-led marches and against police violence. Today Southall is the terminus of South Asian West London; buying and selling on The Broadway, drinking Lal Toofan at the Glassy Junction, watching Bollywood films at the Himalay cinema. The first local Asian bands were amateur musicians covering Hindi songs at family events, but by the 1970’s migrants from the Punjab were nostalgic for back-home Folk. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra and her sons Kuljit and Satpal would perform at local School Halls and Social Clubs. Acton and Ealing Town Halls and also Shakelton Hall were venues for the first Bhangra acts. With Bollywood films showing at the Liberty, the Dominion and the Century cinemas on South Road, British Asians from all over London went West. By the late 1970’s Southall-based Alaap had become one of the UK's very first superstar Bhangra groups. Their album Teri Chunni De Sitare - produced by scene innovator Deepak Khazanchi and released by Savera Records /Multitone - encouraged young British Asians to take up the dhol and the dholak. Bands Heera and Premi - produced by Kuljit Bhamra - came from Southall to national success. They opened the door for a generation of other West London Bhangra musicians, Holle Holle, Kala Preet, Shava Shava, Paramjeet Pammi, and later The Dhol Foundation and Juggy D. Not everyone in West London aspired to be in a Bhangra supergroup; other British Asians were buying Dub, Funk, Soul, Electro and Disco records. These young people were drawn to DJing and mixing and many of London's most active and ground breaking British Asian DJ's would spring from Southall and Hounslow. Alliance, Maximus, Distinc-Shun, Powerline, Amit and San-j from Xzecutive Soundz would all go on to conribute to the contemporary Bhangra sound. From the mid 1970's West London's Sound Systems - DJ Kelly, Celestial (Parv Bancil), the Road Runner Roadshow (Tony Patti), Nytro Express (Pete Anderson) and All Jets (Pankhaj Jetwa) - were unrivalled. Local promoters included Senator and Mighty M (Jas Matharu later Entasia). The Bhangra media started in West London; Ghazal and Beat in Southall and Apna Beat Magazine in Hounslow. Comments (1) Avtar said:   What a wonderfuly written article! At last we see the true pioneers of the Asian DJ scene being mentioned. People like Tony Patti really truly started the whole Asian DJ scene, just ask the people who went to his roadshows, they really were awe inspiring massive roadshows the biggest i've evr seen, even to this day. Tony Patti stills rocks today in 2007! October 23, 2007 Write comment Name Comment Add Comment

 

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