Trafalgar Square is hosting its annual Vaisakhi In The Square this Sunday, 3rd May. The event will feature religious hymns (Shabad Kirtan) as well as Bhangra performances by Veronica, H-Dhami, Shekie ‘n’ Sham, Navin, 3Mix, D-Boy & Des-C.

Sunrise Radio is the main media partner. This year the event also commemorates 300 years of the consecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Guru. The free event, organised by the GLA, will be held from 12pm to 5:30pm.

Over the next few weeks/months, you can read about a group of young men who decided in the early 1980’s to try and make an impact…and for one night only…you can follow the lives of: The Sultans of Soul.

by Ravi Mangat
Writer

[This is part 5. Earlier chapters: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4]

Raj had just finished writing the end of another poem when Malkit returned from the Cash and Carry. Raj quickly closed his workbook and put it under the counter, but Malkit had already spotted it. “Being creative again eh?” Malkit said smiling.

“It keeps me busy”, Raj replied.

“What with the poetry and with the singing, you are becoming the regular show business man aren’t you”.

“Poetry isn’t show business…it’s an expression of the soul”.

“I see. And what does your soul tell you about those tins on the shelves over there?”

Raj rolled his eyes and knew that the conversation wasn’t going to get anywhere. He ended it abruptly. “I got to go out”.

“Where?”

“To get some equipment”.
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A Bangladeshi born filmmaker and science teacher has taken to online videos to promote science, while taking a subtle pot-shot at ‘mystics’ who use tricks to con people out of money.

Alom Shaha has made a half-hour film titled ‘Why Science is Important’, thanks to funding from various sources, which aims to tell youngsters why they should bother with science.
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by Anita Pati

Only two people walked out – a little noisily perhaps – from Phizzical Theatre’s enactment of Jean Genet’s The Maids – written originally in 1947 and transposed to ancient India.

And at first, it did seem hard to follow the vision of director and designer Sâmir Bhamra whose attempt at catapulting the staid language of 1930s French parlour talk to an Indian boudoir forced mental long jumps.
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by Jaspreet Pandohar
Freelance journalist

He’s played a rude boy nemesis to Sacha Baron Cohen in Ali G Inda House, a post apocalyptic survivor in 28 Days Later, a homeless heroin addict in The Feral Generation and even a cocky MC in Eastenders. However, Ray Panthaki’s latest screen role sees him in an altogether more sensitive guise.

In City Rats, the British born actor portrays a frustrated young artist obsessed with making a disabled prostitute his muse. A far cry from the recent slate of Gangster obsessed flicks churned out by the British film industry, the dark comedy weaves together a collection of urban tales featuring eight troubled Londoners struggling for recognition and approval amongst a diverse society.
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Sometimes you just want to do something a little different with your life. Something that makes you feel good or makes a difference to other people. Over the next few weeks/months, you can read about a group of young men who decided in the early 1980’s to try and make an impact…and for one night only…you can follow the lives of: The Sultans of Soul.

by Ravi Mangat
Writer

“You must be crazy”, Malkit said with indifference.

Raj hadn’t really expected anything else from his father and to be truthful, he was unsure of the idea himself. To pursue a musical career was hard enough, but when you were Asian, living in the 1980’s and the only lyrics you knew from memory were those of Elvis Presley, then you really must be crazy. To contemplate teaming up with two other Asian men who hardly oozed confidence and enthusiasm was crazier still, not to mention the fact that one of them, Ramesh, seemed highly temperamental, while the other, Ashok, seemed too laid back.

Raj was stacking one of the shelves when Malkit came out with another pearl of wisdom, “Music is not in our blood. Your grandfather was tone deaf and your uncle had a guitar for ten years and never played one proper note.”

“But that’s just it dad. I want to break the mould. I know you don’t think much of music, but I love it. I’m not even talking about playing instruments, I’m talking about just singing…to backing music.”
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Ethnic marketing agency Media Moguls has successfully retained the BME campaign strand of the £4m ‘Fire Kills’ campaign by the Communities and Local Government.

A four way pitch was put to the Central Office of Information, which handles government spending accounts. Media Moguls has been held the account for the past three years, focusing on Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali, Chinese and Polish communities across the country.

The International Buddhist Film Festival comes to London in May, offering films from across the world with a Buddhist touch – from documentaries to Hollywood blockbusters.
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A 29 year-old entrepreneur has launched a special website offering customisable pages with Asian content, following a trend kick-started by major companies such as MSN, NetVibes, iGoogle and MyYahoo.

Founder Deepak Gandhi said: “I created Indianelement.com so users can access their favourite pages by just clicking onto one site, instead of spending valuable time trawling through the internet. [It] fills a void that was left by other major portals, which are either too western or too ethnic and as an Asian living overseas, I couldn’t relate to either, which is why I developed this start page.”
www.indianelement.com

The highly successful Britain’s Got Talent act Signature will join singer Shahin Badar in a brand new comedy show on the BBC on Monday 20th April. They will feature on a show by the Iranian stand-up comedian Omjid Djalili at 10:35pm.

Shahin’s will sing a cover of Bhangra hit ‘nachna onda nai‘, with Signature performing. She is best known for her vocals on the dance hit singles ‘Smack my bitch up’ and ‘Get up get off ‘ by The Prodigy.

by Sunny Hundal
Editor

A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday Telegraph ran a front-page story alleging that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was worried the appointment of a Muslim as head of religion at the BBC would “sideline” the “Christian voice”. Coincidentally, the Sunday Times ran a remarkably similar story the same day, as did the Daily Mail the following day.

It smacked of a classic media hit-job and I decided to dig deeper. Rowan Williams had met the BBC director-general at a lunch that was nothing out of the ordinary. According to a source at his office, there was no official agenda or any leaks about what was discussed. Since his office is very non-confrontational about such matters, and because nothing is ever denied or confirmed, it presents a perfect opportunity for others to use for their own agenda.

According to many, the Churches’ Media Council kicked off the story. The lobby was on the attack.
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The National Health Service launched a publicity campaign this week featuring former Eastenders star Pooja Shah. The NHS wants to encourage Black Africans, Black Caribbeans and South Asians to give more blood and help meet the need for rare blood types.

Statistics currently show that less than three per cent of the total number of donors are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
More: www.blood.co.uk/vip

The BBC will showcase this year’s Proms 2009 Season with a first-ever Bollywood Prom performance.

The 2009 Season will be the biggest ever, according to the BBC, featuring a 100 concerts and 70 further Proms Plus events.
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One of the most powerful Asians in British media – Jay Kandola – is to leave her senior position at ITV.

Ms Kandola was the broadcaster’s director of acquisitions, responsible for buying and acquiring American shows for ITV’s network of channels.

She is leaving as part of a general cost-cutting restructuring plan, according to the Media Guardian.
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Sometimes you just want to do something a little different with your life. Something that makes you feel good or makes a difference to other people. Over the next few weeks/months, you can read about a group of young men who decided in the early 1980’s to try and make an impact…and for one night only…you can follow the lives of: The Sultans of Soul.

by Ravi Mangat
Writer

The applause for the imitation Bee Gees rang loud and clear in the heads of Raj, Ramesh and Ashok. Even now, when they were sat at the bar in the local snooker club, they were reflecting on the events of the evening. For Ashok, it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience because he was just doing it for a dare anyway, but for the other two, it was like a bombshell.

“I can’t believe I missed it”, Raj lamented, “I was practicing for weeks”.

“Weeks? Man, I just picked up my wig yesterday”, Ashok commented.

“Well that’s the difference between you and me then. I took this seriously”, Raj was slightly annoyed at Ashok’s throwaway remark.

“I was just doing it for a laugh. I can see you went to a lot of effort though…that Elvis get-up sure is convincing”, Ashok said. Then he looked at Ramesh. “But for the life of me, I can’t make out who you’re meant to be”.

“Peasant”, Ramesh retorted, “I’m Mohammed Rafi…do you know who Mohammed Rafi is?”
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by Kuljit Bhamra
Artistic director

The Southall Story is a project in celebration of a town that has welcomed new communities throughout the last century, enabling them to excel and influence both the social and political structures of this country.

Southall is also a place that has come to be affectionately known as Little India, but for many it is much more than that. Being a port, (Heathrow is a stones throw away), Southall has been a home to such diverse groups as the West Indians, Indians and Pakistanis in the 50′s through to the Ugandan Asians in the 70′s. Most recently, new arrivals include Sikhs from Afghanistan and Somalians.
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