2010 UK Asian Music Awards

The 2010 UK Asian Music Awards is one of the key events in the annual diary of Asian Music in the UK. Artists from different genres come together to celebrate winners of the variety of nominations established by the awards body.

DESIblitz had the pleasure to attend the ceremony and talk to many celebrity names at the event held at the Royal Festival Hall in London on March 11th 2010. We present exclusive video interviews with well-known singers, producers, DJ’s and actors at the show.

Our line up includes, Jay Sean, Amar Dhanjan, JK, Jimmy Mistry, Jaya, Hari Dhillon, Shizzio, Bobby Friction, Nihal, Mumzy Stranger and the New Project artists from the Rishi Rich Academy.

Lots was discussed about the state of the Brit-Asian music industry with the artists and how and where they fit in. There were some interesting points made in the interviews. Bobby Friction says, “It’s make or break. Either it dies or it lives forever.”

“What we all need to do is realise that we have a responsibility to our own people to keep this alive. Because 20 years from now our kids are going turn round and actually look at us and say you messed it up for us.”

Jay Sean
Jay Sean, the most successful artist on the night, won four awards, winning Best Album, Best Male, Best Urban act and Best Video for his song ‘Down.’ After major success in the USA by making it to number one in the US Billboard charts, Jay had made history by being the first Brit-Asian artist to make it so huge in mainstream music. Signed by Money Cash records in the US has given Jay Sean a tremendous platform to showcase his talent as a superb urban artist. However, as a person he still shows that he has strong sentiment with the UK and his fans.

Amar
Amar Dhanjan (daughter of singer Mangal Singh) won the Best Female act award. Her singing career started when she sang ‘Tu Hai Mera Sanam,’ a Hindi cover version of Dolly Parton’s song ‘I Will Always Love You.’  She pursued a music career in the London Asian Underground scene. Doing tracks with known producers like Talvin Singh. Signed to Sunset Entertainment, her first album called ‘Outside’ released  in 2000, featuring Asian Underground and Electronica influences. However, working with music producer Timbaland gave her tremendous popularity and respect as an artist.  Her next album released in February 2010, called ‘Show It Off’ featuring tracks with many collaborations and genres, including “Deewana” featuring her father Mangal Singh.

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JK
JK won the Best Newcomer award as a new Bhangra sensation. His real name is Jatinder. He was born and raised in Derby, UK. It’s taken him over eight years to get to this point which has involved a lot of hard work and dedication. He began training to be a vocalist under the tuition of Sukhjit Singh Olk, aka Tru-Skool.  His traditional upbringing in a Punjabi household enabled him to maintain a deep connection with his roots and speak Punjabi fluently – a rare quality in most UK born Punjabis and many vocalists alike.

Nihal
Nihal won the Best Radio show award. Nihal is of Sri Lankan origin. He joined the BBC in 2002 becoming the co-host of a late night show on BBC Radio 1 called Asian Nights alongside Bobby Friction. He presents shows on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Asian Network. As well as presenting on radio, Nihal is a DJ and has performed both in the UK and internationally, including gigs in Bangladesh, Dubai, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, and toured the U.S. with Bobby Friction and singer Raghav.

The 2010 UK Asian Music Awards (AMA’s) are an important part of the UK Asian music industry and provide a great platform to show the development of artists and music across different genres that reflect Brit-Asian lifestyle. They give incentive to those starting out and recognition to those who have made a mark with their sound and performances.

The important vibe coming from the awards night was about the much needed resurgence of live music. With illegal downloads and high use of computers to produce music, there is a major need for artists and acts to perform live to keep the Brit-Asian music industry developing for the future. There are tough challenges ahead in the new digital world of music and the UK AMA’s are very important to help recognise the challengers.