As Summer comes to an end, decided to reflect on memories as a teenager, as a guide to where things are going, in terms of politics in the East End…
As summer draws to an end, the end of one chapter and the beginning of another in the political calendar. I decided to revisit the music of my teenage years, music which encouraged me to question assumptions, speak my mind and stand up to the powers that be, whether leading a student strike at school or a walkout and protest of night shift workers at the local warehouse distribution centre for Waitrose.
Just like politics now in the East End, then was a time of neverending horizons, the only limit being our imagination. The same thing was happening on the music scene, with the likes of the Fundamentals from Bradford and Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) from London, breaking barriers and forging new identities by defining themselves through their music.
One of the hidden gems in this was, the band Joi, an East End band, originally composed of brothers Farook and Haroon Shamsher. Haroon died on 8 July 1999, and the remaining brother has continued Joi alone. They started out in the context of community work and events and subsequently became active members of a growing Asian dance scene in England. Out of this, a Bengali youth movement came the Joi Bangla sound system formed by Farook and Haroon Shamsher, fusing Asian influences with Western beats and fusing the sounds of traditional Bengali music with hip hop and contemporary dance styles. They spun records in local youth clubs around the Brick Lane area of London.
“We’re about politics, race, religion, and music all-in-one”.
Farook Shamser
The track, “We need your vote”, highlights the style, politics and identity of their music, the mixture of traditional instruments like the ektara, with traditional base rhythm and blues, intertwined with political slogans in Bengali. As the politics in the East End once again goes transformation, look forward to looking out for the new Joi, and the next Farook and Haroon Shamser.
For further reading:
Sharma, Samjay; Hutnyk, John; Sharma, Ashwani (1 November 1996). Dis-orienting Rhythms: Politics of the New Asian Dance Music. London: Zed Books Ltd.
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