Elections, Extremism, and a Speaker resigns

** Parliamentary Speaker resigns - a very British revolution (fascinating viewing the Westminster village at work)

** European Elections 4 June - what will the anti-politics vote mean? (unfortunate by-product of the expenses row)

** What's to be done about the British National Party (BNP)? A laudable post by the Tories here (at last)

** Indian elections - Congress Party's Manmohan Singh re-elected; BJP defeated (a cheer for secularism?)

So much to say this week, but alas, no time to blog it properly. So I might use this ocassional 'weekly digest' format. Any thoughts on any of this?

Hardeep Singh Kohli on the Indian Takeaway

The closing night of the Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House features Hardeep Singh Kohli talking about, amongst others things, his latest book. Details are:

Hardeep Singh Kohli @ Asia House Festival of Asian Literature

Friday May 22, 2009 at 6:45pm

Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street

London, England W1G 7LP
Get Directions

Hardeep Singh Kohli loves many things in life - but none more than food. So when he decided to travel round India, searching for his roots, the obvious thing to take with him was not a "Lonely Planet", not a BBC camera team, but shepherds pie and Yorkshire pudding. Indian Takeaway is the entertaining story of Hardeep's attempts to cook his way round India, dishing up very British meals for the people he meets. Hilarious, strange and true, Indian Takeaway is a book for everyone who loves to cook, longs to travel, or for anyone who wants to spend a few hours in the company of this warm-hearted and entertaining man.

BAFTA-winning broadcaster Hardeep was writer of the Channel 4 hit Meet the Magoons, a presenter of Radio 4's Saturday Live, Midweek and The Food Programme as well as contributor to numerous radio programmes such as Radio 4's Front Row and Radio 3's Nightwaves. Hardeep is often found clad in turban and kilt as panelist and presenter of Newsnight Review, he is currently presenting on the BBC hit programme The One Show. He was also a runner-up on Celebrity Masterchef.

For tickets, ring 020 7307 5454 or email enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk
Ticket Info: £10/£7

I must admit I think this guy is great - he's intelligent, warm and humorous, and wears a turban and kilt (sometimes at the same time). The BBC have obviously taken to him - I think his Scots-inflected voice comes across very well. And yes, it is good to see a turbaned Sikh guy just getting on with it. My jaw nearly dropped the first time I saw him hosting BBC2's Newsnight Late Review. It was a bit like the moment when, in the 1970s, we first began to see brown people on TV (unfortunately the programme was Mind your Language...) - we'd gather round the TV agog.

I've not read the whole of his book Indian Takeaway but a pdf extract of the first chapter is available on his website - so far so good. Being about the same age a lot of his experiences of growing up in Britain resonate with mine. Here's his take on one of the benefits of the weekly trip to the gurdwara (Sikh temple) - prasad is a sweetmeat distributed to the congregation after the religious service at the temple:

Prasad is a truly amazing thing. If you ever needed convincing that the universe has some form of higher power at its helm, then prasad would be the single substance to convert you. It’s a semolina- and sugar-based concoction bound together with ghee. It is bereft of any nutritional value, but it is hot and sweet and lovely. And it’s holy. What more could you want?

So you might want to get along to this more popular-writing ending to the literary festival which has featured the likes of Amit Chaudhuri, Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger), Kenan Malik (From Fatwa to Jihad – The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy) and Ziauddin Sardar.
p.s. Madhur Jaffrey ('legendary actress and Indian cookery writer') is at Asian House on 11 June talking about A Life in Indian Cooking.

Update p.s.: If you want to read more, Kohli’s writing a regular column for the Spectator at the moment, where a barny is going on in the ‘comments’ about whether he’s any good/should be writing for this right-of-centre magazine.

I would definitely have tried to get along to the Kohli event but will be busy packing up the family to go away the next morning for the May half-term holiday - more of that in another post perhaps (yes,unbelievably I did it). If you go to any of the Asia House events, let me know what you think.

A Town under Seige: p.s. to the Southall Story

For those interested in my Southall post, there's a FREE screening in London on 21 May 2009 of a film about how Southall organised to resist racist and fascist attacks between 1976 and 1981.

Southall: A Town Under Siege looks at Southall, one of the major post World War Two Asian centres in Britain, and focuses on how this community organised to resist racist and fascist attacks between 1976 and 1981. Southall's militancy had been initiated by community organisations of the 1950s, created to help Black workers combat racism at the workplace as well as to deal with discrimination in the community. And as state racism increased - into areas of immigration control and virginity testing, the 'bussing' of schoolchildren, 'overcrowding notices' in housing, harassment by the police - the community fashioned and forged new weapons of struggle. It was during one of this community's historic moments of defending itself against organised fascists and police humiliation that the young New Zealander, teacher and anti-racist, Blair Peach, was killed 1979. [from TUC poster]

From the Institute of Race Relations website:

"21 May 2009

A screening of two IRR films charting Black people's struggles for justice in Ladbroke Grove and Southall.

• Thursday 21 May 2009, 7-10pm
• Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS

Screening:

• From you were black, you were out shows community resistance and the emergence of a number of 'Black Power' organisations in 1950s Ladbroke Grove.
• A town under siege focuses on how Southall organised to resist racist and fascist attacks between 1976 and 1981.

Speaker:

• David Clover - Librarian, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

The films form part of a four part series 'Struggles for Black Community', now available for the first time on DVD from the IRR. They were made by Colin Prescod for Channel 4 at the beginning of the 1980s. Free admission event (all welcome). Registration essential. Please either email: sertucevents@tuc.org.uk or call: 020 7467 1220.

More information about the films here where you can also download a copy of booklet which accompanies the Struggles for Black Community DVD

England People Very Nice

I finally went to see the play which has caused a national controversy in the UK recently - England People Very Nice, staged at London's National Theatre, written by Richard Bean and directed by the NT's very own Nicholas Hytner. The run continues into August 2009.

The play gallops through a comedic portrayal of successive waves of immigrant communities in the East End of London. It lampoons either the communities, or the stereotypes of the communities (depending on which side of the controversial fence you sit). To do this it romps through the arrival of the French Huguenots in the late 1590s, the Jews in the 1800s, the Irish over the 19th and 20th centuries, and finally the Bengali Muslims in the late 2oth century. The action is giddily fast-paced, with spoofy, Monty-Pythonesque styled-moments. Typical of its content is the following 'quip' by one of the characters:

"Irish and Jewish, that’s the worst mix. You end up with a family of pissed up burglars run by a clever accountant." Hmm.

Much has been said and written about the play – watch it being discussed here (pretty damning on the unsophistication of the play) and read Alibhai-Brown's more considered review here (ok, I agree with lots she says) - some want it banned because they think it’s racist (Muslims have been the most vocal); some think it is an unsavoury play and are ambivalent about it but would nevertheless support its right to be staged, and yet others think it is a statement about the failure of multiculturalism and are enjoying seeing the liberal world squirm. [Picture above: Trevor Laird and Fred Ridgeway in Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice at the National Theatre]

I guess I fall nearest to the middle category – I enjoyed some parts of it (eg. how chicken tikka masala was invented, the Noel Coward-style Bengali and other ‘goodness gracious me’ moments), felt uncomfortable about others (eg, the mainly white middle-class audience falling about laughing at when the ‘n-word’ was used or the comedic portrayal of the incestuous rape of Irish women) and yet enjoyed being challenged about articulating what I thought about the play and the act of staging it.

I begin from the position that I believe in people being able to say (and here, stage) things that I don’t agree with. The next step must be to discuss it. I think, though, in reacting to the material, the context is the key, isn't it? I mean, what reception would the ethnic-specific material of Jackie Mason, Sanjeev Bhasker and Chris Rock receive if delivered by someone not from that community? Have we moved on enough so that we can feel comfortable about 'ethnic lampooning' being delivered from outside of the relevant communities?

I could go on this, and about storyline and characters, and about censorship and offence but don’t have time! If you've seen it, tell me what you think. Ultimately, the play is not going to go down as a classic - it is not a big play but it certainly throws up a lot of issues – it dramatises in pockets of moments the debates swirling around society, immigration, race, culture and stereotypes, nation and values. And as to what the ‘message’ of the play was (yes, I know there doesn’t have to be a message), perhaps it was the reply of the 1950s ‘Dixon of Dock Green’-style policeman to when one of the lead Bengali characters proclaims ‘England People Very Nice’: ‘well, there’s good and bad in every kind of people’ (to paraphrase).

The Southall Story

A project has started which tells the story of an extraordinary place. The 'Southall' in the title is a West London suburb in the UK which, from the late 1950s, saw one of the earliest and large-scale settlement of immigrants from the sub-continent. It also happens to be the town where my parents first ended up, in 1961, having left the green fields of Punjab, India, and where I spent the first 18 years of my life.

The project's aim is "to create an archival, oral and visual documentation reflecting a dynamic heritage...and to create a popular platform that will propel the story of Southall onto a national stage, with the aim of penetrating the consciousness of the British public.". The feeling here is that the community of Southall has made a phenomenal but under acknowledged contribution to UK music, arts and politics.

"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."

The Southall story is being launched with a series of public events, performances and exhibitions. Things kick off on Friday 24 April, 7pm, with the launch event at the Dominion Centre, Southall:

Speakers include: Gurinder Chadha film director, Pragna Patel Southall Black Sisters, Kuljit Bhamra The Southall Story, Dalawar Chaudhry TKC, K C Mohan Progressive Writers Association.
Live performance by Vasda Punjab Bhangra Dancers, Kiranpal Singh.
Admission by invitation only.

The Southall Story is headed by Artistic Director Kuljit Bhamra and Creative Directors Shakila Taranum Maan and Ammy Phull. Kuljit Bhamra gives his take here. You can visit the website to read more about the project - though it's incomplete in places there's some interesting stuff especially on the pages about Southall''s 'time-line'. It's brought back a lot of memories (see former musing on 1960s Southall cinema), too numerous to write up properly at the moment, but, for now.....

I remember under the ‘The Boyle Law’ being 'bussed out' from Southall to attend primary school in neighbouring Northolt (also known as 'NF country' then); I was also taken by my mother on the march in 1976 following Gurdip Singh Chagger's murder - I have a vivid memory of everyone chanting with great gusto 'Enoch Powell bakara' ('goat') which was obviously a devastating slur! We were also on the march in 1979 which sadly resulted in the death of Blair Peach. In my Southall sixth-form soon after, the school common room would buzz with tales of the NF 'invading Southall' and various of us dashing off to join various groups. It was where we learned about politics and society. Thinking about this period, I came across a great video clip which includes news footage and interviews from the time - it's further down this article on the The Langar Hall site.

I hope there's a lot more to come from The Southall Story - it was a project waiting to happen.

Top two photographs courtesy of David F. Gallagher at lightningfield.com

UPDATE: there's a FREE screening of a film in London on 21 May 2009 about how Southall organised to resist racist and fascist attacks between 1976 and 1981

Nawal El Saadawi in conversation

Last Friday I had the pleasure of hearing Dr Nawal El Saadawi - Egyptian writer, doctor, activist and feminist are just some of the labels used to describe this remarkable woman. She was 'in conversation' at a event at Goldsmiths, University of London, as part of a three-day Race in a Modern World conference there.

It was at the age of seven, she told the packed audience, that she became aware of inequality in the home with her brother. Whilst she did more housework, more schoolwork and was "more intelligent" the brother got to roam free and be feted by the family and society (yeah, we know about that one...). The experience burned into her the desire to express injustice - she did this by writing. At first a letter to God - but she didn't know his address and he didn't answer. She then moved on to stories and eventually, award-winning novels, writing about the rights of women and of the poor, with criticisms of sham democracies ('mere voting is not democracy...') and oppressive religions. Her most well-known novel, Woman at Point Zero, was published in Beirut in 1973 and she has clocked up over 40 novels altogether.

She spoke about a relationship between "creativity and dissidence" - if you feel injustice and you feel you can't do anything, then "at least you can write". And this she did, at a great personal cost of censorship, imprisonment and exile. In 1981 Nawal El Saadawi publicly criticized President Anwar Sadat's policies and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. She was also on a fundamentalist 'death list' following publication of her novel The Fall of the Imam in Cairo in 1988.

El Saadawi also had much to tell us about capitalism, patriarchy and imperialism - none of it flattering of course. Having been in London whilst the G20 theatre was going on two days before, she said she saw the posed photograph of Brown, Obama and Sarkozy and they looked to her like "the gang of the world", trying to solve a crisis which they created. She would tell them what to do, we were told, "but they wouldn't let me in".

She regaled us with a detailed tale of how the original manuscript was stolen, years ago on a train to Belgium, of her most recent novel, Zina, The Stolen Novel, (2008). Dr Nawal El Saadawi spoke with great humour, intelligence and, perhaps belying her 77 years, with a little occasional mischief. I'm glad I went to see her, it was an inspirational experience.

You can read more about her here, at her publisher's website here and, if you want to, a Guardian interview from yesterday, here .

London Calling: G20 and 'Jobs, Justice and Climate'

Londoners may have noticed SOMETHING happening in town today. The G20 summit is being held in London this week to discuss 'the global economic situation' while at the same time thousands of people have been protesting in the streets of London in relation to causes around tackling poverty, the recession and climate change. This was proceeded by a massive Put People First march on Saturday 28 March.

As far as the three broad strands of 'jobs, justice and climate' go, there's not a lot to disagree with. But what do the protesters specifically want? The BBC has quotes from various of the campaign groups involved. Sounds good, as I say, but the devil would be in the detail of course, and crucially whether those in power - in government, in business and elsewhere - are willing to change the status quo. How is all this to be achieved? How much pain will it involve and for which interest groups? On the hopeful side, some of these cosy groups themselves are starting to suffer as a result of the economic situation and may therefore be more moved to implement change on the economic front if not quite on climate. It would be good though to think that someone is listening and taking note of the strength of feeling expressed on the streets this week but given an earlier post, things are not looking hopeful.

Still, the personnel have changed (for Tony, now Gordon; for George, now Obama) and these two new leaders, at least, are thought to be more progressive and concerned with social justice than their predecessors. And seeing as I have been tracking The Great One, it would remiss not to note that today was of course Barack Obama's first time in London as Pres. According to Jan Dalley on Newsnight (at 40.45 mins) last night Obama can still enjoy a honeymoon period in Europe for a while longer though she reckons the shine's worn off in the USA. Some though reckon he matters little in any case, mere figurehead that he is for other powerful groups and interests whose views must prevail - I meant to post a while ago this typically frank assessment of Obama by John Pilger in the New Statesman. Hmm, I always enjoy reading Pilger and often agree with him but on this I'd like to wait and see about Obama. Anyway, I digress, a bit...

What do you think about the summit and what the protesters want? Ultimately only history will reveal what part, if any, this week's events will have played in sowing the seeds of seeking a new way of organising society and the way that we all live together across the world. Because let's face it, capitalism in its present form is just not sustainable.

Dis-Orienting Rhythms: the politics of the new Asian dance music

For anyone interested in the British-Asian music and cultural scene up to the mid-1990s, here's a quick mention of a book now available to download on the web here or here (or below). It's being made available "to celebrate the landmark edited collection being published over a decade ago".

Dis-Orienting Rhythms: the politics of the new Asian dance music (1996, Zed books), edited by Sanjay Sharma, John Hutnyk and Ash Sharma.
“This book writes back the presence of South Asian youth into a rapidly expanding and exuberant music scene; and celebrates this as a dynamic expression of the experience of diaspora with an urgent political consciousness. One of the first attempts to situate such production within the study of race and identity, it uncovers the crucial role that South Asian dance musics - from Hip-hop, Qawwali and Bhangra through Soul, Indie and Jungle - have played in a new urban cultural politics …” (Back cover)

This book was the first of its kind as far as I'm concerned, giving attention to a particular lived cultural reality of many second-generation Asians. It came out at a time when we were surprised to find that being Asian could be kinda cool (at last, we had received the permission of the west to be fashionable...). After the thirsty years of trying to appropriate 'black' music as ours (after all, which London British-Asian didn't follow jazz-funk and lovers reggae in the 70/80s?) this seemed a time of plenty for '2nd-generationers' - there was the music (Bhangra), dedicated newspapers (Eastern Eye) and cable channels (Zee TV) galore. But be warned, this book is more than a nostalgia-trip - it grapples with some serious concepts, connecting music with race, identity and political consciousness.

So what does the book cover? These are the chapters in the book (downloadable here as pdfs):

Introduction - Sanjay Sharma, John Hutnyk and Ashwani Sharma
Sounds Oriental: The (Im)possibility of Theorizing Asian Musical Cultures - Ashwani Sharma
Noisy Asians or ‘Asian Noise’? - Sanjay Sharma
Asian Kool? Bhangra & Beyond - Rupa Huq
Remixing Identities: ‘Off’ the Turntable - Shirin Housee & Mukhtar Dar
Psyche and Soul: A View from the ‘South’ - Koushik Banerjea & Partha Banerjea
Re-Sounding (Anti)Racism, or Concordant Politics? - Virinder S. Kalra, John Hutnyk & Sanjay Sharma
Repetitive Beatings or Criminal Justice? - John Hutnyk
Versioning Terror: Jallianwala Bagh & the Jungle - Koushik Banerjea & Jatinder Barn
New Paths for South Asian Identity & Musical Creativity - Raminder Kaur & Virinder S. Kalra
References & Index

So enjoy this book, though be warned it is steeped in Cultural Studies and Anthropology-speak and needs a bit of attentive reading.

6th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

I'm a day late in posting my acknowledgement of the 6th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. On 20 March 2003 the bombs started raining down on the people of Iraq in this misguided 'war'. People were fooled by the US coalition, which included the UK, into believing that the war was necessary was because of Saddam's 'weapons of destruction'. In the end, defeated by the 'dodgy dossier' debacle, they settled for 'regime change'. In February 2009, true to his election promises, Obama announced his plan to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by August 2010. Let's hope the Iraqis themselves can work towards filling the various power vacuums.

There's been surprisingly little about this anniversary in the UK press -the BBC has a jaunty piece about the "pigeon fanciers of Baghdad" and "how they have managed to keep up their passionate pursuit through the darkest of times". Interesting, though hardly reflective of the suffering involved and anger about this invasion.

Many tens of thousands of Iraqis have died in this war (the precise number is contested), as well as over 4,000 military personnel - you can read the American Huffington Post's take on this here.

France24 tells us that "Neither the US military nor the Iraqi authorities have announced plans to commemorate the March 20, 2003 invasion that toppled President Saddam Hussein, an anniversary marked only by anti-war protesters and hastened US pullout plans."

Interestingly, France 24 goes on to quote Tariq Ali, a Pakistani-born, British-based author and activist, speaking about the supposed success of the recent surge of US troop:

“I think basically what the US did in Iraq was to buy off the opposition. Large numbers of people who were fighting them, especially from the Sunni section of society, were paid a lot of money and partially given control of their towns,”

Doesn't bode particularly well for the future.

Micheal Moore gives us a piece about veterans reflecting on their service, including one former U.S. marine who, home after a tour in Iraq, has taken to taking cover under the kitchen table every time local fireworks go off.

Before the invasion, I remember in late 2002 to early 2003 the growing anti-Iraq rumblings building up following the terrible 9/11 attacks in New York. When the prospect of government action started looking serious, I remember joining the largest ever number of street-protesters in the UK . This was when hundreds of thousands of people (again, figures contested) took to London's streets for a three and a half mile march to demonstrate their opposition to military action in Iraq. The march was organised by Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain.

The photographs in this post were taken by my husband and I on that bitterly cold day, Saturday 15 February 2003. They show views of the march by Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus' Eros and heading north up Park Lane towards Hyde Park for the rally.

Alas though, our display of 'people power' had no effect at all because just over a month later, in a complete disregard for public opinion, the invasion began.

Obama to appear on Jay Leno Show

Some quick news...This is NOT a blog devoted to Obama, honest, but you gotta be fascinated by the news that Barack Obama is to appear this Thursday evening on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. It's the first chat-show appearance by a sitting US president. Opinion seems to be divided between this being a popular move which privileges communicating with 'the people' rather than the Washington village (see Evening Standard discussion), and, on the other hand those who think this 'dumbs down' politics and diminishes the prez. You've got to admit it's novel that he will apparently be pushing his economic policies, rather than the usual latest book or film by other celebrity guests. You can follow The Guardian CIF discussion about this announcement here. Personally, I'm really interested to see how this plays out...what do you think?

How Obama appeals to Black and White

I recently came across a satisfying synthesis of my interests in politics and code-switching. What is code-switching? Put simply, code-switching is the use of more than one language (or variety), by the same person, in a conversation (or event).

The Politico (a leading USA political website) had an interesting article by Nia-Malika Henderson about how ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ hear Obama differently. It includes a story about how a phrase he used (‘nah, we straight’) was interpreted as Black English Vernacular (BEV) by black listeners and actually misheard by white listeners (as ‘No, we’re straight’) because they expected him to be speaking ‘standard English’.

Obama’s switch to BEV would be analysed by sociolinguists as a classic example of code-switching between one language variety and another, to achieve a particular effect, whether consciously or unconsciously. Many academics would be more interested in the unconscious behaviour to unravel how the brain interacts with language production. On the other hand, political scientists might of course be more interested in the conscious responses, in terms of what works, what can be controlled and therefore used for political effect.

The article goes on to cite other examples of how Obama’s speeches, in style and content, are able to appeal to black and white audiences at the same time and goes on:

John McWhorter, a linguist at the conservative Manhattan Institute, said that he believes that in Obama’s case coded messaging, which can be a matter of words, sound or grammar or all of them, is partly conscious because “he knows it arouses black audiences.”

(although note that the use here by McWhorter of ‘coded’ means ‘covert’ rather than a ‘system’ or ‘language/language variety’).

A forthcoming book, Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics by J. W. Ceaser et.al. also apparently discusses “the president's skill at code-switching” though I haven’t read this yet – it’s due to be published 28 March.

For non-sociolinguists not familiar with the concept, Black English Vernacular (BEV) is also sometimes used interchangeably with African-American English vernacular (AAEV). Writing since the early 1970s, William Labov (one of the godfathers of sociolinguistics btw) was amongst the early academics to analyse this variety and argue for the ‘systematic principles’ involved on this non-standard English variety. You can read more about what he means here and more about Labov here.

But back to now, I was excited by the Politico piece because, whilst the connection between linguistic analysis and politics is hardly new, it shows the use and significance of code-switching, not just in the interactions of the millions of multi-lingual individuals around the world, but on a international stage and in the use of persuasive language. And it kinda validates my particualr research interest, which is always nice…

John Legend plays Brixton, London

Last Monday night my husband finally got to enjoy his Christmas present – two tickets to see John Legend’s sold-out gig at the Brixton Academy and luckily he took me. It was a fantastic night of listening to sublime music and watching a great talent at work. John Legend – one-time church choir leader, now singer, songwriter, pianist, producer and label-manager (deep breath…) – returned to Brixton again, working towards confirming the definition of his adopted surname (he was born John Stephens in Ohio 30 years ago).

He headed a great live show, though a little full-on visually with constant huge screen in the background giving us a suitably cool take on the man. Sometimes grainy black-and-white footage of JL, giving him an air of history and authority, and sometimes just psychedelic 60s-type revolving graphics, and often beautiful, etheral women. He played through his well-known back-catalogue from his previous two albums (including the best-known ‘Ordinary People’ in the encore) and promoted his third, ‘Evolver’. The musicians and backing singers (including the feisty one with the seemingly sprayed-on trousers) gave great support, helping build up many of his moments-of-life songs to a rousing cresendo.

And I know it’s a sleb cliché but he did speak movingly, towards the end of the gig, about the charity in which he’s involved, helping African villages and, especially the Show Me Campaign.

Interestingly, Legend was a crucial cultural figure for the Obama campaign when he worked on the 'Yes We Can' video which became a huge viral hit on YouTube, and he also played at several Obama campaign stops.

David Sinclair’s TimesOnline review of Legend's gig on 9 March managed to captured the seductiveness of JL and his set, though ends a little unfairly, in my view - you can read it here.

If you’re curious, or just plain sycophantic, you can see some photographs from the gig here. And an interview with the man in the Mail on Sunday by Angus Batey last July 2008 here.

I, for one, enjoyed a now all too rare evening gig sans les enfants - I mean, we were out past midnight forgodsakes! Priorities have changed, an'all that, but it was good to be reminded about the richness of London's cultural offerings, and the great music which we've seen over the years.

Tongues on Fire Asian Film Festival, 6th - 15th March 2009, London

This great festival starts soon. It is "dedicated to expressing the drive and spirit of Asian independent media and cinema cultures of South Asia". See the events calendar and website here.

Highlights include the UK premiere of Deepa Mehta's HEAVEN ON EARTH, with special guest DEEPA MEHTA on 6th and 7th March 2009. This film leads the big gala opening - in it "Preity Zinta plays the leading role of Chand, a young Indian Punjabi woman who finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage with an Indo-Canadian man".

Tickets are sold out for the 6 March showing with the Q&A, but Heaven on Earth will be screened again on 9th March at Watermans, you can book through them directly. I'm told there are still tickets available for Saturday, 7th March, Life in Pictures, with Deepa Mehta, which will be a tribute to her works and Deepa will be there in conversation -this is £40/pp includes a champagne reception (blimey!)

Another highlight is In conversation with Gurinder Chadha on Fri 13 March, at Courthouse Kempinski, 19.00 for a reception, 20.00 for the conversation.

This strangely under-advertised festival is a gem - there is no similarly 'niched' event on this scale in the UK, so get along to it if you can, and let me know what you thought.

Coming out about Bollywood

Why would any sane, thinking, educated person be attracted to 'Bollywood'? Well, this is a loaded question - it encodes all sorts of assumptions about this genre and neglects to appreciate its multi-layered offerings (which are even more multi- if you are a Brit-Asian). Frankly, it's a bit akin to the 'Big Brother' bashers - I mean, if you're interested in people, social relations, personal and identity politics intersected with media behavior, programme editing and 'celebrity', then surely BB is a dream!

I have always been intrigued by popular Indian cinema (or 'Bollywood', the western-friendly name to have emerged over the last 15 years or so). When I was a child it was the art form (the only one as far I can remember) which enthralled my mother's generation and class in the UK. In between double-shifts at factories, canteens and plants, these Indian immigrants in the late 1960s/early 1970s would eagerly dress up (beehives, mascara, pale lipstick and saris) and head off to the local cinema which some Indian entrepreneur had rented for the big Saturday night. For us this meant going to 'the Dominion' in Southall, West London in the UK, a town which had a concentration of Indians and particularly of Punjabi Indians.

My brother had I only had then a basic, developing, knowledge of Punjabi but still we managed (mostly) to follow the Hindi dialogue of films such as Andaz, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Bobby, Pakeezah, and Sholay, classics for which any Indian will be able to reel of a fair amount of dialogue They were magical but strange nights. Stepping out of our English, weekday selves, my brother and I entered a world which was completely alien to our assimilated personas at school. So that's one relationship I have with Indian cinema.

Later, in the age of affordable domestic video players, cinema-going diminished amongst Brit-Asians in the late 1970s though viewing films remained popular. In my teens now I was more interested in creating some space between my tastes and that of my parents' generation. Trouble is, there was very little British-Asian 'youth culture' about (But that's the subject of another blog...).

Skip to the present, and Bollywood is my connection with my 'imagined community', as I now live in a pretty much non-Brit Asian world. Apart from the usual fare, I particularly enjoy the relatively more 'left-field' stuff especially films which have something to say about society and politics; films such as Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi ('A thousand dreams like this') (Dir. Sudhir Mishra, 2005) - this film follows its three protaganists in the 1970s against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, and India's massive social and political changes, including the Naxalite movement in South Bengal. A gratuitous picture of Shiney Ahuja here, one of the film actors - another good reason for watching this film (ahem...).

If you want to know more about popular Indian cinema you could do a lot worse than to read Mihir Bose's Bollywood: A History (2007). Despite it's cover (blimey!), it's actually a very comprehensive and readable gallop through Indian cinema, right from the first shaky and silent black-and-whites right up to the early 2000s.

So that's the explanation of my 'guilty pleasure', though I think some of the films are crossing over into 'world cinema' and would easily be the subject of a 'western' film buff 's trip down to the BFI. But I make no excuses (well, just a few...) and need no endorsement, honest. I'd like to hear some of your recommendations from Indian cinema. And I may from time to time tell you about what I've been watching. So, kaan khol ke sunlo.... ('open your ears and listen' - a much-used formulaic line from Bollywood).

Au revoir L - New Zealand beckons!

Some (more) self-indulgence on this site... My dearest and longest-standing friend flies off to New Zealand tomorrow for a new life - she has a wonderful job lined up and, more immediately, a wedding to attend (not hers, I hasten to add!). It sounds like absolutely the right move for her. But I must admit to having a heavy heart at losing (to distance, at least) the kindest and most tranquil friend, who always knew what to do in every situation (and knew how to party!). Together we had the best times in my life and some of my best memories. L, I told you not to hug me a second time yesterday - it proved too much!

So farewell and the most love L, good luck and bon voyage. We'll miss you. I look forward to linking to the blog you'll be setting up about your big adventure!

UPDATE: L's set up her blog at: thingsyoudidntknowaboutnz.blogspot.com