The Fusion Music of the British Asian Dance Club and Concert: Contemporary Ethnic Identity of Anglicized Second Generation South Asians

Abstract

My Richter project aims to study ways in which second generation Brit-Asians in London overcome the struggle to identify and juxtapose both their British and South Asian cultural identity through fusion music. Contemporary fusion music is a hybrid production derived from mixing rhythms, beats and lyrics of South Asia with other cultural musical productions of Britain such as rap, ragga, jungle, 'Drum and Base', and other electronic music genres. The lyrical content of the music is often politicized and Brit-Asian consumers and producers disturb utopian fantasies of the multicultural British society through the music by addressing personal struggles of resistance to subjugation and stereotyping. Thus by appropriating and consuming certain music styles, young people are using music to articulate personal struggle to construct their cultural identity. I will use the musical space of the dance floor and concerts to demonstrate how the British and Asian self is juxtaposed by the varying styles of the subculture music. My project will be ethnographic in nature, based primarily on interviews with young British South Asians and fieldwork observations at dance clubs and concerts.