Dis-Orient30
Music, Culture, Diaspora
Will be published approx. on 12. November 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
978-1-0684880-8-5 (ISBN)
Description
On the 30th anniversary of Dis-Orienting Rhythms: The Politics of the New Asian Dance Music (1996) a pivotal book in British Asian music and cultural studies, Dis-Orient30: Music, Culture, Diaspora brings together original contributions from academic, creative and cultural workers. These essays, interviews and sound tracks take up, critique and expand Dis-Orienting approaches to the cultures and politics of South Asian music-making and listening.
This heterogenous collection guides readers through soundscapes and candid conversations on race, class, ethnicity, gender, nationalism, religion, exoticism, political Blackness, Brown sound, noise and voices.
Readers will step onto dance floors in Bangalore, London, and Los Angeles, enter recording studios in Bollywood and Vancouver, sound system spaces in Southall, play back Bengali mixtapes in London, Pothwari cassette messages in Manchester and Glasgow, tune in to community radio in Birmingham, rifle through record collections, trace samples, and hear from established and emergent artists.
This heterogenous collection guides readers through soundscapes and candid conversations on race, class, ethnicity, gender, nationalism, religion, exoticism, political Blackness, Brown sound, noise and voices.
Readers will step onto dance floors in Bangalore, London, and Los Angeles, enter recording studios in Bollywood and Vancouver, sound system spaces in Southall, play back Bengali mixtapes in London, Pothwari cassette messages in Manchester and Glasgow, tune in to community radio in Birmingham, rifle through record collections, trace samples, and hear from established and emergent artists.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Weight
178 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0684880-8-5 (9781068488085)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ashwani Sharma is a London based independent scholar. His interdisciplinary teaching, research and writing interests include: race, history and anti-colonial and black cultural theory; diasporic and global film and contemporary art; urban culture and music; open access publishing and radical study. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London, an associate of the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN), UAL, and the Sonic Screen Lab, UAL. Ashwani is completing a book examining the political aesthetics of diasporic culture. He is the founding co-editor of darkmatter journal, and the co-editor of Disorienting Rhythms: The Politics of the New Asian Music (Zed Books). He is an advisor for the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies journal, and for Soundings: A journal on politics and culture. Ashwani writes and performs poetry. He has worked for the BBC and in independent film/sound, DJs, and has been an aeronautical engineer. Nabeel Zuberi is Associate Professor in Media and Screen Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau / University of Auckland. His publications include Sounds English; Transnational Popular Music (University of Illinois Press, 2002), Media Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand 1 & 2 (Pearson, 2004 & 2010), Black Popular Music in Britain since 1945 (Ashgate/Routledge 2014), Synth-pop and its Repercussions (Bloomsbury, 2026), and articles and chapters on Black and Asian music media and cultures. Music, Media and Race after 9/11 is a monograph in progress for Bloomsbury. Nabeel is also a DJ, primarily in radio with Roots & Routes at KVRX-Austin (1993-95), The Basement at BASE FM Auckland (2004-2018), and Nick & Nabeel at TBC radio in Tamaki Makaurau / Auckland since 2025. Sonia is a vocalist and cultural convenor. Her musical career shook the boundaries of Asian music with her band Salaam and Funk. Here she intentionally occupies space, performing in venues traditionally and historically denied to Black and Asian punters; using the stage as a site of resistance to experiment and honour the sounds of her parents and many migrants from the Indian Sub-Continent; holding each other in safety, community, joy and nostalgia. She has
a feminist approach to her creative practice that led her to set up South Asian Women's Creative Collective London - SAWCC - sister to the NYC Collective - a platform for creative Asian women to centre their work in discussion and events. She has worked extensively with Asian Dub Foundation, as a vocalist and managing their music education wing - ADFED; Visionary Underground and the Nasha Collective. Sonia is on the Arts Advisory Board of Rich Mix London.
a feminist approach to her creative practice that led her to set up South Asian Women's Creative Collective London - SAWCC - sister to the NYC Collective - a platform for creative Asian women to centre their work in discussion and events. She has worked extensively with Asian Dub Foundation, as a vocalist and managing their music education wing - ADFED; Visionary Underground and the Nasha Collective. Sonia is on the Arts Advisory Board of Rich Mix London.