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Desi-Box caught up with the masterminds behind the new Asian Beats Chart Show; music industry guru Aadil Rasheed and Terry Mardi the youth content creator. Speaking to Desi-Box they told us what to expect from the new show and how the show is a step into the right direction!

Aadil told Desi-Box that the idea behind the programme was to put together a chart show that can reflect the up and coming Asian artists who have the potential to achieve mainstream chart success. Aadil, spoke from personal experience when exclaiming As one of only 2 people in Britain to have signed and successfully crossed an Asian artist into the mainstream industry, I personally experience the frustrations of the media in the UK not really giving Asian artists as much coverage as they would their black/urban music counterparts. Aadil went on to say that after finishing artist and project management he felt the best way forward was towards unearthing future talent from Britain’s largest ethnic minority population.

With the Asian music industry being so prominent especially in the last decade, some have voiced that this has been a long time coming. Aadil explained to Desi-Box that the issue is that major TV companies need to be convinced and more supportive of new ideas.Fortunately in Box TV we have the perfect partner/home for this show as they are the country’s leaders in the music TV market. By their involvement, Box TV have shown true support for this genre!

The show itself will be presented by two new fresh faces with funny guy Mawaan Rizwaan and the bubbly Amira Kai. Aadil told Desi-Box that the show will be a traditional link and clip show with the producers introducing each video in their own unique styles.

There are already Asian TV chart shows; however Aadil assures us that this will be different. It will be compiled by a small panel of experts including myself, who have been there and broken artists themselves. Be it as record company executives, PR people or former artist’s managers. The show will be done purely on merit and not the misconception that many similar shows/media outlets use of internet hype by basing popularity on YouTube hits.


With the new Asian Beats Chart Show being on mainstream British Television does this mean that the Asian music has finally become recognised in the UK?  Terry Mardi makes a valid point in stating every major record label, radio station and tv network already knew about Asian Music.  People asked this question when BBC Radio 1 first announced the Bobby & Nihal show and when Panjabi Hit Squad had their slot on BBC 1Xtra before 2003. Almost a decade on, how many Asian artists have charted or crossed over apart from Jay Sean and Raghav? They all recognise it's existence but sadly very few professionals in the Asian Music Industry have been organised enough to present a commercial case for progression until now.

Terry spoke about the positive impact that the show will hopefully have on the Asian music industry. Explaining that as The Asian Beats Chart show will be shown on the largest mainstream music TV channel in the UK, this will allow for new audiences to discover commercial English language music which is often ignored by Asian TV networks. Those channels are missing the boat and we have now taken the first step to create a dynamic platform that understands the music trends of tomorrow.

Terry acknowledges that the commercial television business isn't an easy one to crack, however he cemented the fact that the venture with Channel 4 and Bauer Media is one that has a bright future and can only do good things for the Asian Music Industry.

Terry gave a special message to all the  rising Asian artists stating now is the time to carefully consider spending more time and money (which isn't always easy) on the packaging of your music, strong music videos that are of a high enough creative value to impress global audiences. We need to evolve from the underground mentality, just as a few artists have started to. We all know what is possible if we apply ourselves seriously to our craft.

Join Mawaan and Amira for The Asian Beats Chart Show on Kiss TV on Wednesday 18th January from 6-8pm (UK TIME)!