Despite the global success of Jay Sean, why is there still a lack of successful British Asian artists? Is this due to post-colonial attitudes or Asian cultural traditions?
· Underlying racism and post colonial attitudes which deter artists? (Social , Representation)
The reason for the struggles British Asians are faced with may be due to underlying racism and the post colonial attitudes which still linger in today’s 21st century. Many see Asians as outcasts in Britain who are illegally immigrate to the UK for money. An arguments common in the 1980’s was that “ the real racists are not the indigenous whites but the blacks and Asian immigrants who insist on keeping their own ways of life while still wanting to claim full rights as British citizens”[4]. An example of an immigrant Punjabi singer is ‘Garry Sandhu’ who was in the UK on illegitimate terms and recently got deported in early 2012. He was one of many who “managed by various means to come abroad and make a splash”[5]. However was sooner caught due to his rising success as an Asian artist. It may be questioned whether his deportation was due to envy of his rising success as a Asian artist or similar post colonial mentality of the 80’s, who depicted immigrants as outcasts and “the real racists” who should not have the right to British citizenship. This can be questioned as colonial mentality still lingers in many places as many “reviews and comments send up the artist’s stock back home; and so by a circuitous and dubious route the artist ‘arrives’ not only in the West but also in India”[6]. This may be reference back to Jay Sean who continuously gets linked to his culture and heritage. One example is throught the racial comments passed over Twitter by UK Grime Artist Wiley to Jay Sean and his fans
Wiley and Jay Sean – Ethnic Banter/ Racism – jealousy from other hip hop artists Wiley began passing racial comments over the social network ‘Twitter’ over a misunderstanding between him and the huge Asian RnB phenomenon Jay Sean. Wiley passed on comments of a racial nature towards Asians.
Asian sterotypes/tradition/representations hider and discourage artists? (Representation Genre)
· Mixed identity crisis of British Asians? (Audience Genre)
They have been described by academics and others as a half-way generation (Taylor 1976)
a generation suffering from ‘culture clash’ ( Thompson, 1974)
or youngsters who have the best or worse of the two worlds (Ghuman, 1991)
Need to be westernised to appeal to a mass audience / westernised to fit into a British society
Citizens of This Country: The Asian-British By Mary Stopes-Roe, Raymond Cochrane expectation that settlers in Britain will cast off their original culture and adapt to british ways. The notion ‘hyphenated British’ has as yet not caught on (Watson 1977) page:9~
Jay Sean a British Asian singer rapper and record producer was signed to Cash Money Records in America and now successful RnB artist worldwide. However it can be questioned whether this breakthrough will ever occur again. Many British Asians feel they still struggle for equality just as many did in the 20th century and therefore still have to face the underlying racism and colonial attitudes which deter many. Alongside this the stereotypes and representations given to Asians perhaps hinder them from breaking the norms and being judged, therefore many Asians face an ‘Identity Crisis’ of whether to join the traditionalised Asian culture or fit into the British westernised trend.
STRUGGLES OF PRE 200 CONTINUE
The 1980 was arguably one of the most controversial eras musically as there were many artists that challenged the way people thought of their identities. Struggles of equality in the 20th century can be distinguished through groups such as the Asian Dub Foundation who reflected a zeitgeist of inequality and unity. With their lyrics the Asian Dub Foundation tried create political harmony and to break the stereotypical 'black' ethnicity being the only minority to be bound with the genre of hip-hop, this is evident through their lyrics in the song; Strong Culture “Yes you thought I couldn't do it/ I'm not a black man/ This time it's an Asian [1]”. This shows the criticisms given to the Asian minority where Asians are seen as people who “couldn’t do it”; couldn’t break into the hip hop genre of rap. In the 21st century of a pluralism and diversity Jay Sean is admired for achieving something that the Asian Dub Foundation failed to do by getting his music into the mainstream and joining an American hip hop record label which Billboard editor says cannot be “underestimated ‘on’ how difficult it is to break America in any genre if you’re a British Artist”[2], which is surprising to be seen in the 21st century. Jay Sean did eventually succeed nevertheless “at the age of 12 moved into RnB reportedly due to the difficulties getting into the British rap scene with his Punjabi heritage”[3]. The fact that he had moved to the RnB may show the genre barriers that still exist in today’s zeitgeist of having to be a certain “heritage” to become successful in the Rap/ Hip hop genre. Therefore this may deter many other Asian artists that aspire to become a hiphop artist -rapper due to the difficulties, therefore they would assume joining a genre that accepts an Asian heritage such as Bhangra or Bollywood would be much easier for them.
· Underlying racism and post colonial attitudes which deter artists? (Social , Representation)
Wiley and Jay Sean – Ethnic Banter/ Racism – jealousy from other hip hop artists Wiley began passing racial comments over the social network ‘Twitter’ over a misunderstanding between him and the huge Asian RnB phenomenon Jay Sean. Wiley passed on comments of a racial nature towards Asians.
Asian sterotypes/tradition/representations hider and discourage artists? (Representation Genre)
Asians get stereotyped and represented in certain ways which to many Asians start to seem like the norms that they should or need to follow. Stereotypes of Asians have continued throughout the media since East is ·
East and Goodness Gracious Me till today’s Citizen Khan and Eastenders . Many of these sterotypes are seen to to have a significant element of truth to them as ‘Perkins’ states. ................
Does it affect the British Asian community by perhaps breaking their tradition/culture/values?
Stick to their own genres = Bhangra/ Bollywood
channels distinguished for different genres – e.g: Brit Asia TV a platform for British Asian talent– however not many of them are able to break through into the mainstream
Representations/ Stereotypes given in things such as >>>>>
Citizen Khan
East Enders The Indian Doctor
Stick to their own genres = Bhangra/ Bollywood
channels distinguished for different genres – e.g: Brit Asia TV a platform for British Asian talent– however not many of them are able to break through into the mainstream
Representations/ Stereotypes given in things such as >>>>>
Citizen Khan
East Enders The Indian Doctor
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=58875400530 - keep it undercover
But the folks dont know, they want my marriage arranged,
Cos every asian kids life should be the same,
A doctor, lawyer, pharmacist or business studies,
If I did I.T then they wouldnt have to worry
Cos every asian kids life should be the same,
A doctor, lawyer, pharmacist or business studies,
If I did I.T then they wouldnt have to worry
· Mixed identity crisis of British Asians? (Audience Genre)
BBC Hinglish- keeping their traditional vocabulary and tradition whilst mixing it with westernised words - ( Goodness Gracious Me ) “For the young are linguistic magpies, borrowing from any language, accent or dialect that seems fashionable
Coping With Two Cultures: British Asian and Indo-Canadian Adolescents –
1. apart of folk wisdom in Britain and north America to claim that second generation Asian young people suffer from a so-called identity crisis” p13
2. In British Columbia(Canada) there is a positive attitude towards muliculturalism whereas in England such initiatives have been reserved since the early 1980’s (Tomlinson 1991; Troyna 1990) (23)
They have been described by academics and others as a half-way generation (Taylor 1976)
a generation suffering from ‘culture clash’ ( Thompson, 1974)
or youngsters who have the best or worse of the two worlds (Ghuman, 1991)
The assumption of having to be Westernised/Americanised to become successful – Americanisation attempts – failed attempts ?
Need to be westernised to appeal to a mass audience / westernised to fit into a British society
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-36cqQQrJGo – KOOL 2 B Asian
Lyrics:
Is quite a few peeps aint proud to be brown
To be honest yeh that's quite a shame
That some people can't even pronounce there own name
Mandeep changed his name to Malcolm
See he's whiter then talcum
Is quite a few peeps aint proud to be brown
To be honest yeh that's quite a shame
That some people can't even pronounce there own name
Mandeep changed his name to Malcolm
See he's whiter then talcum
Need to be westernised to appeal to a mass audience / westernised to fit into a British society
Is the British Asian Industry not as successful therefore copying the American ideologies and ideals?
Citizens of This Country: The Asian-British By Mary Stopes-Roe, Raymond Cochrane expectation that settlers in Britain will cast off their original culture and adapt to british ways. The notion ‘hyphenated British’ has as yet not caught on (Watson 1977) page:9~
1. Bhangra Moves: From Ludhiana to London and Beyond By Anjali Gera Roy
Alex Seago asks “whether or not the global presence of MTV in itself signifies the development of a uniform Americanized capitalist monoculture (2005:125) p 130
Alex Seago asks “whether or not the global presence of MTV in itself signifies the development of a uniform Americanized capitalist monoculture (2005:125) p 130
2. “birth of an Americanized global mtv generation were refuted by the indigenization of conemporary pop culture, citing india as one of the most obvious examples 130
· In praise of the Asian Music awards | Music | guardian.co.uk While the AMAs has faced some of the criticism that the Mobos received about "ghettoising" Asian music, they have really served the purpose of drawing mainstream attention to underground genres, demonstrating that there is more to Asian music than Bollywood and Bhangra.
From the margins to mainstream? Representations of British Asian youth musical cultural expression from bhangra to Asian underground music R Huq - Young, 2003
1. Pathi (1986: 60) describes the music that the word ‘bhangra’ has now come to be equated with as ‘an easy blend of traditional, rural instruments and modern Western sounds’.
2. Gilroy (1987: 155) has commented how ‘black styles, music, dress, dance fashion and language become a determining force shaping the styles, music, dress, dance fashion and language of urban Britain as a whole’.
3. Ghelani (2001) argues that the 1990s saw a distinct adoption of black sartorial style by Asian youth, who positively define themselves as black and are ‘redefining Asianness’.
4.
5. There is a natural assumption that black/Asian musics are intrinsically ‘urban’ with ‘ghetto’ associations, yet these musics also have widening suburban followings in prosperous areas away from inner-urban areas,in common with changing patterns of residential settlement of (some) members of Britain’s black and Asian communities (Peach, 1996)
6.
