BrAsian post-punk band Alien Culture

Thanks to Nabeel Zuberi, I was led to this post about the post-punk British Asian band Alien Culture. The post is informative, it's very important history, especially if you are interested in the emergence into visibility of BrAsians in Brit pop culture and anti-racist politics. You can also download the only two songs that the band ever recorded, "Asian Youth" and "Culture Crossover." John Peel played them on his show, but the band never "made" it.

I had thought the only visible Asian music in Britain at the time was Monsoon. I am now disabused.

“People rather fear being swamped by an alien culture” – Margaret Thatcher 1979

Pete Doherty, The Libertines, Love Music Hate Racism

Early on in my kufiyaspotting adventure, I posted about The Libertines and the kufiya that appears on the sleeve of their 2004 CD. More recently, I've posted about ex-Libertines, current Babyshambles leader Pete Doherty, infamous drug abuser and boyfriend of Kate Moss, who was spotted giving charity kisses for Palestinian children.

Now I find that Doherty has also played a leading role in the British anti-racist formation, Love Music Hate Racism, and in fact, has done more free work for the organization than any other artist. Love Music Hate Racism was set up in 2002 in response to "rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the Nazi British National Party (BNP)." LMHR is a successor to the celebrated Rock Against Racism movement of the late 1970s.

Among the many other acts involved with LMHR is British Muslim rap group Mecca2Medina as well as Asian Dub Foundation.