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INSIDE: DESIXPRESS
MARCH 2016 ISSUE No.208
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MARCH 2016
Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has been released from prison earlier than anticipated read more inside - page 24
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Be honest, Is it difficult working with your brother? Do you still squabble? Jas: Everyone always asks us that, but no, not that much. Everyone has slight disagreements, but we just get on with it really.
JAS AND DEEPS ARE SET TO PUMP UP THE DANCE FLOOR
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Breaking a Sweat for Birmingham Run Birmingham is aiming to get 5,000 people running from all different communities
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n light of International Women’s day, inspiring Mum-of-two, Naseem Akhtar is pushing Birmingham locals to get active a bid to get them breaking a sweat for the Run Birmingham project. The influential local-lady is leading the project, in association with the Birmingham City Council’s, Wellbeing Service, England Athletics, Great Run Company and Sport Birmingham. “Run Birmingham is aiming to get 5,000 people running from all different communities,” Naseem explains. “We want the Great Birmingham Run 10K and half marathon entrants to reflect the city. We had runners complete the half
marathon last year who had struggled to walk to the bus stop eight months earlier. Since then lots of women in our community have been inspired to try running and are taking part in weekly training sessions. We will be going out into all the communities to introduce everyone to the benefits of running." Last year’s Great Birmingham Run saw Akhtar joined by her team of 37 fighting-fit ladies from the Saheli Woman’s Group in Balsall Heath. Established in 1998, the Saheli Women’s group, which is funded by the Wellbeing Service and Birmingham City Council, brings together Asian women of all faiths, who meet weekly to exercise.
MAHARAJAS MAKE SOME NOISE
What have you tried to play that you’ve completely flopped at? Jas: Fguitar for me! Deeps: I don’t think I’ve ever completely flopped at anything, maybe if I tried playing a violin that wouldn’t work! Were percussionists really, our hand falls into percussion. So the dhol is obviously a big part of your life, what other instruments do you like to play?
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aharajas a.k.a. brothers Jas and Deeps are set to pump up the dance floor with their new music production. The brand new track ‘Giddeh Vich’ is set alight by the vocals of one of Punjab’s finest talents, Aman Sandhu and features rapper HMC, who is no stranger to the Asian music scene, with huge hits from ‘Soni Lagdi’ to ‘Sukshinder Shinda.’ The two London based brothers, born and raised in Ilford, began their musical journey DJ’ing for parties before setting up one of UKs most reputable road-shows. Set to make their first venture into the music industry, the duo speaks to The Asian Today about their journey so far.
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Where did you get the inspiration for Giddeh Vich? Deeps: A lot of it has got to do with when we started DJ’ing in the early 2000’s music was going through a huge change. This style of music went away a little bit, if you remember music from that time it was totally different to what people are releasing now. Jas: We thought let’s do something a bit old school, the Bhangra-garage vibe disappeared a little bit and you don’t hear it that much anymore. What we listen to is a heavy influence, as garage is one of my favourite genres.
Jas: For me it is definitely dhol, I had an amazing journey playing the dhol; it took me to amazing venues with amazing audiences. Deeps: When you play one instrument, you want to try them all, we’ll try and play anything, but it takes devotion and practice. You’ve got to put the time, effort and dedication into it. Has music always been a big part of your life? Deeps: At a young age, we were passed on a tabla from my grandfather, we started taking lessons and from there it picked up. We started performing and we eventually picked up the dhol. Jas: We’ve spent time on it and we’ve put most our lives into the instrument, and generally into music and performing. Before we knew it, we were in the DJ line so the next step just made sense for us to come in with our debut single.
Inspiring Mum-of-two, Naseem Akhtar is pushing Birmingham locals to get active a bid to get them breaking a sweat for the Run Birmingham project
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