TIKTOK can help make the next generation of British Asian musicians popular and the scene more ethnically diverse, according to leading industry figures.
Highlighting the lack of support for south Asian artists, record label bosses believe social media can allow upcoming musicians to gain audiences and therefore become mainstream.
New Asian band Girls Like You stayed at number one in the TikTok music charts for three weeks this summer with their debut single, Killer. The group, made up of Yasmin, Naveena, Nami, Jaya and Sasha, also had around two million views on the video app with their Bollywood twist on Cameroonian-American singer Libianca’s song People.
Vishal Patel, co-founder of independent label +91 Records that put the group together, said as a label that supports artists from a south Asian heritage with mainstream aspirations, TikTok was an important tool to help build and cultivate fan bases.
Patel told Eastern Eye: “One of our core focuses beyond creating music is being consistent on TikTok.
“This has paid off, because they [Girls Like You] have gained a lot of traction early – going viral with their cover songs and content, which has bought a lot of mainstream media attention, organically.
“The girls also regularly go live on TikTok and have built a really cool fan base in such a short time, which is only a positive for their upcoming music.
“There are a lot of challenges for south Asian artists, one being the lack of support in the music industry.
“We feel TikTok – as a platform – levels the playing field a little for south Asian artists looking for mainstream exposure. It allows you to build an audience and put your music out there for audiences from your community or culture and beyond to connect with if you utilise what the platform has to offer correctly.”
Patel added that TikTok could push artists to audiences that would normally be hard for them to access.
+91 Records also represents singer Celina Sharma who has more than 2.3 million social media followers. Her debut EP gained over five billion views on TikTok and more than 300 million organic streams off the back of going viral on the app. Other Asian TikTok sensations include Sabrina Bahsoon, known as Tube Girl. Her dance routines, filmed on the London Underground, has attracted 300,000 followers and more than 12 million likes.
Celina Sharma
A handful of south Asian artists have achieved mainstream success in recent years, including the producer Naughty Boy. Other acts with mainstream success in the 1990s and Noughties include Freddie Mercury with group Queen, Cornershop, Babylon Zoo, Panjabi MC, M.I.A. and Apache Indian. In 2009, Jay Sean became the first Indianorigin solo artist to achieve a number one single in the US with hit song Down.
Dr Jo Twist OBE is chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the trade association of the country’s music industry. She told Eastern Eye: “While UK rap, hip-hop and now Afrobeats artists increasingly find themselves in music’s mainstream, it’s notable that artists of south Asian heritage have enjoyed a much less pronounced presence in the official charts down the years.
“But there are signs this is changing, with social media playing its part in bringing new voices to the fore and connecting them with a wider audience.
“We also shouldn’t underestimate the role of BBC 1Xtra and Asian Network in helping to break down barriers.”
Twist added that the music industry was planning to open a specialist creative arts school in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 2026-2027, inspired by the BRIT School in Croydon, London. Supported by industry leaders such as Sony Music Entertainment UK, Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK, the free school will be open to more than 500 16-to-19-year-olds.
She said: “It’s our belief this can help to tap into the depth of diverse talent that we know is there and across other parts of the country.”
The Bradford-born singer Zayn Malik, a former member of group One Direction, was among those who expressed support for the school.
Susan Hinchcliffe, the leader of Bradford council, said: “There is a huge creative and cultural buzz around Bradford right now. We are preparing to be the UK’s city of culture in 2025 and will soon celebrate the opening of Bradford Live, a new 4,000-capacity live music venue in the old Odeon cinema.
“There is enormous talent in our young, energetic, diverse population and this can bring them lifechanging opportunities. It’s exciting to think about the future stars of music, art, film, TV and dance from our region. This school will help them to fulfil their dreams.”
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
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A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5