What do
Phoenix Nights, Balsall Heath, electronic dance music and corner shops have in
common?
The answer is an Indian singer who is rarely seen on screen but who is acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.
She has many admirers. Her name is Asha Bosle.
A Consummate Crooner
In Phoenix Nights - the fictional nightclub created by Peter Kay, Dave Spikey AKA ‘Jerry St Clair’ sings ‘Brimful of Asha’ a cover of the 1998 hit song by Cornershop. This is a deliberately cringe-worthy send up of a night-club singer.
Mr St Clair has obviously been given the early-evening spot before the main act - mercifully before the carpet gets really sticky. Silver-suited Jerry puts all his best moves into it.
Phoenix Nights - Brimful of Asha (Jerry St Claire) - You Tube
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The title of the track refers to the Indian singer Asha Bosle. In the enthusiastic response to the record few people knew what the title Brimful of Asha - meant.
 |
| Picture of Asha Bosle in 2011 |
A playback singer records for the soundtracks of Bollywood films and the film actors then mime the words and the editors lip-sync the songs.
Asha was born on 8 September 1933 and started her career as a playback singer at the age of 10. As well as Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. In an interview in 2006, Bhosle said that she had recorded over twelve thousand songs in her career.
 |
| A still from the film Yaadon Ki Baraat |
Another
tribute to Asha Bosle was made by Bally Sagoo who was born in New Delhi in 1964
and brought up in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. Bally (Baljit)’s father Saminder
Sagoo ran a record shop in the 1970s, after playing in his own band ‘The
Musafirs’ in the late 1960s.
In his teens, Baljit was friends with kids from the various migrant communities of Balsall Heath and developed a taste for reggae, R&B, soul and disco. Before the age of 10 he was using the HiFi at home to make mix tapes.
‘I had
my bedroom named ‘Curry Wood Studios’
He
went on to DJ in Birmingham’s clubs becoming a major international record, film and TV producer.
In 1994 he produced the album ‘Bollywood Flashback’. The track Chura Liya * was a huge success. Asha Bosle's wonderful voice can be heard soaring over the great orchestral dub introduction.
Chura Liya: Bally Sagoo - You Tube
It was play-listed on Radio 1 making Bally Sagoo the first Indian artist on mainstream British radio.
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Balsall
Heath was the musical home of another ground breaking band – UB40.
 |
| UB40 arrive at the 'Peaky Blinders' premier in Birmingham |
I lived in Balsall Heath in
South Birmingham which was a predominantly immigrant area. The first
generation
of Windrush kids were all my friends, and I grew up with Indian and
Jamaican friends. So the music of the streets was Indian music, which I
love—Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle and all that—and reggae.
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Note *
"Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko"(That You’ve Stolen This Heart") is an Indian Hindi song from the 1973 Bollywood film Yaadon Ki Baraat. It was sung by Asha Bhosle and Mohammad Rafi. The song was performed in the film by Vijay Arora and Zeenat Aman. It was written by Majrooh Sultanpuri and composed by R. D. Burman.
