page_title: British Asian
section_title: Performing arts
hierarchical_section_title: British Asian / Cultural influence / Performing arts
caption_attribution_description: English: Asian Professionals at a Summer Ball in London dancing to Bhangra
context_page_description: British Asians are persons of predominantly South Asian, and sometimes of broader Asian descent, who reside in the United Kingdom. In British English usage, the term Asian usually refers to people who trace their ancestry to South Asia, in particular the former British Raj and Ceylon.
  Since the 2001 census, British people of general Asian descent have been included in the "Asian/Asian British" grouping of the UK census questionnaires. Categories for British Indians, British Pakistanis, British Bangladeshis, British Chinese and Other Asians have existed under an Asian British heading since the 2011 census.
  Immigration of small numbers of South Asians to England began with the arrival of the East India Company to the Indian subcontinent in the 17th century. Indians came to Britain, for educational or economic reasons, during the British Raj, with most returning to India after a few months or years, and in greater numbers as the Indian independence movement led to the partition of 1947, eventually creating the separate countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
context_section_description: As in Canada, Bhangra music has become popular among many in Britain not only from the works of British South Asian musicians such as Panjabi MC, Swami and Rishi Rich but also incorporated into the works of a number of non-South Asian musicians not only British but including North American artists such as Canadian Shania Twain, who created a whole alternate version of her multi-platinum album Up! with full Indian instrumentation, produced by South Asian producers Simon & Diamond. Diamond, better known as DJ Swami has also collaborated with rapper Pras, of the Fugees, and his band Swami have become one of the most renowned acts in South Asian music history, having had songs in major Hollywood movies and best-selling video games.
  One of the first artists of South Asian Indian origin to achieve mainstream success was Apache Indian who infused reggae and hip hop with Indian popular music to create a sound that transcended genre and found a multicultural audience. He is the only Indian artist to have achieved 7 top forty hits in the National UK charts. A subsequent wave of "Asian Underground" artists went on to blend elements of western underground dance music and the traditional music of their home countries, such as Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation, Panjabi MC, Raghav, and the Rishi Rich Project (featuring Rishi Rich, Jay Sean and Juggy D).
  The influence of South Asian music has not only been from South Asians living in the UK, but also from some UK artists that were starting using South Asian instruments creating a new sound that was a mixture of sitars and tablas with more rock-based western instruments like drums and guitar.
caption: Asian Professionals at a Summer Ball in London dancing to Bhangra
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