BBC Asian Network Live takes place at Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo, in a capital where 17% of the population comes from an Asian background. It’s a few miles down the A4 from where I grew up in Hounslow West and attended Lampton School. Twenty three years ago I launched a weekly Asian student club-night called ‘Bombay Jungle’ – playing urban Asian music - at The Wag Club on London’s Wardour St. Now, over two decades later, I’m immensely proud to be leading a station that’s delivering something of this scale.

We wanted to make BBC Asian Network Live a unifying moment that inspires and galvanises young British-Asian audiences. We also wanted to create a new flagship event reflecting a world where Asian and ‘mainstream’ music influences come together, for an audience that is inspired by its cultural heritage, but isn’t defined by it. We also wanted it to point to the future, championing the under-the-radar British youth culture that is represented on the streets of Forest Gate to Handsworth, and in huge vlogger hits on You Tube, but rarely portrayed on-screen.

Some of the key highlights on the night will include exclusive collaborations that reflect BBC Asian Network’s programmes. Headline artist Naughty Boy performs with Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor and Asian Network presenter (and former Eastenders and Bend it Like Beckham actress) Preeya Kalidas. Afrobeats star Fuse ODG will also perform with India-based rap luminary Badshah and London-based Asian R’n’B artist Zack Knight. At one stage on air last week we had a three-way conversation with them between Accra, New Delhi and London and they’ve since produced an exclusive new track for our event.

We also have the pick of the best from the current crop of UK Asian artists, including Raxstar, Arjun, Jaz Dhami alongside international artists including India’s Kanika Kapoor and Holland’s Imran Khan.

We even encouraged Paul Chowdhry to give up comedy and become a grime MC for the night, recording a special ‘Fire in the Booth’ with 1Xtra’s Charlie Sloth that will have its premiere at the event. Stormzy’s ‘Shut Up’ will never sound quite the same again.

We also wanted to help enable creative collaborations between community organisations and on-stage performers. So we asked young classical Indian dancers from The Bhavan Centre, an institute located one mile away from the Apollo, to film themselves performing to Naughty Boy’s hit single ‘Running’. We sent it to his team, they loved what they saw, and they’ll now be performing with him at Asian Network Live.

Our production teams also teamed up with the BBC Academy to run masterclasses at Villiers High School, Southall and Richmond College over the last week. Local heroes Panjabi Hit Squad went back to their former comprehensive – Villiers High School - and it was a real homecoming moment for them to be cheered on-stage by a group of 6th formers and Year 11 students.

Big moments like these are always about much more than the physical event. They are events which serve to galvanise audiences and creative industries - in this case an under-represented part of the population. It also helps make a radio station feel more alive. This is something I, in my role as Head of Programmes, and Bob Shennan, Controller of Asian Network and Director BBC Music, think is central to our ambition for the station. The impact is already being felt in a number of ways, which includes more people getting in touch through social media and the strong ticket sales from cities right across Britain.

We are a radio station on a mission.

Mark Strippel is Head of Programmes for BBC Asian Network

• Tickets for BBC Asian Network Live are available at bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork.
• Asian Network Live will be broadcast live on BBC Asian Network and the whole show will be available to watch on BBC Red Button on Sunday 1 May from 7pm. Highlights will be made available on BBC iPlayer and at bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork.
• Watch video clips featuring BBC Asian Network's newest crop of presenters including Guz Khan and Preeya Kalidas.

 

Harpz Kaur, Sundays 6-10am

Mim Shaikh, Thursdays, 9pm-midnight

Preeya Kalidas, Saturdays, 1-3pm

• Listen to BBC Asian Network.
• Follow BBC Asian Network on twitter.
• Read more about the new show on the BBC Asian Network website.
  

Editor's note: this post appeared on the BBC Radio blog at 0930 this morning. It confirms the announcement made earlier in the morning that Andy Parfitt is to step down as Controller of Radio 1 from 31 July. Read the post in full and leave a comment on the BBC Radio blog - SB

After 13 years I'm setting down the Controllership of BBC Radio 1 (and 1Xtra and The Asian Network and BBC Popular Music). I've clearly believed passionately in really sticking at a strategy for the long-term, based on the understanding that real change only happens with sustained effort over long periods - but 13 years (a record period at the helm in Radio 1's 44 year history) is enough for any one leader... Read on.

The video above shows Imran Khan performing 'Amplifier' on stage

BBC Asian Network has reached more than 500,000 British-Asians in the past 12 weeks as part of our 'A Summer Of Melas' season.

I'm pleased at those figures. That's a significant proportion of the entire British-Asian population reached by BBC Asian Network - and we still hope to build on last year's Red Button TV audience of 810,000 with a second programme starting this Monday.

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This special season showcasing the very best in Asian music reached its grand finale last Sunday evening at the London Mela in Gunnersbury Park, Ealing, with Asian Network playing host to a record audience of 92,000. I was backstage late on Sunday evening with Sonia Deol as our Live Broadcast team fired up the audio highlights of an amazing day from the studio of Outside Broadcast vehicle Sound 4, whilst across to my left the Tommy Sandhu hosted Asian Network Main Stage was illuminated by the glow of a West London sunset and a memorable closing performance from The Raghu Dixit Project.

Watch a performance of 'Hey Bhagwan' from The Raghu Dixit Project below

I'm often surprised that London Mela ('Mela' is an ancient Sanskrit word for 'gathering' or 'fair') doesn't register more loudly on the Summer Festival radar. 2010 marks the 8th year (and 5th year of BBC involvement) for what is undoubtedly the biggest Asian cultural event in Britain.


There is nothing else quite like it.

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London Mela is an annual event where British-Asians of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Afghani and Nepali origin celebrate shared heritage and cultural DNA through music, arts, discussion and cuisine alongside a sizeable non-Asian audience interested in discovering more about a community that three-generations on is deeply woven into the fabric of Britain.
And the thread of commonality that runs through this audience is plain to see.

Since May we have taken BBC Asian Network out on the frontline to meet audiences that the BBC can find hard to reach, from our biggest Mela (105,000 Bengali's at the Baishakhi Mela in Tower Hamlets) to the smallest (15,000 predominantly Pakistani audience in Oldham). We have seen Sikh bagpipers in Glasgow and met Gujarati community groups in Leicester. We know this audience.

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But it's London Mela which really embodies the purpose of the BBC Asian Network more than any other, and it's a truly stand-out event for the station and the BBC.

The idea behind our London Mela activity is a simple one. BBC Asian Network hosts and programmes a distinct zone in each quadrant across the site. The Main Stage features the best in popular Asian artists for a broad family audience (from Mumzy to Bollywood star Javed Ali) hosted by presenters including Murtz and Noreen Khan while the legendary Asian Network Mix Tent plays host to Nihal and our Specialist DJ line-up.

Asian Network's Mix Tent is a powerful magnet for young Asians and their non-Asian peers.
I watched from the sides as DJ Kayper and Panjabi Hit Squad cut-up Bhangra with Tinie Tempah's 'Pass Out' and was reminded of the importance of the BBC staying connected with this hardest to reach of audiences. We are the only radio station in the UK with a commitment to British-Asian music. And we do it so well that even Tim Westwood and Grime MC JME arrived to pay their respects alongside Panjabi MC in blessing our stage and the Asian audience.

I always take time to scan You Tube after an event to see our BBC activity as viewed from the smart-phone perspective of an audience member or DJ. This is a raw but incredible piece of footage showing the audience in a hot and rammed to capacity Mix Tent. I think it's a sight to behold.

But that's not all we do.

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We raise the quality of BBC involvement through collaboration, teaming up with BBC London on the 'In Conversation Tent' featuring in depth interviews with musicians and politicians, and with the inaugural BBC Introducing stage. Bobby Friction hosted the first platform dedicated to new British-Asian talent, including several Artists pulled up through our Sony Award winning Friction show. Here's the evidence in action - by providing these platforms and spaces the BBC acts as a creative catalyst for young Asian talent.

We are also reminded that BBC Asian Network connects a national Asian community by our Planes, Trains & Rickshaws challenge. Our presenter Wax managed to attend three Melas in less than 12 hours as he joined London with station activity in Cardiff and Edinburgh (both Mela's happened on the same day) and our Live Broadcast tracked his journey throughout the day.

Almost every inch of this sophisticated platform is supported by our Interactive team - with a live webcast of the main stage, photo galleries updated and a #bbcasiannetwork twitter feed following the day as it happened. Highlights in all areas are filmed for next week's 'A Summer Of Melas' Red Button programme. Asian Network News are out in the field with the audience and backstage with the stars.

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Rewind back to Sunday evening. I'm by the mixing desks at front of house as our nine-hour Live Broadcast comes to a close backstage and watch the crowds filter through the ranks of Samosa-walleh and Kulfi ice cream vendors towards the car park, hopefully switching on in-car DAB radios to catch BBC highlights of their day. I'm mindful of the fact that the majority of the 92,000 audience won't be able to listen.

British-Asians are less likely to own a DAB Radio than the rest of the UK population. And more than half of the British-Asian population live in London. Re-tuning analogue Asians into digital desis has been a major challenge since Asian Network launched as a digital station in 2002.
I reflect on the reality that this amazing day sits against a backdrop of strategic transition for BBC Asian Network which aims to tackle these platform issues. But I am incredibly encouraged by what I have witnessed this summer.

Watch live performances from Asian Network's London Mela and the rest of our 'A Summer Of Melas'.

Mark Strippel is Head of Music & Events, BBC Asian Network

• Watch a summer of Mela highlights from 16 August
  

• Check out all the action from the London Mela at the Asian Network website

• What is a Mela?