I love this book. I had just written an article on treating Fun^Da^Mental as part of the South Asian literary tradition (unpublished) about three months before this book came out in print. It’s a wonderful collection of essays, and they don’t all agree with one another. It’s a shame it’s out of print, because I think it’s a classic in the field, but I’m glad they’ve made it available for download.
I learned about this book over ten years ago from Tony Mitchell, and have found it invaluable. I urge anyone interested in BrAsian politics and culture, fans of Fun’Da’Mental, Asian Dub Foundation, Talvin Singh, and the like, to read this book. Apparently it is no longer in print, alas! But you can now download it via darkmatter, the blog of Sanjay Sharma, one of the editors. Do it now! Read! Study! Internalize all the ideas! Go here.
Dis-Orienting Rhythms: the politics of the new Asian dance music (1996, Zed books), edited by Sanjay Sharma, John Hutnyk and Ash Sharma.“This book writes back the presence of South Asian youth into a rapidly expanding and exuberant music scene; and celebrates this as a dynamic expression of the experience of diaspora with an urgent political consciousness. One of the first attempts to situate such production within the study of race and identity, it uncovers the crucial role that South Asian dance musics – from Hip-hop, Qawwali and Bhangra through Soul, Indie and Jungle – have played in a new urban cultural politics …”
