Discostan
Discostan is a collective of music diggers and DJs, as well as a party series, run in Los Angeles since 2011 by immigrants and members of the South-West Asian and North African diasporas. The collective is led by the artist Arshia Fatima Haq who is of Indian-descent. During their events they introduce their audience to old and new music from these regions and organize collaborations with avant garde artists, designers, and performers. In addition, Discostan is also a regular show on both NTS and Dublab radio, dedicated to music from the Indian Subcontinent, Arab World, and South-West Asia.
This year Discostan are finally launching their own label. Its first record was released on January 22nd. The album is a reissue of a semi-forgotten classic of Pakistani new-wave album, Disco Se Aagay by Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh. This sister-brother duo originally made the record back in 1984, when both of them were in their teens, by combining local music heritage with new Western influences of that time. The 14-year old Niazi was singing in Urdu, the main national language of Pakistan, and her 19-year old brother was experimenting with drum machines and synths while using traditional Hindustani scales.
An audio preview, preorder, and further info on the record is available at the Discostan page on Bandcamp.
