Now living in Somerset she has 12 albums fusing Eastern and Western vocal styles to her name and

Now living in Somerset, she has 12 albums (fusing Eastern and Western vocal styles) to her name and is also a successful solo artist – but in America, not in Britain. But he has no mainstream record deal in the United Kingdom and his last single received no national radio airplay.Singh, still in his late twenties, nevertheless chooses to remain in England, living in a five-bedroom house in the Warwickshire countryside and driving a Mercedes “This is my roots,” he says in his Coventry accent “I’m British and proud to be This is where I was born.”Chandra is also a survivor. Britain’s biggest-selling Asian artist, Tarsame “Taz” Singh, sold more than three million copies of his last album (sung in English, Punjabi and Hindi) and brings airports to a standstill across South Asia, South Africa and East Africa, where he is known as the face of the band Stereonation – or “The King of Asian Pop” as The Times of India calls him. The track, which features traditional Indian vocals and dhol percussion over the theme to the Eighties television show Knight Rider, had been big on the British Asian scene some four years ago but it was ignored by the mainstream until it was picked up by German clubbers.But, British support or not, many of these young Asian musicians are destined to enjoy stardom Unbeknown to most of the public, some already do. Britain is the creative hub of the worldwide market in Asian music, with individual artists achieving six-figure album sales across a global diaspora.

Furthermore, the hybrid sounds of the current generation of British Asian artists and producers – fusing the favourite R&B, hip-hop and dancehall sounds of the English inner cities with the musical traditions of Punjab – are topping charts in Europe and being seized on by the creative giants of American music, such as Timbaland and Dr Dre.The most important British Asian record of this year, “Mundian To Bach Ke” by the Coventry-based producer Panjabi MC, was only a hit in Britain after it sold 150,000 copies in Germany and reached number two. Not only is this a story that highlights the reluctance of the British record-buying public to look beyond cultural and linguistic differences; it is also a tale of cynical marginalisation by the British record industry, which it may come to regret in these times of global recession in music sales.What it is not, is a story of a lack of talent. He later tracked down Beyond Skin, tucked away in the World Music section.The reasons for the failure of Asian artists to reach a level where their appearance at a local record store would arouse mild interest among Middle England shoppers – let alone send them into a frenzy of excitement – are many and complex. When Sawhney’s work was recognised by the Mercury prize in 1999, he walked into a music shop to look at his CD racked alongside other award nominees, only to find it was missing. There’s no chance to get to that level.”Sawhney realised that he faced an uphill struggle when he first came to prominence as a member of the jazz-based James Taylor Quartet more than a decade ago.

“Do you think we should have a Paki in the band?” was one comment he heard from a music industry employee. And he has six albums and 14 awards, including a nomination for the Mercury music prize, to his credit.”It’s almost like it’s impossible for an Asian artist to break through to the level where you could walk into a hairdresser’s and mention [the artist's] name and everybody would know them,” Sawhney says “It’s a shame Where’s the support for Asian artists? There isn’t any. “Phonogram was pushing for us to be less Indian-influenced,” the singer says “We refused because that was our raison d’?e. They felt it was too risky.” In the Eighties, no other Asian artists made it into the mainstream charts. The title of Monsoon’s hit, “Ever So Lonely”, had carried a certain irony.Today, even Nitin Sawhney, probably Britain’s best-known Asian artist, admits that he “still cannot be regarded as part of the mainstream”. When Mojo magazine this month picked its top 100 moments in modern music, not one Asian artist was featured.Monsoon were released by their record label – which, bizarrely, asked Chandra to change her name to Boo – seven months after reaching No 9 in the charts.