Joi

In joy there can also be sadness - quite literally in the case of Anglo-Asian band Joi. Formed in the mid-80s by brothers Farook and Haroon Shamsher, it was literally torn in two when Haroon died of a heart attack at the age of 34 in 1999. At that point he'd just returned from Bangladesh, the brothers' ancestral home, where he'd been making field recordings for a new Joi record. And, indeed, they do form the heart and soul of We Are Three, the new album from Joi.

"This record is a tribute to my brother," said Farook. "It was very important for me to use all the tracks he did in Bangladesh, to get it out quickly, too."

"A lot of artists from the East have been stereotyped for so long, and they're some of the most credible in the world."

Recorded in a mere 32 days, it's a disc that moves beyond Joi's debut, seamlessly melding East and West, and moving beyond the Asian Underground tag that dogs artists as disparate as Asian Dub Foundation, Nitin Sawhney, and Talvin Singh.

"A lot of the tracks we wrote are compositions, and we want to be seen as artists. Not just Asian artists, but artists," asserted Shamsher. "Music is so varied and wide. Get into the musical side, not the hype or stereotypical views people have with music."

While most of the cuts are brand new, the funky "Don't Cha Know That" actually dates from 1993, "and it's the same mix we used then. I had to edit that down from a 20-minute track, because the record company wouldn't let me use the long version."

Joi began in the mid-‘80s, because the brothers couldn't find the music they wanted to hear. So, simply, they began making their own, and to present it "we put on clubs. We had a lot of top DJs who'd support us. Sometimes we'd play five to six hours of our own music, and we'd never let anyone record a session. So if you wanted to hear Joi's music, you had to come to the club. We only released two records in eight years."

Those discs, 1988's "Taj Mahouse" and 1992's "Desert Storm" were far in advance of any Asian Underground scene, and marked the beginning of Joi as a true live band. In 1996 they played WOMAD, where they met Peter Gabriel.

"He loved us and offered us a deal with Real World," remembered Shamsher. "We'd been offered deals by Island and Warner Brothers, but took no notice, because we'd have got lost and been a commodity. But Real World had some of the best artists, and Peter Gabriel believes in world music and alternative music. When we signed he said ‘Welcome to the family' and it's been a strong family relationship. They support me with whatever I want to do. Not many record companies would have stuck by the album I've just done."

Their 1999 debut, One and One is One garnered a BBC Asia Music Award. But Joi had just started - or so they thought.

After Haroon's death, initially his brother had difficulty finding " the urge to get out of bed sometimes. But it became a great spirit. In the end I found it easy, and completed it around doing a Eurythmics European tour. Because he had all this material, I had no choice but to complete it in his name and his memory."

The material collected by Haroon included the voice of a 14 year-old girl recorded in a village, which became part of the guitar and bass-driven electro track "Prem". "My brother recorded her because some professional musicians were supposed to turn up, but never showed, and he because taping the local people. I heard it on one of the tapes, and it completely blew me away. It demanded the type of New Order guitar riff."

The most telling piece, however, is "Tacadin," where a voice makes it clear that ‘This is not the sound of the Asian Underground. This is music.' And while a pigeonhole might have been useful a few years ago, Shamsher feels that these days it's restrictive.

"A lot of artists from the East have been stereotyped for so long, and they're some of the most credible in the world. We tried to say, "I'm Asian and proud of it." It's a job that's just begun. Music and art are international tools. Joi's aim is to entertain, and maybe educate in the process. My music is very cultural. We have a silent political message of just sticking by left-wing organizations and Third World causes, and trying to support and maintain that vibe. But we don't direct and lead people, we'd rather people got into it through the beauty of the music, and then break down a few cultural barriers, which I hopefully do when I play the British Asian sound in other parts of the world. I call it British Asian music. It's about compositions and artists, to be recognized as talented artists."

While the spirit of his brother will always remain with him, Farook Shamsher can begin to look ahead. He's been offered a soundtrack, and plans to work on the more than 30 unused tracks he and his brother created, "dating from the first album or before. Joi have never done collaborations, and there's talk of that for the next album, and take it wider, really fuse East with West." More than anything, he said, "I'm lucky to be able to getting people into those tablas and funky sitarists. And I can always go back to making music for myself if worse comes to worst. This has given me more strength to carry on and know exactly what I want to be doing, regardless of record company or finances, or media. I'm going to pursue what I believe in. I'm going to keep spreading the Joi vibe."

Joi

"A lot of artists from the East have been stereotyped for so long, and they're some of the most credible in the world."

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