Asian pop music is enjoying a boom. Simon Ashberry caught up with two of its biggest names when they played in Bradford this week to find out whether it has finally found a niche in the mainstream.

Bradford has long had a flourishing Asian music scene. Events dominated by exponents of traditional bhangra sounds have been packing out venues in the city for years, particularly Maestro's in Manningham Lane.

But Sunday's concert at the club was one with a difference.

Top of the bill were Pakistan's biggest rock group Junoon, with British-based fusion pioneers Asian Dub Foundation in support.

Junoon may still be a little-known name outside Pakistan but that could be about to change.

Anglo-Asian band Corner-shop have shown the way after taking the charts by storm this year with their smash hit single Brimful of Asha.

And judging by the enthusiastic crowd reaction to their performance at Maestro's, Junoon already have a solid fan base in the Asian community. Now the trick is to find a crossover audience - and guitarist Salman Ahmad is confident they can do it.

"We've done three tours of America before and the most recent one really gave us the confidence that our music was relevant beyond the Asian community," he said.

"We got a lot of audiences beyond the Asian community. We got onto NBC and yet America has traditionally been much more isolated culturally compared to the UK which is much more open to other influences and cultures.

"I'm really excited about what's happening."

Junoon draw heavily on Western rock traditions but they sing in Urdu - and their lyrics are often controversial.

"We've got a lot of spirituality and socio-political comment in our music," said Salman.

"The West has for a long time not been concerned with politics as far as music goes but living in the sub-continent with a nuclear arms race starting you can't ignore it.

"They tried to ban us from state-controlled television and they think anything they've banned they've eliminated but our following is so humungous now that it's like a tidal wave. You can't stop it."

In support at Maestro's were Asian Dub Foundation, one of the first to appeal to a cross-section of white and Asian fans. Their recent debut album Rafi's Revenge, a blend of hip-hop and western rock guitar, earned critical acclaim and a place in the Top 20 of the album charts.

Guitarist Steve Chandra Savales (also known as Chandrasonic) said: "We wanted to play in Bradford for a long time and we were finally been asked to do it.

"For a long time in Britain we were in No Man's Land. The mainstream music industry wasn't interested. We had to go to Europe but we came back much stronger.

"I'm glad that Cornershop are making it because they're great. The fact that they're Asian is also great because they're breaking down cultural stereotypes."

Also bubbling under are a new generation of Asian pop acts eager for their own taste of success - and some of them are from Bradford.

Visuelle, a trio with strong West Yorkshire links, are being tipped to be the first all-Asian girl band to break through into the mainstream charts.

One of the group's singers is Leeds-based Pavan Riyat, a former student at Airedale and Wharfedale College in Horsforth, who combines her music with voluntary work for a women's refuge centre.

"The mainstream record industry has been taken by storm by the British Asian phenomenon," said Omar Qazi, manager of Visuelle, who are currently in talks with major record companies.

In the meantime, fans can see Bradford rappers D Mac and Doctor Man for themselves on Saturday when they join Afro-Caribbean musicians from the city taking part in the Windrush Festival in Centenary Square which marks the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first ship of West Indian migrants.

The festival is free and the music starts at noon.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.