Bobby Friction
Encyclopedia
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
), better known as Bobby Friction, is a DJ, television presenter and radio presenter from west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
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He studied Contemporary Arts at The Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University is a public teaching and research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as a new university in 1992 from the existing Trent Polytechnic , however it can trace its roots back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design...
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He is heavily involved in the British South Asian Club Scene.
Bobby Friction
Bobby joined BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
in 2002 co-hosting the Sony Gold award winning show, ‘Bobby Friction & Nihal’, and in 2005 joined the BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British radio station serving those originating from and around the Indian subcontinent. The music and news comes out of the main urban areas where there are significant communities with these backgrounds. The station has production centres in Birmingham, Leicester and London...
presenting the station’s Saturday afternoon ‘Album Chart Show’, before moving to ‘The Mix’, on Sunday afternoons. Bobby also won his second Gold Sony award in 2005 for his BBC documentary ‘Vote Friction’, and then in 2006 he started his weeknightly ‘Friction’ show on the Asian Network. The show, seen by many worldwide as ‘the definitive’ Asian music show, won Bobby his third Sony Gold in 2007 and in 2009 it won him "Best Radio Show" at the UK Asian Music Awards
UK Asian Music Awards
The UK Asian Music Awards, also known by the abbreviation UK AMA, is an award show that is held annually in the United Kingdom since 2002. It is presented by B4U Music since 2008...
(UK AMA). In 2011 it won Best Radio Show again at the UK AMA.
Bobby has also made numerous documentaries for Radio 1, Radio 4 & the Asian Network over the years covering topics such as the Arabic Walt Disney, the boxer Amir Khan, Rock music in India and British Asians in prison. He has also done lots of TV work which included being the main focus for the BBC 1 documentary This England, fronting the Channel 4 TV show Bollywood Star, & co-hosting the BBC 1 Music Challenge programme Clash, as well as presenting documentaries like The Countryside Sucks & Generation 7/7 for Channel 4.
Bobby has also written for many publications in the UK on British Asian culture and music, and currently has a monthly column in Rolling Stone Magazine, India.
Over the years Bobby has represented the British Asian sound as a DJ all over the world and has built an international reputation as a genre-mixing turntabilist from Asia to the US, and from the Middle East to the whole of Europe. His gigs have included headlining his own outdoor New Year's Eve gig in Bangalore to ten thousand people, playing for Womad in the UK & Singapore, The World Music Festival in Chicago, The Burning Man Festival
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada as well as regular gigs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He is also a regular on the European Festival circuit including playing eight different Glastonbury festivals and every Bestival to date. He was one of the founder members of the band Ecostani and still works alongside The Infinite Scale, his production partner. They have been recording their own original material for the last nine years and they’ve worked on numerous remixes: from Electronica to Bhangra, House to Hip-Hop, through Bollywood and back again. Bobby has also recorded tracks with the Mercury Music Award nominated Black Star Liner. His British Asian Urban compilation ‘Friction’ sold a quarter of a million copies in the sub-continent and stayed at number 1 in the charts for 14 weeks. Friction 2 has been released and Bobby recently signed a three album deal with Sony BMG India.
A unique music professional with a legendary status within Desi music, Bobby is a world renowned specialist in British Asian music and Desi Beats worldwide – but is first and foremost, and will always be, a massive fan of music!
Whilst standing in for BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
DJ Lauren Laverne
Lauren Laverne
Lauren Cecilia Fisher , known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, television presenter, author and singer...
on Saturday 14 November 2009, Friction revealed that his favourite record of all time was Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
's 1991 album Screamadelica
Screamadelica
Screamadelica is the third studio album by the Scottish alternative rock group Primal Scream and was their first to be a commercial success. It was released on 23 September 1991 in the UK by Creation Records, and 8 October 1991 in North America by Sire Records. Screamadelica peaked at #8 on the UK...
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Bobby Friction is not to be confused with DJ Fricktion who specialises in Hip Hop and Rnb or DJ Friction
DJ Friction (UK)
DJ Friction is a Drum and Bass DJ from Brighton, England.-Biography:Brighton-raised Friction is one of only a handful of drum and bass DJs to utilise three decks to mash up his mixes, creating a unique sound...
of Drum N Bass fame.