Ahead of the Queer Britain x SAHM event Desi Lesbians: The Pioneering Women, DIVA spoke to the inspirational trailblazers who will be speaking about the power of representation
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY ELAINEA EMMOTT
On 4 August, Queer Britain will be hosting a ground-breaking event which brings together four game-changers within the UK’s South Asian LGBTQIA community. One of these trailblazers is Club Kali Co-Founder DJ Ritu MBE, a pioneering broadcaster, radio/podcast producer, and the voice behind the global music show A World In London.
Ritu’s illustrious career spans over 22 years at the BBC, tours in more than 35 countries with her bands Sister India and The Asian Equation, and performances at some of the world’s most renowned venues and festivals. She was a key figure in pioneering the ‘90s Asian Underground and Bhangra scenes and Co-Founded the label Outcaste Records.
DIVA spoke to DJ Ritu to learn more about her influential career and enduring impact on the global music scene.
What does this year’s SAHM theme Free To Be Me mean to you?
I come from the South Asian community and I know that most of my peer group were almost hustled into professional type careers like doctors or lawyers. I broke the mould by going to art school which didn’t go down very well in my family – aunties and uncles thought it was a quirky thing to do. When I was at art school I found clubland and started to DJ. I’ve been very lucky to be able to be free to be me.
When you were growing up, did you feel like you had role models or mentors to look up to?
In terms of public image and public personas, there were almost no role models. There was an absence of brown or Black people on the media networks which we had back then. Our only role models were our own family members. I sometimes looked at Bollywood film stars but all the women in the Bollywood films were housewives and mothers which is great but they didn’t have careers.
Club Kali has been going for nearly three decades now. In those early days, what was it like to be in Club Kali? What was the response like when you started?
I think people were hungry for something like Club Kali to come along. We already had Shakti which was the lesbian and gay network, which had been formed in 1988 and I was one of the founding members of that. We had a Shakti disco once a month to fundraise for the organisation. Club Kali became an extension of that. What we had that had been created by clubs like Shakti was this growing consciousness and audience for music that was different. It wasn’t your standard Western pop or house music.
The LGBTQIA scene at the time was homogenised in many ways. There were also racist door policies at some clubs. It was hard for people like us to get in the door at some venues. There needed to be alternatives and clubs that were more specifically bespoke and tailored to the needs and wants of people from certain communities. What we had in the growing South Asian LGBQTIA community was people who wanted to listen to ABBA and Madonna but also wanted to listen to Bollywood and Bhangra. Club Kali became the main place they could do that.
How do you think music can bring a community together?
Music is such a powerful tool for expression. It’s a massively powerful tool for uniting and connecting people. In terms of the music we play at Club Kali, we’re meeting reference points that people will be familiar with. It will be the music they grew up with – there will be tracks played that their grandparents even played in their homes –which has a real emotional connection with people. And then there will be the more Western tracks which will also be reference points for them. Club Kali brings together people from lots of different backgrounds.
What do you hope is the legacy that Club Kali carries?
We’re already aware of some of the legacy of Club Kali because people give feedback to us. They’re usually quite generous with telling us how much they appreciate this club or brand. We’ve seen generations come through Club Kali. The kind of feedback that we get is that people have made lifelong friendships there. They’ve made marriages! It’s a place where people have not only been able to come out, but it’s also a place where people have been able to be really liberated and to feel like their whole selves.
Desi Lesbians: The Pioneering Women will take place on Sunday 4 August at 1 pm at Queer Britain, 2 Granary Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4BH. The event will include a screening of Discovering Kali followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session. Book your tickets at: eventbrite.co.uk/e/desi-lesbians-the-pioneering-women
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
