Naya Beat reissues Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s long-lost 1982 album ‘Punjabi Disco’ , complete with remixes from Peaking Lights, Baalti, Psychemagik, Mystic Jungle, and more, plus a cover version from Piya Malik of Say She She

Unknown and inaccessible to even the deepest of diggers, ‘Punjabi Disco’ is the first-ever British Asian electronic dance album recorded, and a true lost relic. A chance find of the original multitrack masters during the Covid lockdown and only a tip off to the record’s existence from Massimo di Lena of Nu Genea has led to this reissue. Lovingly mixed down and remastered from the original studio recordings, it comes complete with a newly discovered track and fresh remixes by Peaking Lights, Danger Boys, Psychemagik, Dexter+Franz, Mystic Jungle, and Baalti, as well as a cover by Say She She’s Piya Malik and Naya Beat founders Turbotito & Ragz.

Released the same year and into equal obscurity as ‘Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat’, Charanjit Singh’s celebrated acid house opus, the reissue of ‘Punjabi Disco’ will send similar reverberations around the dance world. Produced by Mohinder’s eldest son and legendary bhangra pioneer Kuljit Bhamra using a recently acquired Roland SH-1000 synthesiser and a CR-8000 CompuRhythm drum machine played by his then 11-year-old brother, the album was recorded at Roxy Music bass player Rick Kenton’s studio in London. The concept for a Punjabi disco album was subsequently stolen by the very music label that had agreed to distribute the record. Eventually self-released with no label support, ‘Punjabi Disco’ vanished into complete obscurity.

A pivotal figure in British Asian music, West London-based vocalist and first-generation immigrant Mohinder Kaur Bhamra became the first woman to sing at Punjabi weddings and other community events in the UK. Her son, Kuljit, would accompany her, playing tabla at her events from the age of six. Wedding music was traditionally a tame, segregated affair: men and women were seated and separated on opposite sides of the room. ‘Punjabi Disco’ was born out of a desire to desegregate the dancefloor and was inspired by the sounds of disco from the era. A tapestry of electric drum rhythm, warbling bass, and psychedelic siren-like Roland synth melodies provides a vehicle for Mohinder’s powerful voice. Part disco, part funk, part acid house, and infused with Punjabi folk melodies, the sound of ‘Punjabi Disco’ is as mesmerising as it is undefinable.

Featuring an incredible gatefold package and exhaustive liner notes by the Guardian’s Global Music Critic, Ammar Kalia, the x2LP release has been cut to vinyl by Grammy-nominated Frank Merritt from The Carvery, London.

Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s Punjabi Disco comes on digital and 2xLP on Naya Beat Records on 31st October 2025.