Long-lost British Asian dance classic, ‘Punjabi Disco’, gets reborn for a new era

Naya Beat has announced the reissue of ‘Punjabi Disco’, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s long-lost 1982 album and widely regarded as the first British Asian electronic dance record.

The release arrives on October 31, as a double LP and digital edition, remastered from the original studio tapes and featuring a newly discovered track.

“We’re reissuing a lost ‘holy grail’, and the first British Asian electronic dance music album ever recorded,” says Naya Beat founder Raghav Mani aka Ragz to Mixmag Asia.

“Unknown and inaccessible to even the deepest of diggers, it is a true lost relic. Part disco, part funk, part psych, and infused with Punjabi folk melodies, its sound is as mesmerising as it is undefinable,” he continued.

A pioneer of British Asian music, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra became the first woman to sing at Punjabi weddings and community events in the UK.

‘Punjabi Disco’ grew from her desire to bring people together on the dancefloor—a record that fused cultural tradition with electronic innovation, blending disco, funk, and early electronic sounds with Punjabi folk melodies and Mohinder’s commanding vocals.

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More than forty years later, its rediscovery highlights a crucial and previously overlooked chapter in global dance music history.

Originally recorded in London at Roxy Music bassist Rick Kenton’s studio, ‘Punjabi Disco’ was produced by Mohinder’s son, bhangra pioneer Kuljit Bhamra, using a Roland SH-1000 synthesizer and a CR-8000 CompuRhythm drum machine operated by his 11-year-old brother, Ambi.

The reissue includes new remixes and covers by a global line-up of electronic artists: Peaking Lights, Psychemagik, Mystic Jungle, Baalti, Dexter+Franz, and Danger Boys each contribute reinterpretations, while Say She She’s Piya Malik collaborates with Naya Beat co-founders Turbotito & Ragz for a new version of ‘Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya’.

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The accompanying liner notes, written by The Guardian’s Global Music Critic Ammar Kalia, provide detailed context on the album’s creation and cultural impact, tracing how Mohinder Kaur Bhamra and her family, operating from West London in the early 1980s, transformed Punjabi wedding music into a new form of electronic expression.

Drawing from interviews, archival material, and first-hand accounts, the notes document the album’s unconventional production process, its initial disappearance following a botched label deal, and its quiet influence on the evolution of British Asian sound.

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They also explore the social backdrop of the time—an immigrant community seeking joy and identity on its own terms—and show how ‘Punjabi Disco’ became both a family experiment and a landmark in British (and South Asian) dance history.

Pre-order/pre-save the album here.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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