joi

Joi are the brothers Farook and Haroon Shamsher and having been on the global dance scene for many years, DJing and producing their own unique blend of Asian dance music. Unfamiliar to most, yet good friends of all those at Whirl-Y-Gig, Megatripolis and The Big Chill, where their classic uplifting trax Everybody Say Yeah still gets the same response it did five years ago. Since winning NME single of the week for the amazing Desert Storm, releases from the Shamsher brothers were far and few between. In '96 they released the Bangladesh EP on Nation Records, although this wasn't followed up until they released their debut album on Realworld Records early in 1999 complete with two singles, Fingers and Asian Vibes, the latter with support from Justin Robertson, aka Lionrock. In July 1999 we learnt that Haroon Shamsher had died. His premature departure shocked us all and needless to say he will be missed by loved ones and fans of his music alike. Later that year Farook continued to take the band on a European tour supporting the Eurythmics. July 2000 saw Joi make a welcome return to Whirl-Y-Gig, where they played live at the Reading WOMAD festival on the Whirl-Y-Gig stage. October 2000 saw the release of their second album, 'We Are Three', on Real World Records.

This was one of the first vinyls from Joi and to those who ever witnessed their live gigs back in the early '90s it features one of their best known tracks, Everybody Say Yeah!. It was a Whirl-Y-Gig anthem back in that era and I still love it to bits. Uplifting and bouncy, simple and catchy - its impossible not to like this one! Sadly only available on 12" and this was deleted years ago. Second hand shop time...

Released 1991 on Rhythm King Music. Another golden oldie from the Shamsher brothers. The title track, 'Desert Storm', was the track that won the NME single of the week award and woke the world up to the sound of Joi. Featuring the spoken lyrics "can't stop, won't stop", this track is quite a deep hard-edged Bhangra number when compared to the uplifting B-side of 'Spiritual Get-togther', where the Traditional Mix stands out as the better of the two mixes.

Released 1996 on ZYX Music (Germany). Licensed from Rhythm King Music. Written and produced by Farook & Haroon Shamsher. Additional remix and production on track 2 by Solar Moon. Vocals by Maryam Akhondy. It was only recently (2001) that I discovered that the early 1991 Desert Storm vinyl was picked up by the German ZYX label and released as a CD single complete with an extra vocal remix and radio edit of 'Spiritual Get-Together'. This vocal remix is quite interesting, with authentic Indian female vocals layered over the top of what is essentially the Traditional Mix.