The Dub Factory

My current favourite Indian/South Asian reggae artist. His album Qawwali Meets Reggae: A Revolution by The Dub Factory [QMR] masterfully intertwines roots reggae and qawwali (along with a couple of non-qawwali, but indian-flavoured roots tunes), in Parvez's collaboration with Ram Shanker. His album QMR seems to have been originally released by ISQH Records (in 1999?), under the title Revolution: Qawali Meets Roots Reggae, and rereleased by Nupur in 2008 (under the supratitle "Bally Sagoo Presents").

This is what Parvez ("The Dub Factory") writes about himself on his Myspace page:

Parvez, AKA, "The Dub Factory" was born in Birmingham (UK). "As an Asian living in a multi-cultural area of Leicester I had a variety of influences as a youth. Reggae was the main music at that time. The big basslines echoed off the walls day and night and just became part of my life". I started my musical career at the age of 19 in a rock band called 'Unison', I admit that I would have never bought any of the music the band made!! I then went onto joining a reggae band called 'Aduwa'. But this band was soon to disperse when I decided to take on a more serious role in my music, as a multi-talented musician and singer who is heavily influenced by such luminaries as Bob Marley, Black Uhuru, Aswad and Steel Pulse, I created 'The Dub Factory'. I created a number of fresh sounds which leaned more towards the ears of those heavily into roots reggae with no Indian influence whatsoever. But this was soon to change and the eastern flava was soon to play a major part in my passion of roots reggae music. My 'OWN roots' came through when I collaborated with the mighty Ram Shanker. Like 'hand' fits in 'glove', so too, did, the eastern introduction to roots reggae ...hence the birth of qawali/reggae music. Taking my new born music on the road was a huge success, taking the headline act at the Sunplash in Germany and then onto tour the whole of Europe. They felt the same vibe as me, that the coalition of traditional qawali's and reggae was a great concept. In 1999 Ishq Records, showcased 'The Dub Factory' in Miami, USA to a thunderous response . "My main objective now is to take reggae music into another dimension. Roots reggae music is my heart and soul and that is what I will put into all my future albums. I want to make some noise in the music industry. It's hard to break through or to be given a chance to be heard. Now that I'm over that hurdle I want to make my mark and be known as one of the best Asian Reggae producers ever to come out of the UK..." "I am an Asian from an Eastern Land, Making roots music for every nation, No matter if your black, white, Chinese or Indian, I, have the rhythm to conquer everyone...." Unique in name and unique in sound...'The Dub Factory'.

And a review of QMR by Thom Jurek (All Music Guide):

This is presented by Bally Sagoo, which doesn't tell you anything. The liner notes are sketchy, so you have to infer that the prime influence behind this was Indian, but even so, there is no saying for sure. The bottom line is that Dub Factory is the creation of M. Parvez, a British-born musician and DJ with deep Pakistani roots. He has a live band for touring, but this set is almost a solo affair. Most of the tracks here fall firmly in the digital dub territory; there are some live instruments, but mostly it's keyboard- and computer-created. Parvez also does most of the vocals so there's very little -- in the way of entire tracks -- that can be considered dub, per se. There are plenty of dub effects, but these come off as stilted because of the production. The most interesting thing about the recording is the participation of Ram Shankar, a qawwali and Ghazal vocalist. His tracks were recorded in India, and he adds color, depth, dimension, and sheer-out mystery to every track he's on, the most notable of which are "Kaise Guzar Rahi Hai," "Ali Ali," "Deknay Ke Baad," "Pyar Se Dekha Hota," and a number of others. As an experiment this is an interesting recording. It definitely moves into some shape-shifting territory, which dub records are supposed to, but it never quite gets out to lunch -- there's always a foot remaining in the doorway, and one suspects that this is Parvez himself, having too much control of the proceedings and the studio. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

In contrast to Mr Jurek, I think QMR is a brilliant fusion of roots reggae and South Asian music.