By DailyRecord | SCOTLAND |
To her friends and family, she’s just plain Nisha. But to her army of dance music fans, she’s NSB – breaking down barriers as a female Sikh DJ.
Nisha Singh Bhaker, from Edinburgh, has been behind the decks for less than a year but is turning heads in the Scottish dance music scene.
The 16-year-old, who is one of the headline acts at the Scotland in Colour Youth Festival in the capital on Saturday, hopes her foray into the world of DJing will empower other Sikh girls to follow suit.
The teenager, who enjoys mixing Punjabi and Afrobeat tunes, is also an ambassador for equality and diversity and has spoken at the Scottish Parliament about improving the lives of the nation’s ethnic minorities.
Nisha’s pioneering DJ breakthrough and her determination to change social attitudes within her own community has earned her a nomination in this year’s Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards.
Nisha, who is in her last year of high school, said: “I’ve always loved loud music and it is rare to catch me without a pair of headphones on as I listen to all the latest beats.
“But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would one day be a DJ in front of crowds of people. It’s just not something that a young Sikh woman would do.
“In my culture, women are expected to stay at home and not do much. But I’m hoping by becoming Scotland’s first female Sikh DJ, I will inspire other young women in my community to follow their dreams and realise no hobby or career is out of reach.”
She added: “I’ve only been doing it for a few months but I have a set of decks in my house and I practise all the time.
“I just love getting Punjabi music out there and watching other young people enjoy it.”
Read the full story, Young Scot Awards: Scotland’s first female Sikh DJ (Daily Record, 22 Oct 2019), here.
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