The Asiatic Soul break dance crew formed in Milton Keynes during the early 1980s and consisted of Farhan Sheik, Kalpesh, Kamal, John Waden, Raymond, Mixmaster MSC and Rolek One. Asiatic Soul frequently performed in an area known as City square located in Central Milton Keynes which was eventually developed in to the shopping complex currently inhabited by Marks & Spenser.
Asiatic Soul – Milton Keynes, 1980s.
Asiatic Soul formed while attending Woughton school (now know as MK Academy) and were one of several Hip Hop crews to emerge as the newly established city of Milton Keynes began to be populated. The below quote is taken from an interview conducted with break-dancer and DJ Mixmaster MSC who describes the formation of the collective:
Asiatic Soul was formed at Woughton school by Farhan Sheik who was the first break-dancer in Milton Keynes. There were a group of us who were all in to Hip Hop and Electro music and we got together with Farhan to form the crew. Ferhan was much more advanced at breaking that the rest of us but he showed us what he knew and we learnt from him.
(Mixmaster MSC Interview, Break to the beat, 2012).
Asiatic Soul & MK Break-dancers – Milton Keynes, 1980s.
Asiatic Soul practiced and perfected their routines by competing and performing locally before progressing to participate in national competitions such as UK Fresh 86. The below quote is taken from an interview conducted with Rolek One who elaborates on his experience while performing with Asiatic Soul during the 1980s while the collective were active:
Asiatic Soul went and performed at quite a few events over time, the older members would arrange them. One of note was at the south bank summer arts show with (Melvyn Bragg) I say at, as we never made the edit that was on T.V. but we definitely represented M.K. well as breakers.
(Rolek One Interview, Break to the beat, 2020).
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