Star caste

Star caste

Forget Brick Lane curries, trust-fund hippies and sitar players thwacking away through the East End night; London's Asian scene is about to make a sharp left turn. A new monthly club opening in the West End next week hopes to give Asian bright young things the kind of profile currently reserved for Black music culture. "Experimental Asian vibes from the left side" are about to assail your ears, courtesy of Outcaste. Headlining on 13 June will be jazz supremo Gilles Peterson, who is keen to use the club as a forum for the music that he "cannot play anywhere else." It just so happens that Gilles has been well into the Asian underground scene for quite some time, and has a healthy taste for the spicy sounds of artists such as Zakir Hussein. Up there spinning discs alongside Gilles and doing a live set into the bargain will be Talvin Singh of The Future Sound of India. Described as the point at which Ravi Shankar meets the Bristol Sound, Singh is a world-famous musician and child prodigy who left England at 16 to study percussion in India. He is well established as a remixer - recent cuts include "Kanna Attack" for Massive Attack. Also featuring will be DJ Ritu of Bombay Jungle and Kiss FM, and Easy Mo. Future attractions include Megatripolis's Earthtribe. The club is run in conjunction with the Outcaste record label, which carries artists including Nitin Sawhney, General Levy and Apache Indian.

"Outcaste" opens on Tue 13 Jun at Ormonds near Piccadilly Circus, W1 (0171-432 3224) pounds 3 on the door.