BBC Radio DJ Bobby Friction Storms America With a Fresh Asian-UK Sound for the Project Ahimsa British Invasion Tour, Presented by Giant Step and HeyLetsGo.com, with all ticket Proceeds Benefiting Youth Music Programs

New artists and tracks will get their U.S. debut on the top New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles dance floors, Feb 1st-3rd.

(New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles - January 18, 2007) - Project Ahimsa, an internationally-recognized non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of youth through music, announced today that they will present The Project Ahimsa British Invasion Tour, along with partners HeyLetsGo.com and Giant Step, New York’s leading music and lifestyle marketing company,

The British Invasion tour will present three benefit events in three cities – New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles – for three consecutive nights, February 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

UK-based DJ/Artist Bobby Friction (www.bobbyfriction.com) will headline all dates. A regular host on the BBC Asian Network and winner of two Sony Gold awards, Friction has won millions of fans on four continents, from the East to the West, with his genre-breaking British/Asian urban sound. His compilation Friction (on Sony India), regarded as THE definitive album of the British/US Asian music scene, sold a quarter of a million copies in the subcontinent and stayed at #1 on the charts for a phenomenal 14 weeks.

“The rising popularity of Bhangra, Asian Electronica, and new pioneering genres of the Indian subcontinent rarely cross over from the UK into America,“ says Project Ahimsa co-founder Nihal Mehta. ”Bobby is like the Marco Polo of this genre, with a built-in base of thousands of listeners who hear his show online every week. Finally, we are getting a chance to see him play live. The best part,” Mehta continues, “is that all profits from ticket sales and donations go to charitable efforts to help more young people express themselves through music.”

The First 500 Online RSVPS Enter Free of Charge in New York and San Francisco

Event co-presenter HeyLetsGo.com, a new resource for finding out what’s happening in your city and who is going, is offering FREE TICKETS to the first 500 people who register and RSVP for the New York and San Francisco dates online at heyletsgo.com/friction HeyLetsGo.com will make a $20 donation to Project Ahimsa for every RSVP.

The tour kicks off Thursday, February 1st, at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City, where Bobby Friction will be joined by local producer, DJ and vocalist DK. One day and three thousand miles later, on Friday, February 2nd, Bobby Friction and special guest DJ David Starfire will keep things moving at San Francisco’s 111 Minna Gallery. Finally, Bobby will head South on Saturday, February 3rd, to spin at Joseph’s Café in Hollywood, with guest drummer Sim Grewall and DJ Sandeep Kumar keeping him company onstage. All shows launch at 9 pm.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Project Ahimsa’s grants to youth music education programs in Florida and Thailand. Project Ahimsa recently established a grant for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast in St. Petersburg, Florida, to fund the RAP (Recording Arts Production) Program. The RAP Program gives young people the chance to learn music production and engineering skills from professional instructors, then pursue internships and professional opportunities in the music industry. In Thailand, Project Ahimsa plans to establish a grant to the Sikkha Asia Foundation to support traditional music education for children orphaned by the Asian Tsunami.

Through its grants and donations, Project Ahimsa provides music education for children in poor and under-served areas around the world, particularly in areas affected by violence. Project Ahimsa’s goal is to promote non-violence, cultural exchange and the healing power of music to improve the lives of at-risk and impoverished children. “Ahimsa” means “non-violence” in Sanskrit.

For more information on the tour and to purchase tickets, please visit
http://heyletsgo.com/friction

About Project Ahimsa
Project Ahimsa is a global effort to empower youth through music, with offices in San Francisco and Tampa, Florida. Since its inception in 2001, the organization has reached nearly 10,000 children around the globe through music education grants and musical instrument donations. Inspired by the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Project Ahimsa creates and supports music education programs for children around the world. Project Ahimsa is a cultural initiative of the Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Patel Foundation for Global Understanding (www.global-understanding.org), a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

To learn more, visit www.projectahimsa.org.

About Giant Step
Established in New York in 1990, Giant Step started as a weekly underground dance party that paired live musicians with DJs. Over the last 15 years it has grown into an internationally respected brand and a leading concert promoter, music and lifestyle marketing company, and independent record label. Giant Step’s mission is to introduce innovative, high quality talent and products to our national and international community.

About HeyLetsGo.com
HeyLetsGo.com is an events-based online community for people in Boston, New York, and San Francisco who want to plan events with friends or to meet new people with similar interests. We combine recommendations on the most exciting goings on around town with a growing community of people who like to get out and do things. Unlike lifeless event listings and juvenile social networks, HLG actually gets people off the computer and into their cities to get the most out of life.

Contact Information

Sandeep Bhatt

Program Manager

Project Ahimsa

Contact via E-mail