Project Ahimsa and Masttones.com ‘raise the roof’ and raise funds for charity with sold out benefit concert in Hollywood

United Kingdom’s Top South Asian Music Personality, Bobby Friction Brings Best of BBC-Radio1 Sounds to over 300 Attendees.

(SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2006) – Masttones.com the leading provider of South Asian-themed ringtones and entertainment and Project Ahimsa, an internationally-recognized non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of youth through music, raised $5,000 at a benefit event on Friday, June 23rd in Los Angeles, CA. The event, entitled “Pickin’ Mangoes,” was made possible by a generous donations from Masttones.com, Sid Shah, and FabIndia Clothing. The fundraiser was also the official pre-party for the seventh annual ArtWallah Festival of South Asian diasporic arts, which took place the following day.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Manav Sadhna and Project Ahimsa Mahatma Gandhi Community Music Center in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. The Center will be built inside the Rampir No Tekro, the largest slum in Gujarat, across the street from Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. The Center will house facilities for healthcare, education, women’s empowerment and micro credit, in addition to the Community Music Center.

At the event, over 300 people danced to the music of the evening’s headlining performer, Bobby Friction, the UK-based DJ/Artist who has represented the British Asian sound as a DJ all over the world and has built a reputation as a genre mixing Asian turntablist from Asia to the US, and from the Middle East to the whole of Europe. His British Asian Urban compilation ’Friction’ (On Sony India) has already sold 120,000 copies in India since its release (Oct 2004) and stayed at number 1 for 14 weeks. Other DJs Gabe of Didjital and surprise guest David Starfire kept the party at a phrenetic pace from 10:01pm through closing of the legendary Standard Hotel Hollywood’s Lounge.

“Pickin’ Mangoes” was Project Ahimsa’s third benefit event in the Los Angeles area. Previous Project Ahimsa fundraisers were held at legendary Los Angeles venues the Viper Room and the Sunset Room and featured world-renowned artists such as The Black Eyed Peas, 311, Lily Hayden, Ravidrums and Lal Singh Bhatti.

The benefit event marked the beginning of the ArtWallah 2006 weekend, which continued on Saturday with the seventh annual ArtWallah Festival in Los Angeles. Held in Downtown Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo neighborhood, the ArtWallah Festival is an annual showcase of the South Asian diasporic arts featuring dance, film, music, spoken word, theater and visual arts from artists from around the world.

At this year’s ArtWallah Festival, Project Ahimsa presented “Touch The Beat,” a 90-minute workshop on the tabla – traditional South Asian drums. The workshop enabled 20 participants to learn the spoken syllables of tabla rhythms, touch the drums, and collectively create sound collages. Participants were introduced to South Asian classical musical traditions in a simple and exciting way, while at the same time understanding the depth and beauty of music on the subcontinent. Robin Sukhadia, Project Ahimsa’s International Grants Program Director, conducted the workshop, which was based on Project Ahimsa’s innovative Tablas & Turntables program for at-risk youth.

Through its grants and instrument 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. In Sanskrit, “Ahimsa” means “non-violence.”

Event co-presenter Masttones.com is also helping pioneer South Asian music in its own way, developing a strong network of niche artists and distributors, and in January signed its 600th artist and 30th publisher. This is significant because much of the global South Asian music market is fragmented, with artists recording for independent labels and distributors located in the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Pakistan, Thailand, the U.S., Poland, Germany, Kenya, Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Middle East. For North American cell phone owners, the service is available on Verizon Wireless, Cingular, Cricket, U.S. Cellular, Alltel, Cellular South, and Metro PCS.

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 teachings of non-violence and cross-cultural understanding 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.

Contact Information

Sandeep Bhatt

Program Manager

Project Ahimsa

Contact via E-mail