Oriental Star Agencies was a British

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, that was based in

Balsall Heath Balsall Heath is an inner-city area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has a diverse cultural mix of people and is the location of the Balti Triangle. History Balsall Heath was agricultural land between Moseley village and the city of ...

. Some of the artists introduced by the label include

Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Sometimes ...

Malkit Singh Malkit Singh, MBE ( pa, ਮਲਕੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ) (Malkit Singh Boparai; born c. 1963) is an England-based Punjabi bhangra singer. Born in Hussainpur and raised in Nakodar, he moved to Birmingham in 1984. Singh was the first Punjabi singer ...

, Alam Lohar,

Amjad Sabri Amjad Farid (Fareed) Sabri (23 December 1976 – 22 June 2016) was a Pakistani qawwal, naat khawan and a proponent of the Sufi Muslim tradition. Son of Ghulam Farid Sabri and nephew of Maqbool Ahmed Sabri of the Sabri Brothers, he emerge ...

, and

Bally Sagoo Baljit Singh "Bally" Sagoo ( Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੱਗੂ, born 19 May 1964) is a British-Indian record producer and DJ. Born in Delhi, India, Sagoo was raised in Birmingham, England. He entered the recording and enterta ...

History

In 1969, Muhammad Ayub was approached by members of two local bhangra bands –

Bhujhangy Group Bhujhangy Group are the world's longest-running bhangra (music), bhangra band. The group was founded in Smethwick, near Birmingham, England, in 1967 by brothers Dalbir Singh Khanpur and Balbir Singh Khanpur, who had come to the United Kingdom to i ...

and Anari Sangeet Party – to record their performances, and the success of the following recordings led him to establish the label. The label was founded in 1970 by Muhammad Ayub, Abdul Ghani and his son Dr Abdul Mohsin Mian. Muhammad Ayub had previously owned a record store with Abdul Ghani importing Indian and Pakistani music into the United Kingdom. The label was founded in 1970 by Muhammad in

. OSA went onto become a leading influence on the

Desi DESI may refer to * Desorption electrospray ionization * Drug Efficacy Study Implementation * Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument See also * Desi (disambiguation) Desi or Deshi is a self-referential term used by South Asian people. Desi may al ...

music scene, importing, promoting and producing music from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

as well as nurturing talent among the young

diaspora. It remained at its Balsall Heath site until 2017

References

External links

Official site
British record labels Record labels based in Birmingham, West Midlands {{UK-record-label-stub