Desraj Thaper is the founding member of the band ‘Desi’, which was founded in his home city of Oxford in 1986 and he is the only remaining original band member still performing today.  He has been the Group Leader since its conception in 1986.  His childhood name ‘Desi’ which in Sanskrit means ‘country’ is a shortened version of his first name and has also been the original name of the band, since it was established.  Desraj Thaper is the original ‘Desi’ in the United Kingdom by name and nature.  As the name has shifted more towards referring to people, cultures and products of the Indian subcontinent and Diaspora, it has become a term increasingly used somewhat rather ‘loosely’ today by other artists, often being included as part of their name but not on its own entirety, as 'Desi' can only be used as a stand alone name by the Group, due to copyright and patenting law of the band.  Desraj Thaper has been supported with his Group from the first day it was established by his wife Sally Thaper, who was his fiancee at the time, who would advise him on affairs whilst still in India, often telephoning him on his land line  or writing to him using Air Mail!  Since arriving from abroad as his wife,  Sally Thaper has continued to support the Group by catering for Group Members, providing hospitality during busy practice schedules and performances.  Desraj Thaper's drive and energy comes from the influence of his own children, Aleesha, Naresh Kumar, Preeti and Pooja, who always support their dad in his decision making, especially when he is faced with difficult decision making and the complexities of managing a large band in the absence of a Band Manager, as well as managing the logistics in organising a live show.  Desraj Thaper is an Art Historian and lectures regularly on subjects of Art History including paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  Desraj Thaper is also a Secondary School Teacher of Design & Technology/History of Art and despite having a demanding although rewarding career, he manages to juggle his daytime post with his two passions, which are performing live music and playing football.  Desraj Thaper has leadership qualities on the football pitch as well as on the stage.  He is a semi-professional footballer who had a spell playing for Chobham F.C. in the Combined Counties League in the late 1980s and  he is currently the goalkeeper and captain of Cowley Druids F. C.  Desraj Thaper also enjoys watching football and is a lifelong fan of Everton F. C.  Desraj Thaper enjoys home brewing and has his own brand of Export Pale Ale, called 'Desi Ale'.  He uses a blend of Golding hops, combined with Carragheen Irish Moss, various malts, Epsom salts, other essential ingredients and finally Indian wheat flour, which gives the ale its name.  Desraj Thaper has many musical influences including the legendary soundtrack composers duo of Gujarati brothers Kalyanji Anandji, famous for Hindi film music scores including Safar, Zanzeer, Don, Laawaris, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Yudh and Tridev.

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The band's roots are embedded in the Scout Movement made up of members of a local scout group, who were working towards achieving a range of activity badges including the area of music.  The group's humble beginnings were to practice regularly in their early days in their local scout hut, which was a dilapidated building covered in cobwebs, with a corrugated asbestos roof and riddled with rat traces!  Very often during rehearsals, fragments of the roof could be seen falling onto the stage, as well as the appearance of the occasional rat crawling from underneath a stacked pile of camping tents, slowly making their way onto the stage to gnaw at the sound cables.  Despite the band's rudimentary beginnings and the risk of developing health risks including asbestosis and Weil's disease, the band have come a long way and practice at a range of high quality rehearsal halls and studios in Oxford.  Before every band practice or live performance, all band members can be seen saluting the Union Flag, as a symbol to of respect to remind themselves and the audience of their simple origins and allegiance to the Scout Movement. 

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The band specialises in arranging and orchestrating live music performances for vocalling talents in the United Kingdom and from abroad.  The band were originally formed as a Punjabi Pop Group, specialising in wedding parties and performed regularly in the Mid 1980s up to the early 1990s, when live bhangra music was in its heyday.  During the late 1990s and early 2000s, like other bhangra bands during this period, the band endured a quiet period, due to the rise of upcoming and traditional artists coming away from bhangra with folk beats, using the influence of the dhol and tumbi more, allowing disc jockeys to mix hip hop samples with folk music.  This move inevitably led to the rise in the hire of disc jockey road shows and solo artists started singing karaoke versions of their songs, without fronting themselves with a live band.  However, the band continued to perform regularly during this period, often on a voluntary basis at local charity events.  Today, the band has been revitalised, with UK based singers and members colliding together from a diverse range of ages, cultures and talents.  The band is unique to that of other live bands, as it adopts a hierarchical approach despite not having a Band Manager, as all the members have different types of membership and levels of membership status, as well as some members having leadership duties. The band occasionally recruits guest members to support the band, when a regular band member will be absent for a performance, due to family, study or other commitments.  The band performs occasionally at community and charity events, festivals and carnivals and increasingly more at formal programmes and family functions, including weddings, anniversaries and birthday parties.  Although the band’s vocalists may have a Record Label, the band itself has an Independent Record Label, operating without the funding of or outside the major organisations of the major record labels.  The band has only recently had a website constructed, which is currently undergoing maintenance and construction work.  However, the band continues to use traditional methods of marketing and advertising for promotion.

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                                                                   Desraj Thaper (Founder & Group Leader)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     

                                                                                                                                                  

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