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The article covers Chor Bazaar’s Valentine’s Day mixtape 'Cupid’s Bazaar', positioning the Australia-based collective as part of a new Desi diaspora club sound, blending South Asian textures with electronic, hip-hop and bass music. It outlines their growing international presence and frames the 18-track project as a DJ-style collection of flips and mashups that rework familiar South Asian melodies through Y2K, R&B, garage, bounce and trap aesthetics.
Australia’s Chor Bazaar are one of the most intriguing exporters of a fresh Desi-inflected club sound emerging from the diaspora. Built “on the back of its South Asian roots,” the Melbourne/Canberra-linked crew has spent the past few years weaving traditional South Asian textures through electronic, hip-hop and dance sounds, carving out their own niche in a global remix culture.
Originally spotted on Triple J Unearthed, BBC Asian Network and Soulection Radio, Chor Bazaar’s trajectory has been a steady build from underground edits to a potent voice in cross-continental Afrobeats-meets-Bollywood-meets-bass music. Collaborations and remixes with acts like Raf Saperra, DJ Habibeats, Nash, Yung Singh and appearances at festivals like BIGSOUND have expanded their footprint well beyond Australia’s shores.
Cupid’s Bazaar, released Valentine’s Day is their latest release in their mixtape series, following 2023’s Awaaz, 2024’s Loot Crate and 365 Days. This time, the project is pitched as “a sonic care package for all the lovers,” and it’s exactly that: 18 tracks that blend familiar South Asian melodies with Y2K aesthetics and beat-driven edits.
Cupid’s Bazaar moves like a tightly packed DJ set built entirely out of flips. Different artists across the collective take turns reshaping the material — from GO (CB Y2K Mash), DRIVE BY (AYWY Flip), Iktara (ALTE Mash), to Best Friend (YXNGDDG Slow Blend), N.L.S (Miami Bounce Flip), and Not Nice (Maania Remix). The mixtape reimagines familiar homegrown tunes we’ve grown up with and loved into electronic, R&B, bass, trap, garage, bounce, and downtempo flips. Chor Bazaar zooms in on the soft and tender moments from these tracks and creates cinematic mashups of two different musical sensibilities that would light up a club night with their electric compositions.
The mixtape is rich in quick, punchy bursts that feel tailor-made for playlists and DJ sets with curated visualizers . At the same time, it has the colourful imagination of artists who are driven by the love of the game – a spirit of experimentation and creating a sense of belonging by shining a light on our hybrid musical cultures on the dance-floor.
Follow Chor Bazaar here and listen to the mixtape below:
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