Young and upcoming Asain singer songwriter Ali Abbas is a product of the melting pot which east London has become.

Ali, who is in his 20s, comes from East Ham where he went to Langdon School and soaked up a whole host of musical and cultural influences while he was growing up in one of London’s most diverse boroughs.

The result is music that is a marriage between a vocal style of Sufi with contemporary rhythms.

He has worked with various artists including MC Special and is now working on his own album. His first official release was ‘Ranja Sade Vehdeh’ on MC Special’s album ‘Still Special’ in winter 2011 and his first single from his own album is set to release later this autumn.

He has been winning over audiences and hosting at various events at venues including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Madame Tussauds , Atif Aslam’s concert in Glasgow and mela’s and charity and community events.

Ali is a performing Spoken Word artist (alias “Ali Selassie”) and has been involved in the field of urban Spoken Word Poetry. He performs his work in his native language of Punjabi in several venues across London. His style of reciting his poetry raw without any hindrance or reservedness enables one to truly capture the flavour of his beloved mother tongue. For ease of understanding his work, he amalgamates that same poem in its equivalent English translation maintaining equal flow and rhythm.