Bollywood Brass Band light up Shoreditch

A sprawling band of London street musicians in black T-shirts and red waist sashes flashed their brass trumpets and trombones, sax and sousaphone as the iconic Indian actress Aishwarya Rai twirled and lip-synched on a video screen behind them.

The packed crowd of arty types at Rich Mix, the East End's innovative and popular cross-arts centre, threw their hands in the air and danced along. "It's not very subtle, this music," remarked the British Asian man standing next to me. "But it is fun, isn't it?"

Soundtracks of Indian and Pakistani films usually come with cheesy string arrangements. But when performed - or indeed, blasted - by the Bollywood Brass Band, an internationally renowned brass and percussion ensemble, superhits by the likes of AR Rahman and RD Burman take on new, edgy energy.

After learning their trade from an Indian brass band 20 years ago, the BBB know how to eschew the kitsch and big up the riffs; new CD Chaiya Chaiya plunders the Bollywood canon and throws Brazilian samba, Punjabi drumming and British cheek into the bhangra mix.

Guest singer Sreejith Sreedharan, a kingly presence in a sparkling aqua tunic, put melismatic words into the mouths of various onscreen stars: video projections featured blockbusters including Dhoom and the famous dancing-on-a-train sequence of Dil Se's Chaiya Chaiya, one of India's best-loved songs.

With the BBB formation blowing, jostling for space and delivering the occasional sizzling solo, this was a sensory assault that oozed good humour and sent people noisily into the night.

Rafaqat Ali Khan And The Bollywood Brass Band