Benji B

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Benji B is a British DJ and radio presenter. He presents a weekly radio show called Deviation on BBC 1Xtra.

[edit] Biography

Benji B started in music by learning the saxophone from the age of seven, playing at various clubs around London by 16. Around the same time he started a radio programme with collaborator Gilles Peterson called Worldwide, and produced the live show for Kiss FM for two years. He was then employed by Somethin’ Else productions, where he set up an international syndication for the programme, broadcast at first in Finland and France, eventually providing the two hour weekly show to seventeen countries worldwide.

Benji continued to work with Gilles Peterson when the show moved from Kiss FM to BBC Radio 1, and Benji became the youngest ever producer to be making shows for the national station.^[1] The show won the Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 1999.

When the BBC's digital new black music radio station BBC 1Xtra launched in August 2002, Benji was asked to present his own show, which is broadcast every Thursday from midnight for two hours. His radio shows and DJ sets blend tunes from various genres of underground soul music – broken beats, hip-hop, house, garage, jazz, soul or Detroit techno.

Benji B was also a player and teacher of the gamelan for 10 years at the South Bank Centre in London.