DJ Nihal

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DJ Nihal (born Nihal Arthanyake) is a British Radio Presenter and TV Personality, notably presenting on BBC Radio 1 jointly with Bobby Friction but also covering for absences of presenters on the BBC Asian Network.

Nihal has lived for music since he started promoting rap shows in his native Essex while still doing his A-Levels. By the time he was about to graduate he was signed to a major label, and since then he has been a music journalist having written for Asiana, Eastern Eye, The Face, Mixmag, Hip Hop Connection and even the Observer. In the late 90s he was a Music PR working for artists as diverse as Nitin Sawhney, Judge Jules, Mos Def, Beenieman and Elton John. While working for the groundbreaking Asian record label Outcaste Records he promoted Badmarsh & Shri's seminal 'Signs' album securing their appearance on Later with Jools Holland, and Nitin Sawhney's 'Beyond Skin'.

As an artist Nihal has rapped with Fun Da Mental (in 1995), Badmarsh & Shri, Mentor , Sona Family, and DJ Sanj as well as hosting the Asian 8 Mile MC battles at his monthly clubnight Bombay Bronx. He launched his very own clubnight Bombay Bronx in May 2004 to showcase his love of Rap music, but from a distinctly Asian perspective. Since it's creation Bombay Bronx has seen some of the biggest artists in the scene perform live such as Swami, Raghav, Jay Sean, and The Mentor Kolektiv, as well as giving a platform for unsigned artists such as Sunit, Raxtstar and Serese.

As well as DJing at his own clubnight Nihal has DJed the Isle Of Wight Festival, Glastonbury Festival and Bestival in the UK, as well as club gigs up and down the country. In 2005 he DJed in Bangladesh, Dubai, Germany, India, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, and toured the USA with Bobby Friction and Raghav.

Nihal's TV work goes back to his first ever TV appearance presenting 'Webwise' live for BBC2 alongside Emma B in 1999. Since then he has had his own rap show on MTV Base entitled 'The Drop', and presented three hours of live TV every saturday for the CBBC Channel entitled the Saturday Show Extra. In August 2005 he was asked to appear on BBC2's Art School, alongside such disparate personalities as Ulrika Johnson and Keith Allen, to spend two weeks at the Chelsea School of Art. With his knowledge of music and the music industry he is regularly asked to appear on TV and comment on music related issues from the 'BRIT Awards' and Channel 5's 'The Wright Stuff' to MTV Base's 'Hip Hop Candy'. If that wasn't enough he has appeared on 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' twice.

Since 2004 he has presented all three series of BBC2's flagship Asian music, lifestyle, an arts show Desi DNA alongside Adil Ray and Anita Rani. Through the show Nihal has interviewed a myriad of people such as Karsh Kale and Padma Lakshmi in New York, Outlandish in Copenhagen and DJ Pathaan in Ibiza, as well as doing pieces on Jay Sean, Ms Scandalous and Freeform Five in the UK.

In 2005 both Bobby Friction and Nihal were cultural ambassadors for the successful 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

On December 11th 2006, Nihal solely hosted the Zane Lowe Show on BBC Radio 1 from its normal slot of 19:00pm to 21:00pm, playing the usual '360º of music' that Lowe is famed for. He also solely stood in for Chris Moyles on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show during the festive period in 2006.He also stood in for Colin Murray from 7 March to 15 March 2007 when Colin was appearing in Comic Relief does Fame Academy.

Nihal now has his own show on the BBC Asian Network called 'Kickin Off With Nihal'. It's a weekly football show that comes on Saturdays from 3PM to 5PM.

He supports Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and occasionally appears on the BBC Radio Five Live show Fighting Talk.