By Shreeya Vaja
Radio presenter Nimisha Parmar is making waves with her new show on Leicester’s EAVA FM (102.5 FM), through which she hopes to educate and raise awareness on modern Gujarati culture.
Nimisha has brought her passion for Gujarati literature, music and dance to EAVA FM when she realised the decrease of interest in Gujarati culture from the younger generation.
She is giving Gujarati artists a platform to educate the expanding community in Leicester on newer artforms such as Gujarati rock, rap and jazz.
Nimisha moved to Leicester from India when she was 21 years old and saw very little opportunity to perform traditional Gujarati dance and other artforms which she had grown up being passionate about.
Thirty years later, this passion inspired her to start her own show on EAVA FM in the hope of preserving Gujarati culture and making it more accessible for the younger generation.
It is her belief that “when language dies, culture dies”, therefore she is attempting to create a platform that conserves the Gujarati language through modern poetry, music and film.
As well as teaching the younger generation on Gujarati culture, Nimisha aims to bring the Gujarati community together, in spite of religious differences.
She said: “Being Gujarati is cultural, not religious, we all have that in common.”
Nimisha hopes her show on EAVA FM will bring together the Gujarati community and introduce new artforms to the younger generation in the UK, that are typically not as exposed to modern Gujarati art.
She wants learning about the culture to be enjoyed, adding: “Everything is changing, there are new ways to experience art as Gujaratis.”
In the future, Nimisha would like to see a rise in popularity for Gujarati film, hoping this will help preserve the language and introduce the Gujarati community to more modern contemporary Gujarati art.
