Justin Ashar, a Canadian-born artist of Indian descent has found a way to incorporate Indian instruments into the mainstream. As other DJs around the world mix top-100 pop tracks, Justin wanted to incorporate and fuse Indian culture with the rest of the world. More specifically, he experimented with mixing the Indian harmonium with well-known songs and became popular in the process.

In 2016, Justin Ashar gained fame for covering mainstream pop hits on his harmonium, an Indian instrument he purchased in New Delhi while on vacation.  His most streamed video was a cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” in which Justin asked fans to send him video footage of themselves dancing to it so he could fuse together a compilation video. This project went viral and reached many views. You can find his musical projects on his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/djashar.

In 2017, BINA® Musical Stores, known worldwide for their harmoniums, sponsored Justin Ashar as a brand ambassador. By 2018, Justin expanded the vision to include other artists by starting his record label, Pug Life Records®. This label was a way to connect South Asian artists globally to collaborate and have a platform to distribute their art.

Justin saw a lot of talent across the world but he found many of the artists never had the means to showcase their work. Justin’s concept was to create an artistic community called #BrownBrotherhood to prove that when artists work together, they can accomplish big things.  He signed Shobhit Banwait, a tabla player from Toronto, Canada, to his label shortly afterward.

As Pug Life Records® grew; Justin changed gears and became an executive producer overseeing all projects that get released through his label. In the summer of 2019, Justin’s label collaborated with Speed Records®, a powerhouse Punjabi record label, to release an official remix to the Doorbeen’s viral hit, “Lamberghini.” The production of the project spanned 3 countries as Justin organized the music video from the United States to be filmed in Canada and finally distributed in India through Speed Records® on their YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ZY8-jnh9k.

Recently, Neil Sethi, also known as AIR APPARENT, an Indian producer based out of San Francisco, California joined Pug Life Records® and released his EP entitled “Color Dreams” to much success. Within a few weeks, the album was streamed on Spotify. Pug Life Records® then partnered with Kung Fu Tea®, a global bubble tea chain to release AIR APPARENT’s official video for “Sorry.” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faE4N7jj6tU.