Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Asian Network,25 Aug 2026,60 mins

with Zaara: Keeping Up With the Ali's

Asian Network Represents

Available for 34 days

New voices and new sounds from the Asian Network. It’s Zaara Azira’s final show on BBC Asian Network Represents. After spending August sharing stories about her dual heritage, Bollywood obsession and life as a young British Pakistani woman, Zaara turns the spotlight onto the people who helped make her who she is. From growing up in an all-women household and learning about love, confidence and culture from the women around her, to childhood dance routines with her cousin, memories of her nani and her mum’s legendary presence on the dance floor, Zaara reflects on the relationships that have shaped her. There’s plenty of Bollywood along the way, with tracks that bring back memories of childhood, family car journeys, weddings and endless dancing. She also shares some of the funniest and most chaotic moments from growing up in a big South Asian family: where aunties aren't always technically aunties, cousins become siblings, and every celebration eventually ends up around a dessert table. As she says goodbye to Asian Network Represents, Zaara celebrates the family, culture and community that gave her a place to belong, while looking back at the journey that took her from a nervous university radio student to behind the microphone at BBC Asian Network. Produced in Birmingham by Solis Productions for BBC Asian Network.

Programme Website
More episodes

Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Tauba Tauba (From Bad Newz)
    Tauba Tauba (From Bad Newz)
    Karan Aujla
  3. 2.
    Jhak Maar Ke (from Desi Boyz)
    Jhak Maar Ke (from Desi Boyz)
    Neeraj Shridhar & Harshdeep Kaur
  4. 3.
    Hello Hanji
    Hello Hanji
    Sàbba, Jasmeen Akhtar & Dr Zeus