Nihal Arthanayake (born 1 June 1971), also known mononymously as Nihal, is an English radio and TV presenter who broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Early life
Nihal Arthanayake was born on 1 June 1971, to Theravada Buddhist, Sri Lankan parents. Nihal began his involvement in the music industry as a promoter of rap shows in his native Essex, while he was studying at Burnt Mill School, in Harlow, Essex.
Music career
Performing
Nihal began a career as a rap recording artist performing as 'MC Krayzee A'. In 1988 he released the track 'Into The Music' on the British Hip Hop compilation 'Hard Core One' on BPM Records. In 1995, Nihal was a member of the group 'The Muddie Funksters' and released the 4-track EP 'Brown Like Muddie' on Go! Discs Records and the 7" flexi disc single 'I'm The M The B The S The T' for Hip Hop Connection Magazine. He was also briefly a member of alternative hip hop outfit Collapsed Lung and worked with Fun Da Mental and Punjabi MC, Badmarsh & Shri, Mentor, Sona Family and DJ Sanj.
Promotion
In the late 1990s Arthanayake turned to music promotion working for artists as diverse as Nitin Sawhney, Judge Jules, Mos Def and Elton John and it was while working for the groundbreaking Asian Beats record label Outcaste Records he promoted, amongst others Badmarsh & Shri's Signs album.
Writing
Arthanayake has worked as a freelance music journalist, writing for Asiana, Eastern Eye, The Face, Mixmag, Hip Hop Connection, Attitude, Bear magazine, Cage And Aviary Birds and The Observer.
Radio career
Arthanayake joined BBC Radio 1 in 2002, to become co-host of a night time Asian Beats show with DJ Bobby Friction coming under the specialist DJ category. The show won a Sony Radio Award in 2003 - achieving Gold standard in the Specialist Music Category for their show Bobby Friction & Nihal Present. At the end of 2004, they released a compilation album as a reflection of the music they play on the show. After an initial high-profile start, the show was rescheduled to the early morning 'graveyard' hours. Eventually Bobby Friction left the show, leaving the title as "Asian Beats with Nihal".
In October 2007 Arthanayake became the presenter of the Weekend Breakfast Show on Radio 1; he was one of only two DJs to present both a mainstream and a specialist show on the channel, the other being Annie Mac. He also provided holiday cover for Radio 1 colleagues. In September 2008 he was moved from weekend breakfast to weekend afternoons 13.00-16.00 on Radio 1. On 21 September 2009, Arthanayake was moved from weekends to a brand-new review programme, named BBC Radio 1's Review With Nihal. The weekly show reviews the latest music. He also became the sole presenter of the specialist Radio 1 Asian Beats show after Bobby Friction left.
In May 2007, Arthanayake left Kicking Off... to become the host of the daily phone-in talk show from 09.00-12.00 on the Asian Network. In April 2009 his show moved to 13.00-15.00 as part of schedule changes. In late 2012 the show moved to 10.00-13.00.
In 2010, he won "Best Radio Show" at the UK Asian Music Awards (UK AMAs) for his show on Radio 1, and a Sony Award for Best Speech Programme for his Asian Network show.
In June 2014, it was announced that in September 2014, Arthanayake would leave BBC Radio 1.
Until September 2016 Arthanayake had his own discussion programme concerned with societal and political topics at BBC Radio A (Asian Network) Channel: Nihal. Discussion and debate on the big issues..
In September 2016 Nihal joined BBC Radio 5 Live co-hosting the "Afternoon Edition" show with Sarah Brett. After Sarah Brett left the show it was renamed Nihal Arthanayake; it is broadcast Monday-Thursday 1pm-4pm.
Television
Nihal's TV appearances began in 1999 alongside Emma B on BBC2's Webwise. He also hosted his own rap show The Drop on MTV Base, and three hours of live TV every Saturday for digital television channel CBBC entitled The Saturday Show: Extra.
Nihal co-presented three series of BBC2's flagship Asian music arts and culture show - Desi DNA alongside Adil Ray and Anita Rani since 2004 and he interviewed Karsh Kale, Padma Lakshmi, Nerm, Outlandish and DJ Pathaan, as well as presenting special features on Jay Sean, Ms Scandalous and Freeform Five.
In November 2004, he presented a documentary for Channel 4 entitled Where's Your F*****G Manners? In August 2005, he appeared on BBC2's Art School, alongside celebrities Ulrika Jonsson and Keith Allen, to spend two weeks at the Chelsea School of Art and learn about modern art.