Bhangra originated more than 200 years ago as a simple dance music made by India’s Punjabi farmers to celebrate the end of the harvest. More often than not, the crop being harvested was hemp or bhang, from which the music derives its name. Usually, the only instruments to accompany the singing were a variety of drums, along with handclapping. Indigenous percussive instruments that provided the music’s foundation included a two-headed drum called the dhol—a variant of which, the dholak, remains a primary instrument in modern bhangra despite the advent of drum machines.
The music became very popular throughout northwestern India as a centrepiece of celebrations. In the mid-1700s, as the people migrated from the rural areas into cities, they took this music with them. Bhangra became a part of Punjabi popular culture. As it evolved, musical instrumentation did as well. Traditional instrumentations were eventually augmented with mandolins and saxophones.
The late 20th century saw a great influx of Asians and Indians to the United Kingdom. Young people from these migrant communities sought to maintain their cultural identity in a different country and a modern world. They adopted bhangra as their music, and it began to take on a life of its own, evolving and mutating in several directions as it assimilated other musical styles and modern instrumentation.
The estimated 1 million Indians who emigrated to the U.K. during the late 1960s and early 1970s at first imported INDIAN FILM MUSIC to be played at their gatherings. However, some groups were playing bhangra at Punjabi events, and when the group Alaap released Teri Chunni de Tare in 1979 bhangra was reborn. Second- and third-generation young British Asians adapted the thumping beats of British disco to their own tastes, while maintaining a firm grasp on the roots of their culture. The new bhangra was adopted by Hindi and Muslim alike. Subsequent generations of bhangra musicians began incorporating electronics and soon sequencers and synthesizers were just as integral to bhangra as the dholak and other traditional instruments.
Experimentation with form also changed bhangra further. In addition to the incorporation of reggae and techno beats into the music, expatriate Indians in America in the mid-1990s began tweaking traditional film music into their own brand of bhangra. As a result, bhangra transmuted into several high energy hybrids of various popular dance music forms, including the new electronic “house,” reggae, and disco. Lyrics, with few exceptions, are sung in Punjabi.
The biggest challenge for those who like or are interested in listening to this musical style is finding it. Lack of distribution in North America has kept bhangra from making a huge splash. Young disc jockeys and mixmasters, eager to keep the music alive within the expatriate communities, have taken film scores and sprinkled in generous helpings of techno rhythms. This movement has been called the Hindi Remix movement.
However, for all its popularity within the subcultures of expatriate communities, bhangra remains largely unknown and lacking the cachet of mainstream acceptance. Some have questioned whether, with its cultural significance as a shared musical form embraced by all Asians, mainstream acceptance of bhangra should even be attempted.
Linda Dailey Paulson
SEE ALSO:
DANCE MUSIC; DISCO; JUNGLE; RAP; REGGAE; ROCK MUSIC
Farrell, Gerry. Indian Music and the West
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997);
Holroyde, Peggy. The Music of India
(New York: Praeger, 1972).
Alaap: Teri Chunni de Tare;
Gulam Ali: Ali Khan & Party;
Punjabi MC: 100% Proof; Suki Lalli: Hysteria;
Various Artists: East 2 West.