Bhangra Top

Bhangra, in the traditional sense, is a folk dance and not a music form though now it is seen to refer to both to the music and the dance. It depends heavily on percussion and orginated from classical indian music.



Bhangra began as a part of harvest and vaisakhi festival celebrations, and found its way to the performance stage after the division of the Punjab in 1947. The Punjabi dance performed at this time in ecstasy with the beat of Dhol came to be known as Bhangra. The tradition spread slowly to other parts of the region and developed into a unique folk dance form. Bhangra has come of age and is now performed at every major celebration and in clubs etc.



Traditional Bhangra is a fusion of music, singing and the beat of the dhol drum, a single stringed instrument called the iktar (ektara), the tumbi and the chimta. The accompanying songs are small couplets written in the Punjabi language called bolis. They relate to harvest celebration, love, patriotism or current social issues.



In Punjabi folk music, the dhol's smaller cousin, the dholki, was nearly always used to provide the main beat. Nowadays the dhol is used more frequently, with and without the dholki. Additional percussion, including tabla, is less frequently used in bhangra as a solo instrument but is sometimes used to accompany the dhol and dholki.



As many Bhangra lyrics reflect the long and often tumultuous history of the Punjab, knowledge of Punjabi history offers important insights into the meaning of the music. During the last thirty years, Bhangra has enjoyed a surge in popularity worldwide, both in traditional form and as a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae.



Bhangra has come a long way in the 21st Century and has recently taken the entertainment industry by storm. In the 1970s and 1980s, many Punjabi singers from South Asia and the United Kingdom emerged, setting the stage for Bhangra to become a hot new trend in dance music. Modern Bhangra artists, in addition to recording and performing traditional Bhangra, have also fused Bhangra with other music genres, such as hip-hop, reggae, house, and drum-and-bass



Bhangra has gained mainstream popularity, attracting producers and artists such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Craig David. It is still performed in a traditional fashion but has also evolved into a new form of fusion Bhangra, where Bhangra music has been remixed with various other forms of music including Bollywood, R&B and hip-hop - and is listened to by people of all cultures around the world.



Bhangra is also emerging in the North American music scene thanks to Punjabi immigrants. In addition, Daler Mehndi's song Tunak Tunak Tun became popular in America and the rest of the world due in part to its music video, turning it into an internet phenomenon. Some popular North American artists include Jazzy B, Bhinda Jatt, and Sangeet Group. The use of Bhangra in song remixes is also becoming a more popular practice. The Bhangra market in North America is not as big as the market in the UK, but it continues to grow.



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