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Birmingham beats

 

Bhangra musichas been a phenomenon in the UK since the 1980s, when groups like Alaap gained a huge following among young British Asians, and students in particular.

Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond – what young British Asians did with Punjabi folk music

Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond – what young British Asians did with Punjabi folk music

By the end of the decade, Bhangra bands were selling up to 30,000 cassettes in Asian music shops – all beneath the radar of official music charts, which did not record their sales.

With fusion bands and hip hop borrowings from the 1990s onwards bringing the sound to a wider audience, Bhangra, with its roots in Punjabi folk music, has become part of the musical landscape.

So, it’s a striking thought that, until this year, there was no book published telling the history of Bhangra music in the UK.

Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond, by Rajinder Dudrah, head of drama at the University of Manchester, charts the rise of Punjabi beats and lyrics, and their growing influence on UK pop, R’n’B, reggae, garage, grime and other musical styles.

We asked Rajinder Dudrah about the writing of the book, and the artists that have made the biggest impression on the UK music scene, and on him personally…

What prompted you to write the book, and what story does it tell?

I was surprised that a book hadn’t been written before. There are lots of knowledgeable people in the British Asian music industry – maybe they have just been too busy with their artistic and personal lives, as with most artists. The book is a humble introduction. It does not claim to be the A to Z of British Bhangra nor the last word on the topic. I wanted to capture a sense of where the music has come from, from its folk beginnings in the Punjab in South Asia through to its amalgamation with rock, disco, R’n’B, reggae, Bollywood, pop, hip hop, garage, grime and other international sounds from the 1980s onwards. The book tells the story of some of the men and women involved in Bhangra in words and colourful images – including fliers, album sleeve covers and pictures taken at live gigs over the years.

Pop histories – like the recent TV series Seven Ages of Rock, for example –routinely ignore Bhangra music, though it’s had a huge following in the UK since the 1980s. Has Bhangra been passed over, and if so, why? How would you define Bhangra’s true significance in terms of wider musical culture?

From the 1980s until the early 1990s was the heyday of live Bhangra music performance up and down the UK, and many of the bands also toured around the world on a regular basis. The originating centres, Birmingham and London, were especially thriving, with club events, discos, daytimers… – all coupled with a nascent British Asian youth culture. During this time the top bands were selling cassettes and albums in their thousands every week, yet the mainstream charts did not register these sales, as they were mostly in Brit-Asian high streets. British Bhangra in the 80s and 90s marked a moment of arrival, where second- and third-generation Brits with South Asian ancestry were coming of age and announcing their here-and-now-ness, with Bhangra music as their rock’n’roll, their punk, their R’n’B – all mixed together.

What discoveries did you make during the writing of the book, and have your perceptions of the music changed?

There’s a wonderful image in the book of a doctor’s prescription sheet! The doctor in question is a GP, Bal Sidhu from the Midlands, who penned many lyrics for bands during the heyday of Bhangra, and continues to do so for new talent. He often writes the lyrics in his spare time, and in this instance he wrote down some lyrics on a medicine sheet. Music and dance as a tonic for good health – now there’s a thought!

The important role and input of several women artists since the 60s and 70s was also a find, and a whole chapter of the book is dedicated to their work, together with some striking pictures.

Can you give us a brief guide, for a listener coming to Bhangra for the first time? Which are the essential artists and albums?

British Bhangra is fusion-based music drawing on the folk lyrics, music and dances of the Punjab and fusing these with other international music genres, particularly from a Black British urban setting. There are many interesting and varied artists and bands. Some of my favourites that people might listen out for are: Anari Sangeet Party and AS Kang from the 70s; Alaap and Apna Sangeet from the 80s; Achanak from the 90s; and Tigerstyle and Hard Kaur in the present day. Latter-day British Asian commercial R’n’B artists such as Jay Sean also owe a debt of gratitude to Bhangra, regularly sampling beats and rhythms from the genre.

What music are you listening to in 2008, and where is it coming from?

I’m a popular music junkie, and mixed-up, loud and proud, and artistically creative music with a British twist especially enthuses me. My collection right now ranges from Bhangra (of course!), to commercial RnB, dance, trance, Bollywood, and some obligatory 70s and 80s pop classics.

Useful websites

Amazon.co.uk – Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond
Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond, by Rajinder Dudrah, is published by Punch Records, priced £15.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bhangra-Birmingham-Beyond-Rajinder-Dudrah/dp/0709302568