Rough Guide to Bhangra
ThisRough GuideCD details the danceable and diverse music of bhangra. It was born in India's Punjab region as a rural dance, powered by piercingdholdrums, and emerged as disco/house/world music created by Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom in the '70s. It ranges from "Bhabiye N Bhabiye," written by Channi, the haunting lead singer of the bhangra supergroupAlaap, to the Safri Boys' storytelling lyrics on their teen love story "Par Linghade." Female singers like the pioneering Mohinder Kaur Bhamra with the club favorite "Gidda Pao Haan Deo" and the seductive Sangeeta with her hit "Pyar Ka Hai Bairi" highlight bhangra's modernity, while producers and DJs likeBally Sagooon "Mera Laung Gawacha" marry subcontinental syncopations to Jamaican reggae. Labh Janjua & Panjabi MC drop a sample by hip-hop's clown prince,Busta Rhymes, on "Mundian to Bach Ke" and build a curry-flavored bridge to African American hip-hop. As salsa sprung from its Cubansonorigins and linked Latin America, bhangra rhythmically reaches out to the Indian diaspora, from Hollywood to Bollywood.--Eugene Holley Jr.