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Concert Tue Jan 08 2008
Get Your Sikh On
After its long evolution as the nightlife music of choice for young Asians in the UK, Bhangra has been lurking on the periphery of the dance music scene for over ten years without ever making much of a crossover into the the non-Desi mainstream. But this past year has seen yet another flare-up of some more Indo-fusion rumblings. First there was the Bollywood-inspired excursion of MadLib's Beat Konducta In India, as well as DJ Om's debut album Reheated Naan & Curry (the latter of which was released on the Chicago-based Galapagos4 label). And in the Bhangra camp proper, DJ Rehka--who's held down the Basement Bhangra event in NYC for a decade--recently made some waves when she released her debut CD.
Built on rhythms from the Punjab region of India, Bhangra is rousing and infectuous music. In its current pop form, Bhangra's absorbed influences from Euro-techno, hip-hop, and Jamaican dancehall along the way. It pumps and it bumps with a beat all its own, and sparks a response from the crowd wherever it's played.
Chicago's Bhangratheque (aka DJ Jimmy Singh) will be bringing it to the party at Sonotheque this Friday night, in what's part of a recently-established series of events for Bhangratheque. He'll be joined by colleague DJ RedLox, and they'll be selling (and giving away) copies of their new mix-CD for the occasion. 1444 W. Chicago, $10 cover. Doors open at 9pm.
[video]: DJ Rehka - "Basement Bhangra" iaLink profile spot
[video]: DJ Rang - Bhangra mixing demo