Bhangra is a popular style of dance perfomed to music that combines traditional drumming with modern Western instruments and rhythms.
In India, there are many dance forms, but one extremely popular form is the Bhangra. Bhangra has found its way into every festival and celebration in India. It originates from Punjab, where the dance was performed to celebrate the harvest season, possibly in the 1400s.
The Bhangra dance is an accompaniment to the Bhangra music, which is a form of folk music. It is sung in Punjabi lyrics with one person beating a hand held drum called Dhol and another playing the flute. Its raw traditional sound is often supplemented with contemporary musical styles.
Bhangra has evolved from a purely traditional form into a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae, attracting more and more dance converts to this dance form. The most well-known fusion is with hip hop and rap, which became extremely successful among both Indian and European youth after Punjabi MC from the U.K., collaborated with the well-known rapper Jay-Z on a version of one of his songs, Mundian To Bach Ke (also known as "Beware of the Boys"). Groups like the Bombay Rockers from Denmark and DJ A.P.S. from Canada produced the earliest recordings of mixes that combined bhangra vocals and melodies with hip-hop beats. In fact, these new styles have been so successful that modern bhangra is now being re-exported back to India.
The Bhangra dance itself is a couplet form of dance with the woman dressed in traditional Indian wear called Salwar Kameez and the man in a Punjabi suit with a colorful turban on his head. The steps are mostly identical, with the woman mirroring the man’s steps.
Bhangra has always been popular amongst Punjabi people all over the world, but it has enjoyed resurgence over the last ten years or so. Bhangra is truly becoming more popular worldwide and people of non-Punjabi background are listening to and performing Bhangra. Universities and other organizations are holding annual Bhangra dance competitions in many of the main cities of the United States, Canada, and England. At these competitions, young Punjabis, people of different South Asian background, and people with no South Asian background compete. It is evident that every year Bhangra becomes more popular and known among many different types of people worldwide.
