Track Listing

1. Rail Gaddi - The Four of a Kind
2. Dil Tera - Soni Pabla
3. Captain Bhangre Da - Ravi Bal, Daljit Mattu
4. Dil Nai Lagda - Aman Hayer
5. Gal Sun - Partners in Rhyme
6. Sajna
7. Chal Hun (Get Up Fix) - Malkit Singh
8. Billo Raneeay
9. Akheer
10. Paisa
11. Mehndi/Madhorama
12. Lakh Hilda - Indy Sagu
13. Taweet - Daljit Mattu
14. Apna Sangeet
15. Nain Preeto De

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74057 in Music
• Released on: 2006-02-17
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
From its humble beginnings as a folk dance in northwest India, the British-Asian phenomenon of bhangra has incorporated Western instruments, such as the electric guitar, bass and keyboards, and evolved into the energetic and highly popular club and dance music it is today. This album features some of the hottest bhangra beats and the funkiest names on the British-Asian scene.

Amazon.com
The follow up to 1999's Rough Guide To Bhangra, Rough Guide To Bhangra Dance focuses on recent mutations of this flexible music genre also known as "desi beats." Originally brought to England by North Indian Punjabi immigrants and their children, bhangra mutated in cities like London and Birmingham in the 80s to reflect the new surroundings of the artists and audience. The barrel-shaped dhol drum is still at the center of the clattering bhangra sound, but the 15 tracks here range from Four Of A Kind's boy-band leanings to Veronica's modern R&B-ish grooves to the traditional-minded Daljit Mattu & Ravi Bal. The music's party vibe works surprisingly well in conjunction with the strict aesthetics of hip-hop, dancehall and dance music, and has actually been incorporated by artists in those genres (Missy Elliott being a notable example). Nonetheless, this is an excellent line-up of artists coming out of the Indian tradition looking to Western forms in search of new fusions. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews

great intro to bhangra
being born in the states to bengali parents, there isnt as much popular music thats influenced by indian culture (bad rap looping aside). mostly, we (as in first generation americans) usually have to turn to british stuff for that crossover. bhangra is, for us, what rock en español or reggetón is for latinos.... its dancable and familiar. this cd, i think, has some awesome tracks on it... there is a whole spectrum of bhangra types- from the reggae-inspired to the more 'hip-hop' flavored stuff to the calm, religious 'akheer' (which is totally my favorite). you dont have to understand punjabi to enjoy it (i mean, i dont and nor do most of my indian friends... but we connect with it even though bhangra is a regional punjabi phenomenon... then again, reggetón is supposedly a puerto rican/caribeño thing and even argentinians and spaniards can dig it). anyway, the point is this cd has a good collection of songs that is very cool regardless of your background. neat songs, a lot of indian backgrounds (with traditional instruments like the veena and harmonuim) and pulsing dhol/syth rhythms. it makes you want to get up and dance, which is exactly what bhangra is for!

Complex, lively music for listening or dancing
I stumbled across this CD on a display rack at Borders and listened to a few minutes and then bought it. I fell in love with the complexity and liveliness of the music. Most of the tracks have complex percussion of standard 4/4 count dance music but with lots of other percussion rhythms thrown in with various instruments. I can't identify many of the instruments but I certainly enjoyed them. The singing was also excellent and sometimes quite intricate.

This music is good for driving or anytime when you want to get into a happy energetic mood. It's also great for organized dancing. Most of it will work with salsa, hustle, or west coast swing. The energy of the music encourages a lot of improvisation and messing around. It is nearly perfect dance club music.

This is fun, lively, interesting, and enjoyable music. I highly recommend it. It inspired me to rip it to mp3 at a much higher quality level than I usually do. Usual is variable @ 192 kbps. This one rated averaging @ 256.

Bhangra Lives.
I teach water aerobics at 6 am in the morning. My class consists of warmup and stretching exercises - intense cardio... and then as a treat some Bhangra music (followed by deep water exercises - cool-down and stretching exercises - ending with pranayama - breathing exercises). The women love Bhangra. We do some free style dancing to Bhangra - the greatest pick up at 630 AM. What a way to start your day. We dance to some selections from this CD... and women have listened to some of the songs on youtube. The favorites are Rail Gotti and Capt Bhangra - more bhangra, please.