Bhangra Dance Good For Fitness

If you've seen Slumdog Millionionaire, you are familiar with the different types of dance that India has to offer. Bhangra dance is no different; you still get the heart pumping cardio, but it's a low impact and fun dance to try. If you've got some knee or back problems and have access to FitTV on DirecTV, then check out Bhangra Dance with Sarina Jain. You're sure to have a good time doing a dance that doesn't require much background at all!

Sarina Jain is one of the few trainers that brings some of the history into dance while she's teaching you the moves on television. Bhangra is known as a celebration folk dance in India, and is also traditionally performed by men. But that doesn't stop women alike from participating in the energetic dance!

Sarina also makes sure to keep your head in the dance, telling you to 'call out to the music.' The music in the background of the dancing has a good beat, and if you can lose yourself in the dance, the music will come through your body into your heart. It's an uplifting dance that is sure to put you in a good mood.

The whole time you are having fun learning the easy moves, your heart rate is rising to a cardio fat burning level. Sarina also reminds you to engage you abdominal muscles on certain moves to incorporate some toning into the workout. On top of that, your calves are also getting a workout because you are jumping lightly on your feet the entire time. This action will also tone your legs in the side step moves, mainly working your quadriceps in your thighs.

If you're not into using weights for a workout, make sure to try Bhangra Dance. You'll have fun and be getting healthier at the same time.

Latin Bhangra Fusion Dance

An effervescent dance form of India had a tryst with breathtakingly sensuous Cuban ballroom dance and the stage was on fire. The elegant had an affair with the vibrant and the dance world welcomed the very new genre of dance – Latin Bhangra. And it is time now that the city acquaints itself with the new member in the dance family.

Latin Bhangra Fusion Dance is one of the new upbeat styles of the Indi-Glo fusion Dance Movement series which blends the moves of the eclectic Bhangra with the sensuous Cuban movement of ballroom dancing. An effort by the director of Kala Harmony, Shefali Lahote who aims to bring together Indian and foreign dances to create a new and ethereal dance form, Latin Bhangra is first-of-its-kind to be introduced in Pune.The movement, Indi-Glo Fusion launched by Lahote aspires to take contemporary Indian dance forms to a higher level. “One of the colourful and energetic dance forms is when fused with the elegant Latin dance, a wide range of moves is what people get to swing to,” says Lahote. According to Lahote Bhangra and Latin ball room dance put together is the evidence of the efforts that were put into creating the dance form. “The research for this creation included scrutiny of dance forms around the world by actually visiting the places of origin,” Lahote elaborates.

Latin Bhangra involves trousers and formal shoes as worn in the Latin dances and a kurta accompanied by a jacket as worn in bhangra.

For Lahote the movement brings together the diverse art forms and she terms it as Indi-Glo (Indian global) fusion dance movement consisting a series of fusion dances of which Latin Bhangra is the first. Easy-to-follow, fun choreography, the style comprises of innovative Indi-Glo-fusion combinations. “Through the new creative eloquence not only are a dancer’s grace, self-confidence & poise enhanced, but also his or her improvisational skills that help any dancer. The dance consists of basic and advanced modules,” she adds.

The catchy costume of Latin Bhangra consists of trousers and formal shoes as worn in the Latin dances and a kurta accompanied by a jacket as worn in bhangra. The body movement, choreography and the complete presentation of the new art according to Lahote has a strong Indian essence complimented by a foreign touch.

On being asked about the age group for whom this dance form is Lahote says, “Latin bhangra can be practiced by a person of any age group as it’s the modern sensibility which matters and especially youngsters can have a great time with this new invention.”

Shefali and her senior trainers of the school will conduct the introductory workshop from August 31.

Bhangra Dance Photos

Bhangra Dance Photos

Mela festival in Leamington UK

Some of the biggest names in the bhangra music industry performed at the Mela festival in Leamington on Sunday.
Hundreds turned out for the 16th annual celebration of India culture in the Pump Room Gardens.

There was plenty to enjoy including henna painting and tasty treats from the stalls.

Well-known artists who took the stage included Sukshinder Shinda, Aman Hayer, Jaz Dhami and Angrej Ali.

Punjabi film actress Daljit Kaur, who is a friend of one of the organisers, also put in a special appearance.

The event, which is organised by a committee of volunteers, had been promoted by the Brit Asia television channel and attracted people from across the region.

Committee chairman Mohan Singh Sandhu said: "It was really fantastic. The whole of the event went very well and people were very happy.

"It has been getting better and better each year since we started.

"We were pleased to see a lot of young people and Leamington people there."

Source: Leamington Courier
Location: Leamington Spa

Daler Mehndi King of Bhangra

Twelve years may not be a very long time in a musician’s career, but in this span of time, Daler Singh Mehndi has come to define bhangra music in India. Born on August 18, 1967, the singer is now 42 and possibly at the peak of his career.

When Daler started learning music at the age of six, he soon graduated to singing the Guru Granth Sahib from his parents. Rooted in tradition, his debut album Bolo Ta Ra Ra – interestingly the tunes for the album were given to him by his mother – made him an overnight sensation. The album’s videos came on-air at a time when music channels in India were taking off. Daler got a lot of airplay because of this fortunate conjunction.

Given the aggressive promotion on-air, the album went on to sell five lakh copies in four months. The record also earned Mehndi the honour of Channel V's Best Male Pop Singer Award, a title he earned twice later, for Dard Di Rab Rab and Ho Jayegi Bale Bale. Appearances in movies like Mrityudaata and Arjun Pundit further expanded his enormous popularity, and he began playing sell-out performances across the globe.

Ho Jayegi Balle Balle followed in 1997. Those of course were the days when the album was at its might. Soon after that, record companies were hit by falling sales as music sharing went onto the Internet and FM stations sprouted in every city, obliterating the need to purchase recorded music.

Daler is bitter about that transformation. “The market for remixes has killed original music. One after the other music companies shut their doors to me when I said I was coming out with a new album. They said they were only interested in remixes with their (disgusting) videos,” he says.

A few years ago, his new album featuring the hit ‘Kala Kauwa Kaat Khayega’ released, but after that none of his songs become popular. While his recording career more or less ended with the 90s, he found work in Bollywood. Says Daler: “I am the highest paid singer in Bollywood because I know music composers who actually don’t pay the singers after even the song becomes a hit. And then the singer has to wait for almost a year for his due. But in my case, the composers know that if they don’t pay me, I will never sing for them." And, of course, there is big money to be made in concerts.

Daler says he is content with what he has achieved. "I am 42 now and I have completed 12 years in this industry. I'm glad to say that what I started as a pop singer, everyone follows in Bollywood now. My career started with ‘Bolo Ta Ra Ra’ and then ‘Ho Gayi Teri Balle Balle’ and so on, and they're still big. But there's a lot left to be achieved. I'm only 42 and Bollywood heroes rule till they are in their 60s. I want to do that," he says, showing no lack of ambition, as is right for someone of his talents.

Though he found his fame and riches in Mumbai, Daler was born in Patna. And he says that entered the entertainment industry, he had already tasted the rewards of success. And that’s why he says that success cannot go to his head. “That only happens to people who are trapped in a materialistic ambience. They are not happy achieving any level of fame – they want the trendiest clothes, the best shoes, designer watches, latest cars, and the works."

"I’ve seen everything in my youth,” he continues. I went to the US when I was 18. My brothers had so many cars. I did use them but one gets bored with these things because they are all lifeless objects. I’ve seen money and all the good things in the world, but I preferred to India to work. I didn’t lose my head with all those luxuries then and I certainly wouldn’t when they are back into my life now."

Despite the fact that he has seen it all, he says that he's still surprised by the amount of change around him. "I will say many things have changes, especially in the last five years. Right from the way we sit or walk, everything has changed. There has been a growth in technology and so much development has occurred. Singing has changed as well."

One big change for him, of course, has been that he has now starting singing for films in the south, especially Telugu movies. He is forthright about his limitations. "When I sing a South Indian song in my Punjabi accent, it’s a unique style. And it's very sweet to sing those songs, and my recent track in the Telugu movie Magadheera has become very popular."

This doesn't mean, he says, that he will stop doing what he is famous for. "I started out with Punjabi music and as long as it is accepted and as long as good songs come to my mind, I’ll go on singing Punjabi songs."

On his birthday, all he is looking for are blessings, and “the love which you get from you’re the loved ones in your life – your parents, wife, children and relatives. My mom is a very special part of my life," he says.

He adds that he has not stopped wanting in life, "because a man's expectations and dreams never end. My search continues. I want good music to stay in the world, be it classical, folk, ghazal, bhangra or pop."

On his next venture, he says: “I have already started recording Bismillah, the album I specially planned for Guru Granth Sahibji. I am grateful to have received this opportunity to have witnessed this celebration in my lifetime and to serve with kirtan. Our guru is sada ang sang (always with us), so I feel one must celebrate the Guru’s blessings, every moment of one’s life.”

DJ Rekha - Bhangra Artist

Bhangra, Bollywood & Brown isn't a law firm. These are some of the key elements needed to understand one of the truly great and unique DJs this town. DJ Rekha Malhotra and S.O.B.'s are some of the best kept secrets in nightlife. Rekha’s basement bhangra party has been going strong for over a decade, and Larry Gold’s venue for almost three decades. They must be doing something right. It's so strange that nightclubs like S.O.B.’s— and even joints like the Blue Note—aren't noted when nightlife is talked about. Yet, these places have consistently provided great music and have been professionally run forever. Everybody's always clamoring for a change. You really don’t have to go listen to jazz, although it has its moments, but bowling, bucking broncos and roof decks wear thin after awhile. Check out DJ Rekha. She'll serve up some familiar, and mix in some strange, but it will all be good.

You’re wearing a Brown University t-shirt.
Yeah it is, but I’m wearing it because I’m brown.

You’re a DJ who plays a really unique set.…
My ideal set is what I call something from my bag of tricks. You know, I’m type cast and known for bhangra music which is a music that originally comes from India/Pakistan. It’s mostly been produced over the last twenty years in the UK. Now in the States, me and some of my other friends make original stuff...I do a party that I’ve been doing for twelve years at S.O.B.’s the first Thursday of the month called Basement Bhangra. But I also grew up in NYC, saw hip hop evolve. Got my dose of new wave from WLIR in Long island. So it all goes into the mix. Love hip hop, love Bollywood. So I play all of them.

Does house go in there?
House does go in there. When I started DJ’ing, I bought a lot of house records.

I remember you were a house DJ, with a little twist. This twist is what we’re here for. What set you apart from the pack is that you’re proud to be Indian American.
Absolutely.

Thus the Brown tee. Instead of just playing what everybody else is playing, you’re playing a music that has these ethnic influences mixed in. It’s a really interesting set, and you’ve done parties for me in the past. I think you’re a great DJ.
Thank you. Your check’s in the mail.

So tell me the problems of sticking to your guns and being true to your school. Do some people want to change you?
I think at this point, I don’t have that problem anymore. People know what they’re getting into. I think as a DJ, I can work in any situation and I’m mostly hired for what I know. I think early on, when I started out, definitely. There were definite problems and issues. Owners not realizing, sort of over-policing music policy. And it came from mainstream club owners, as well as people within my community that wanted to regulate music. The reason I started Basement Bhangra was because I had Indian promoters telling me not to play too much hip hop, which is just as problematic as a mainstream club owner telling me not to play that tribal shit, which I’ve gotten both sides.

Explain describing banghra as tribal...
Anything Indian, or anything that they don’t know, that’s not familiar. So it comes from both sides. So even within my Indian community, I have people saying don’t play too much bhangra or Indian stuff ‘cause that’ll attract cab drivers. So there’s a class issue with music. Clubs, there’s just a hot bed of politics and everything, and I think it all works itself out at the door and the dance floor. And the reason I started Basement was: it was a great opportunity to play mostly two forms of music that I really like that weren’t hot at that time. In 1997, when we started basement, we did not hear hip hop on mainstream radio. It was isolated to the cool black stations. It wasn’t on Z100 yet. And so that was the idea behind the party. So in terms of barriers to entry and all that, knock on formica, I think now the gates are okay. People know what I’m there for, and I don’t really have that. I think you definitely as a DJ tweak your set to your audience. Give them something they can relate to. Bring them on your side, play them something they know. You gotta bring them in. You gotta look at your crowd all the time. You can’t just take for granted what you know.

That’s exactly what I used to tell my DJs. As a club operator, I’ve never told a DJ not to play music or play a type of music. I hire a DJ, I generally know who I’m hiring, I let them do their thing. If I’m sitting there looking over their shoulders, they’re not going to be able to play. And I’ve never understood guys who did this. I’ve seen owners go into DJ booths, and I think it’s absolutely the worst thing in the world to do.
Don’t hire them. If you can’t trust them, then they shouldn’t be in your booth.

Let’s talk about S.O.B.’s. Larry Gold has owned S.O.B.’s for, I don’t know how many...a hundred years.
Almost near 30. 27 or 28 years.

When I talk about the great clubs, and I just did an article about the great clubs of new york, I forgot SOBS. And it was a mistake, because SOBs was one of the great clubs.
It’s okay.

Just like Don Hills, underneath the radar, and some of these old school clubs that are still there, S.O.B.’s is there 30 years, it’s underneath the radar, and proud of it. It continues to push the envelope and play world beat music.
And really cutting edge hip hop and neo soul. The soul village parties have been going on for a long time with different acts. They just did a show with drake. They have a series with Hot 97. They’re constantly breaking artists. That stuff also doesn’t get written about. They are known as a Brazilian club, which was the original intention. But it’s a really diverse musical power.

And Larry’s one of these guys, when you talk about the legends of nightclub...Larry’s old school and he happens to be one of the nice guys in the business.
And he knows his music inside out.

You’ve been with him 12 years. In 12 years you go through lots of different changes in a party. Tell me the difference between a 1997 Basement Bhangra and today’s.
‘97, it was a secret. It was small. It was mostly a lot of my friends who were artists, a lot more queer folks. People who were in the city.

When you say queer, do you mean gay?
Yeah, gay. Gay and just activists, artists. I knew everyone personally in some way. And then over time, word got out to the larger community. And now we get people from all over. We get people that go to school, anywhere within a few hours away that drive down that are on bhangra teams. Bhangra itself has transformed in 12 years. And we get people who come in from out of town, who arrange their business trips around the party, and stuff like that. So that’s the difference. The original was definitely my inner circle of people, and people that I knew because I came out of an activist community. I use to do a lot of community work. And that was that community of people. And now you’ve got club kids, bankers, everything. And we also have, because of the rise of Indian culture in large, we have people who are curious about Indian culture that have seen the movies or are familiar with the sound that are also coming through that we didn’t have before.

I want to talk about the movie
Slumdog?
Slumdog.
Sure. Aziz Ansari, he’s on Parks and Recreation, he’s a comic, went to NYU. He says the funniest thing about Slumdog. He says, because he’s also South Asian, people come up to him and thank him for Slumdog, and he says: it’s great, ‘cause he had absolutely nothing to do with the movie, and he wonders how white people feel everyday because they do so much shit.

Well, because of it, we’re suddenly aware of the slums of India and the problems they face. Have you seen an effect on you, or a need for your type of music, or more of a boost in Indian culture, as the result of an Academy Award for Best Picture?
I mean, I feel like because I’m in it, I’ve seen this rise in Indian culture happen for the last ten years in so many ways. And this is definitely a watershed moment because this movie did win a bunch of academy awards. And it really shined a light on A.R. Rahman, the guy who produced the music. I mean sure, I definitely see a difference. But I feel like it’s part of a larger cultural movement that’s been happening, which even allows for it to happen, which allows for it to get places. And I think it’s because somebody like Danny Boyle made it, it doesn’t hurt. Even though they cast unknown actors, the director’s a known quantity, the music producer is a known quantity. Getting MIA in the soundtrack helps. The difference is I grew up in Long Island, and go to the mall. And I grew up where I had my second job ever. I’m at Abercrombie and Fitch, and I hear one of the songs from the movie, and I’m like this is so weird. I never thought in my lifetime I’d see that. I mean there have been other moments, and the thing about when you’re an outside community that sort of gets more involved in the American mainstream culture, it’s never one thing, it’s many things. There were moments that happened. In 2003, when the Jay-Z and Punjabi MC track broke on the radio…

An incredible track.
...we thought, what the hell? The first time I heard it on Hot 97, I had a lump in my throat. I never thought I’d hear that. I mean, I’m the one that works in this thing and being on the front line and whatever, it’s so hard to break through, that moment was pretty significant to me. It was on mainstream radio, attached to a mainstream rapper, and it broke through. And even now, most hip hop DJs if you ask them, they have it in their bag. And we go out to a party and we get drunk, and we wanna hear a bhangra record, we’re like: “yo, can you play that song?”

Going back to that watershed moment, the music was universally accepted. It was just beautiful, great fun. Did it help you as a DJ who plays this fringe type music, did it make the audience more receptive or more broad? Where they become more familiar to them, or they would listen a little bit more to that part of your set?
I ran that record. That record in particular I started playing in ‘98 when it came out. I placed it in a Indian movie. An indie movie these guys… there’s a movie called AMERICAN DESI, which also had Kal Penn in it, ironically, who’s a second generation Indian actor who’s now working for Obama. It makes the conversation easier with people who are not familiar with the music. So, did it help me? It did help that I happened to be friends with Punjabi MC and brought him to NY brought him to New York years before the record came out.

So when are your parties?
First Thursday of every month. And I do another party called Bollywood Disco.

Where’s Bollywood Disco?
At the vault downstairs at Element. It’s more chill. Fourth Friday of every month.

Abrar-ul-Haq Bhangra Concert

A stunning performance by top singer Abrar-ul-Haq spellbound the audience at a musical bhangra concert arranged to mark the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Preston University at Islamabad 10th August, 2009 Monday night.

The spectators, mostly youngsters performed non-stop ‘bhangra’ on every number and expressed their love for Abrar’s unique style by extending generous applause. Though the event started a bit late, it had all the ingredients of a perfect musical night. Abrar mesmerised the crowd that enjoyed every bit of the show whether it was a serious poetic message for those involved in acts of terrorism in the country or his famous ‘bhangra’ numbers.

As per his reformist style, Abrar gave a thought provoking start to the concert by first making the audience acknowledge the blessings of Allah through his famous track ‘Teray Rang Rang.’ The crowd sang along. Following this, he recited his latest poem ‘Jannat Sar Kay Jannat Kadi.’ The poem was a wakeup call for youth who had been misguided by people in the name of religion. The poem addressed all those involved in terrorist activities and was dedicated to those who have lost their lives in the war against terror.

With no music in the background, the melodious voice of Abrar and the sensitive message brought tears to many eyes. The singer kept on conveying serious social messages to the young audience throughout the show.

In between his famous ‘bhangra’ hits, Abrar kept on linking poetry with serious social messages and after singing ‘Perdaisi Hoyo Ray’, he advised youth to utilise their skills for their country instead of going abroad for materialistic gains.

To organise the enthusiastic crowd, Abrar divided students into two groups on both sides of the stage and created an interesting environment of competition among the audience. He also tossed his latest CDs into the crowd throughout the event.

Earlier, Karachi comedian Sultan Sheikh shared his famous jokes with the audience.

Some young singers of Preston University also performed and received appreciation from a packed hall of Prestonians.

In his welcome remarks, faculty member Preston University Kaleen A Barlas highlighted the achievements of the institution.

Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi, Chancellor Preston University Abdul Basit, Pro-Chancellor Abdul Hamid and Vice Chancellor Anwar Hassan and other university officials also attended the event.