BHANGRA: Vancouver-style

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Wntr, 1999 by Suniti Pande

Among South Asian communities world-wide a certain form of dance and music has taken firm hold. You may have heard a certain flamboyant and insistent rhythm at international events, multi-cultural events and city festivals, and when you looked to see where this came from, you might have seen groups of men in bright silk clothes and magnificent turbans dancing. With their arms up in the air, snapping fingers, leaping light-footed from one leg to the other. And, when you looked at their broadly smiling faces shouting "Hoi Hoi," you might have felt inexplicably alive and exhilarated.

What you would have experienced there is Bhangra. If, in your meanderings at festivals, you were simply looking for a music and dance experience, and asked no questions, you might be satisfied with this. If, on the other hand, you asked someone what that dance was, and they said Bhangra, you would now have found a name for the experience. If you pressed further and asked what is bhangra?, be prepared for the following.

Bhangra (pronounced pungda in Punjabi) is:

* A form of music

* A form of dance

* A folk dance from North India

* The music East Indian teenagers dance to at dayjams and discotheques;

* An integral part of Punjabi wedding festivities.

Paul Binning of PAAR (Punjabi Artists Association of Richmond, BC) puts it most succintly. "Bhangra is essentially a beat". The sound of this beat is created by sticks striking a large barrel-shaped drum hung around the drummer's neck(Dhol).

The basic Bhangra groove, known as "keerva" is played in 4/4 time and is punctuated by "tehais", "charkardhas" and other types of breaks. Other musical instruments, chimta, borchu, and the sound beaten on earthen pots may be used, adding texture to the sound. Songs usually accompany this rhythm.The song accompanying Bhangra is either called a Saddh or Boli which can be translated as 'cal'.

"The dance is traditionally a folk dance," explains Binning, quoting Professor Mohan Singh of Patiala University, Punjab India," originating deep in the jungle of Baluchistan at least five hundred years ago." Baluchistan now falls in what is now Pakistan. "Dancers were bare-bodied then, wearing only a loin cloth and bells. Some say it was a tribal war beat."

"It was during the British Raj however," muses Binning, "in the 1930s that the form perhaps took up its more modern form. The adapted costume was a dhoti draping the legs (like a wrap around skirt) a long shirt on top, both partly covered by waistcoats." Turbans became flamboyant with part of the cloth stiffened and fanned out over the head. Binning is quick to point out that the rural version of the dance, before it became stylized, was slower in pace, with simpler cotton clothes. Silk, and sequins were not used. The head dress was a plain looking turban reflecting the dancer's humble origins. The same economy applied to the dance movements which were light jumping and bouncing to the loud rhythm. At other times the movements would mime threshing, ploughing, digging, and cutting the harvest.

What are the lyrical themes? Any connection with mythology or religion which are so much the backbone of classical Indian dance forms? "No, nothing to do with religion" says Binning,smiling. "The songs are about life, you know - everyday life." For example, the dancer may sing about personal themes, weaving his place in the scheme of things. He may describe the falling rain, dancing peacocks, the smell of wet earth or sights at the local fairs where wrestling matches were a prominent and popular feature. Or. he may, in sheer youthful exuberance, describe his own feelings as he approaches his work. He may boast that his chest is wide and strong like the Himalaya Mountains; the muscles on his arms, bulging with power, are ready to burst like volcanoes; and when this young man of the fair land of Punjab approaches the plough, the very earth trembles at his power, at his strength! "Look," he might exclaim, "at my beads and turban, see how happy I am".

At PAAR, Bhangra tends to stay within the rural tradition, with themes of harvest and nature. Binning comments that forty percent of the songs are from a woman's point of view but still sung by men. For example, a woman may be waiting anxiously for her husband to bring back the hair decorations he promised from the fair. And she sings wondering why he has not returned.

Binning's group of fifty dancers performs at 10-12 functions a year. The events are mainly for fund raising. He teaches on a voluntary basis as a service to society, asking only that his students commit themselves to the dance 26 weekends of the year. He believes he is "giving something back to society".

"We are a part of Vancouver's history," he says with pride. "We performed at the opening of the Granville Island bridge in ('72); the World's Fair in Spokane (74); the '76 Montreal Olympics; the opening of the Coquihalla Highway around the Fraser Canyon on BC's eastern border in 1985, at the 75th anniversary of the Komagata Maru Memorial ceremony in '89; the opening of the Punjabi Market on Main Street ten years ago. This market is Punjab's answer to Chinatown, and people from Seattle and across the border come to buy spices, snacks, sweets and silks. In keeping with this pride in their Sikh and Canadian identity, themes and songs chosen are traditional, patriotic. And, in keeping with a traditionalist view, Binning frowns upon the modern trend of sensuality and explicit lyrics which seem to be more popular with young groups.