 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(August 2011) |
Established in 2006, Bhangra Empire is a San Francisco Bay Area dance team in California. The team is composed of undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates pursuing a variety of career paths while taking time to pursue Bhangra and Punjabi culture. The team has won 16 awards in four years.
On November 24, 2009, Bhangra Empire performed at the first State Dinner hosted by President Barack Obama and the First Lady, Michelle Obama. The event honored its chief guest Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh and was held on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. [1]
Along with Bhangra Empire, the entertainment lineup included the National Symphony Orchestra, A.R. Rahman, Kurt Elling, and Jennifer Hudson.
The guest list included a mix of prominent figures in United States and Indian politics, business, and entertainment, including the President and First Lady, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Bobby Jindal, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Steven Spielberg, M. Night Shyamalan, Alfre Woodard, and Blair Underwood.
On Tuesday June 22, 2010, Bhangra Empire made its debut on national television on America's Got Talent (Season 5) with a first round audition in Portland, Oregon. The performance received a standing ovation from the audience and three yeses from celebrity judges Howie Mandel, Piers Morgan, and Sharon Osbourne. [2] [3]
Selected by First Lady Michelle Obama as one of the foremost up-and-coming talents in the United States, Bhangra Empire participated in a photo shoot in the White House Ballroom with the First Lady for Harper's Bazaar magazine. The full article, and photo, were published in the November 2010 issue. [4] [5]
Many of Bhangra Empire's high-energy competitive performances are watched by audiences of over 5000 attendees. In addition to competitive and high-profile performances, Bhangra Empire performs at local community festivals, functions, and charity events. Bhangra Empire coaches a kids' Bhangra team and teaches bhangra classes at several locations throughout the Bay Area.
Bhaṅgṛā is a type of upbeat popular music associated with the Punjabi diaspora in Britain. The style has its origins in the folk music of Punjab as well as western pop music of the 70s and 80s. Prior to this musical fusion, Bhangra existed only as a dance form in the native Punjab. This British music was unique in that it was not traditional nor did it seek any authenticity. While the traditional folk music of Punjab has a set of melodies that are used by various singers, Bhangra was a form of strict "band culture" in that new melodies were composed for each song. Therefore, the musicians were as important as the singers.
Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Kashmir, Sindh, Assam Valley, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The range stretches westward as far as eastern Afghanistan. A related instrument is the dholak or dholki.
Rajinder Singh Rai, better known by his stage name Panjabi MC, is a British Indian recording artist, rapper, producer and DJ of Punjabi ethnicity. He is best known for the worldwide bhangra hit "Mundian To Bach Ke", which sold 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. Among other songs, he gained acclaim with the 2003 release "Jogi". AllMusic has called him "one of the most prominent names in bhangra".
The Punjabis or the Punjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent presently divided between Pakistan and India. They speak Punjabi, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. The term Punjab means the five waters from Persian: panj ("five") and āb ("waters"). The name of the region was introduced by the Turko-Persian conquerors of the Indian subcontinent.
Music of Punjab reflects the traditions of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, currently divided into two parts: East Punjab and West Punjab. The Punjab has diverse styles of music, ranging from folk and Sufi to classical, notably the Patiala gharana. While this style of music is, obviously, most popular in Punjab, it has seen popularity in many diverse and different areas of the world, such as Southern Ontario.
Surjit Bindrakhia was an Indian singer. He was known for his unique voice and hekh, in which he sings a note continuously in one breath. His biggest hits include Meri Nath Dig Paye, Dupatta Tera Satrang Da, Lakk Tunoo Tunoo, Bas Kar Bas Kar, Mukhda Dekh Ke, Tera Yaar Bolda, and Jatt Di Pasand. Surjit is considered to have one of the greatest voices in Bhangra. He received a special jury award at the 2004 Filmfare Awards for his contribution to Punjabi music.
Swami is a British Indian electronic music/ bhangra/ world music act from Birmingham, England. "Swami" is also the pseudonym of the DJ producer Diamond Duggal. Swami currently performs as a hybrid electronic DJ act with special world music guests and collaborations including Deep Forest and PunjabTronix.
Bikram Singh is an American bhangra music artist. A graduate of Touro Law School, he also works as an attorney in New York City.
Paramjit Singh Sidhu, professionally known as Pami Bai, is an Indian singer, songwriter and Bhangra dancer from Patiala.
Punjab is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest; by the Indian union territories of Chandigarh to the east and Jammu and Kashmir to the north. It shares an international border by Punjab, a province of Pakistan to the west. The state covers an area of 50,362 square kilometres, which is 1.53% of India's total geographical area, making it the 19th-largest Indian state by area out of 28 Indian states. With over 27 million inhabitants, Punjab is the 16th-largest Indian state by population, comprising 23 districts. Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script, is the most widely spoken and the official language of the state. The main ethnic groups are the Punjabis, with Sikhs and Hindus as the dominant religious groups. The state capital is Chandigarh, a union territory and also the capital of the neighbouring state of Haryana. The five tributary rivers of the Indus River from which the region took its name are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum rivers. After the partition of India in 1947, only 3 of the 5 rivers, the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers flows in Indian Punjab, while other two rivers became part of Punjab, Pakistan.
Kuljit Bhamra MBE Hon DMus is a British composer, record producer and musician whose main instrument is the tabla. He is best known as one of the record producers who pioneered the British Bhangra sound and for his many collaborations with musicians from different genres and continents. His MBE was awarded in the Queen's Birthday Honour's List 2009 with the citation For services to Bhangra and British Asian Music. In July 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Exeter.
Priti Sapru, is an Indian actress known for her works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. She featured in a number of films including Nimmo, Yaari Jat Di and Qurbani Jatt Di among others, with actors Veerendra, Gurdas Maan and Raj Babbar.
Anita Lerche is a singer-songwriter, composer and actress from Denmark. With the release of her album Heer from Denmark in November 2006, she became the first non-Asian woman from the west to create a solo album in Punjabi. In addition to singing in Punjabi, she has sung in a total of 16 different languages.
Rani Taj is a British Pakistani dhol player from Birmingham, United Kingdom. Although already well known in the Midlands, she rose to international fame in 2010 when she appeared in a viral video playing live in the street along with a recording of Rihanna's song "Rude Boy".
BhaṅgṛāIPA: [ˈpə̀ŋɡɽaː](listen)) is a type of traditional folk dance of Punjab, originating in the Sialkot area of Punjab. It is done in the season of harvesting. According to Manual (2001), bhangra is especially associated with the vernal Vaisakhi festival.
Amar Noorie is an Indian singer and actress who works in Punjabi-language films. She was married to Sardool Sikander, a noted Punjabi singer.
Nachhatar Gill is a Punjabi musician and singer-songwriter. He was born to a Sikh family at their village Akaalgarh near Badesron, Tehsil Garhshankar, Punjab, India. Gill was very fond of music. His father was a kirtani. He used to sing along with his father at their village's temple's annual program. Gill got popularity with his solo song "Dil Ditta Nahin Si". His two religious albums are Sahib Jinah Diyan Mane (2006), and Ardaas Karaan (2010). He appeared in his first movie, Gal Sun Ho Gaya in 2012. He has appeared in three more films since then, the latest one being Jugaadi Dot Com in 2015.
Gurmeet Bawa was an Indian Punjabi language folk singer. She was known as Lambi hek di malika for her long hek that she could hold for about 45 seconds. She was the first Punjabi female singer to sing on Indian public service broadcaster, Doordarshan.
Punjabi folk music is the traditional music on the traditional musical instruments of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. There is a great repertoire of music from the time of birth through the different stages of joy and sorrow till death. The folk music invokes the traditions as well as the hardworking nature, bravery and many more things that the people of Punjab get from its gateway-to-India geographical location. Due to the large area with many sub-regions, the folk music has minor lingual differences but invokes the same feelings. The sub-regions, Malwa, Doaba, Majha, Pothohar, and hills areas, have numerous folk songs. Punjabi dance OP Bhangra music which is a genre of Punjabi modern music invented in Britain by the Punjabi diaspora.
Binnu Dhillon is an Indian actor who is known for his roles in Punjabi cinema.