Search - Various Artists :: Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance

Great intro to bhangra

Smita | California | 06/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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

Carl Scharenberg | Kansas City, KS, United States | 05/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Hi! Hi! HI!

Joe Niemczura | Honolulu Hawaii | 10/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is the music to accompany a dance craze that is going to the big urban centers in the USA right now after having been a euro- phenom. I first heard about it when I was doing a websearch on music of India, then ordered the CD. My daughter hwo lives in DC was surprised to hear that I had gotten this, and she had just been to a Bhangra event at a a club there. The tracks are danceable and really really fun. some of it has a hip hop beat but the harmonies and melodies are so wonderfully fresh that you will find yourself humming along after on ly a listen or two...."