Off with a bhang

The Bay Area's bhangra club scene heats up with eclectic sets and a new generation of DJs

By Tomas A. Palermo

a&eletters@sfbg.com

The drums hit you first – a multilayered combination of repeaters and rim shots and gurgling, low thump-thumps. Then angelic female singers woo you with perfumed verses as UK-accented rappers or Jamaican-style MCs drop their lyrics into the mix. It's this combination of elements that makes bhangra sound familiar and also unlike any other urban music. Plus, once you get a taste, you're hooked.

Bhangra's heated dhol drumming and bomb-tastic hip-hop beats are emerging as a new force in the San Francisco club scene, fueled by a young crop of DJ-producers, in addition to wise promoters who've been around the dance music block. Bhangra didn't just drop out of the sky one night and land in San Francisco; rather, it grew from ancient field harvest songs in the Punjab region of northern India, danced through the UK via immigration, mingled with rap stars in New York in the '90s, and finally ended up at eclectic Bay Area parties.

DESI ROOTS

In 1990 I copped a copy of Indian producer Bally Sagoo's remix of Pakistani Sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Jewel" (Oriental Star). The mix of reggae-dub bass, Soul II Soul-style hip-hop beats, and ecstatic singing was mind-blowing. But there's no way it prepared me for the nuclear bomb that is contemporary bhangra music and the incredible South Asian scene in the Bay Area.

I knew little about bhangra's early roots as the music embraced by Indian and Pakistani immigrants to Britain in the 1970s and '80s. Then remixes like Jay-Z '03 remake of Panjabi MC's "Mundian To Bach Ke Rahi" sparked my interest. In recent years I encountered Punjabi Hit Squad's radio shows on the BBC's 1Xtra channel and Googled "Punjabi" to discover potent Web sites full of bhangra rap and garage MP3 downloads from artists like the UK's Rhythm Dhol Bass (RDB).

Hearing boom-box mixes at Naan and Curry restaurant in the Tenderloin and attending a South Asian friend's wedding party in Fremont, where DJ Sal from Desi Sound Factory dropped bhangra remixes of Sly and Robbie's "Murder She Wrote" (whose rhythm track emulates Indian percussion), was all it took to become a fiend.

Fundamentally, desi (meaning "national," ascribed to any person or thing from the South Asian diaspora) music is best heard at parties like the monthly Non-Stop Bhangra (NSB), at Rickshaw Stop, where Punjabi bhangra – a sound harder than the Asian underground fusions of Talvin Singh or Nitin Sawhney – is spun by competent DJs accompanied by live drummers, dancers, and video. Adding fuel to the bhangra club fire is the Bay's younger generation of mixers and producers.

YOUNGER UP-AND-COMERS

Born in Oakland and based in Tracy, 20-year-old JT Bhachu, a.k.a. DJ JT, got started in music at age 10, playing dhol drums in school competitions. His family moved from the Punjab region in India and settled in the Bay two decades ago. JT mixes hip-hop with bhangra and spins everywhere from high school dances and weddings to the main rooms at clubs – even San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom, where JT and his BPR Promotions friends put on a show with Birmingham, UK, bhangra megastar Sukshinder Shinda last year.

JT still relies on his kin for his creative projects, founding a record label (Sick 'Em Entertainment) with his uncle and recruiting his teenage cousins to play in his Explizit Dholies drum ensemble. "My mission is to bring bhangra into a lot of hip-hop clubs. In the future it'll be the next thing people are talking about when they go out every weekend," he says. His self-confidence and vision are shared by other young desi DJs in the Bay, including producer Kush Arora.

"I'm recording with guys who are getting deported every day," San Francisco resident Arora laments of his work with Punjabi singers and emcees. That hasn't stopped him from finishing his album, Bhang Ragga: Dancehall Bhangra in Future Dub (Kush Arora Music), which drops at the end of January and features MCs and musicians from India, the Caribbean, and the Bay Area.

The 24-year-old son of New Delhi parents, Arora plays a mean tumbi drum and lists UK dub artist the Rootsman and Bally Sagoo among his main influences. Like Bhachu, he doesn't limit his horizons to Punjabi-only events. "Most bhangra concerts with big singers are in the South Bay," he explains. "These can be fun but usually very cheesy, with fliers that say 'Guys – dress GQ; girls – dress sexy/elegant,' with related bullshit like that, so I really wouldn't consider it a hot party."

ORGANIZE WITH OPEN MINDS

Teacher, performer, and promoter Vicki Virk has been in the Bay Area music scene since 2003 with her Dhol Rhythms dance troupe. In addition to teaching bhangra dance classes, she's the founder of the monthly Non-Stop Bhangra party. To bring bhangra to new audiences, Virk embraces the Bay's open-minded spirit and eclectic DJs. "The hype is growing in the States," she enthuses. "New DJs are mixing bhangra – it could grow into something the US could embrace." Virk see the scene eventually developing into a mix of cultures of people who just love to dance and learn about new forms of music.

"Non-Stop Bhangra has been taking over the SF scene for bhangra parties promoted beyond just the desi community," Amar Bansuri notes. He should know, as a NSB resident and promoter of Electric Vardo, a party that brings together elements of South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European gypsy culture. Amar and like-minded DJs and promoters such as Cheb I Sabbah and Dhamaal Soundsystem's Janaka Selekta and Maneesh the Twister have brought together the disparate global fusion dance music tribes under the banner of the desi nation. "We definitely have a bhangra presence," Bansuri states, "but as a part of a global picture."

Bay Area bhangra is also being used as a catalyst to raise awareness. Activist Vijay Chattha got involved in the scene in 2001. He was a promoter and DJ who used music to bring understanding to the issues facing South Asians after 9/11. Chattha organized a number of benefits for the charity Project Ahimsa, now a national organization. Involved in events such as the annual Global Sight and Sound Festival, Chattha is confident that the desi music community is moving in the right direction. "The music has attracted diverse audiences, making the Bay Area the number one spot in the nation for bhangra," Chattha says. "Non-Indian artists and DJs are now experimenting with the sound and collaborating with desi artists to produce things that will put the Bay Area on the map. The future of this music is bright."

ELECTRIC VARDO Featuring MC Rai, Soulsalaam, Kush Arora, Frederique, Amar, and Embarka Soundsystem and a release party for MC Rai's RAIvolution album (Embarka). Fri/27, 9 p.m. CELLspace 2050 Bryant, SF $10 www.electricvardo.com NON-STOP BHANGRA Sat/28, 8 p.m. Rickshaw Stop 155 Fell, SF $10 (415) 861-2011 www.rickshawstop.com BHANG RAGGA RELEASE PARTY: A NIGHT OF KUSH ARORA IN DUB Feb. 19, 9 p.m. Dubmission Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF $5 (415) 552-7788 www.elboroom.com www.nonstopbhangra.com www.blackmahal.com www.solunamar.com www.kusharora.com www.dhamaalsf.com www.projectahimsa.org www.americanbhangra.com