Over the last few years, Splendid has been fortunate to cover the majority of the World Music Network's Rough Guide series. You may have noticed our writers' enthusiasm for the series. It's not surprising, as each release is lovingly assembled by experts, who've taken the time to write concise, informative liner notes to go with their hand-picked musical selections. After listening to a Rough Guide disc, you can't help but feel a little better informed about the state of music outside your own country.
The newest series of Rough Guides has narrowed its focus, looking at regional genres rather than the sounds of a specific country.
American readers might recall a brief and largely unsuccessful effort by US labels to turn the Bhangra concept into a catch-all marketing term for the ethno-techno of the mid-Nineties. However, Bhangra actually began its life a couple of hundred years earlier in the Punjab region of India, as a folk dance celebrating the harvest. Bhangra steps even went so far as to pay tribute to "agricultural activities" -- planting seeds, reaping and so forth. The dance owed some of its catchiness to the rhythmic qualities of the dhol -- the large, liquid-sounding barrel drum whose deep, broad voice is one of the most distinctive sounds of Eurasian music. The catchiness of Bhangra's sing-song Punjabi lyrics probably didn't hurt it, either.
Fast forward to Britain in the seventies. The British-Asian music scene is thriving, despite being ignored by the mainstream media of the time. Several groups, including Alaap, whose "Bhabiye Ni Bhabiye" opens the disc, return to the folk sounds of Bhangra, but give it a modern, disco-fied approach. This proves massively successful, spawning labels like Multitone and Arishma and creating international stars like Sangeeta, perhaps the best known of British Asian female vocalists. By the eighties, Bhangra is huge, and growing steadily, even leaving its mark on British pop groups like Blancmange. A veritable sponge, it is fused with countless genres, taking on elements of techno, drum 'n' bass, reggae and half a dozen other world music styles. Tracks like Malkit Singh's "Boliyan" prove their potency on the dance floor and at daylight Bhangra raves. The nineties bring Bhangra-themed club nights and a proliferation of radio programs. With the twenty-first century well under way, artists like Talvin Singh are building careers on a Bhangra foundation.
In addition to providing all this information, the Rough Guide to Bhangra will get you passionate about the music. From the classic sounds of Alaap's "Bhabiye Ni Bhabiye" to the work of familiar names like Bally Sagoo and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the music conveys a lively, undulating joy. Even when the dhol is replaced by modern drum machines, you'll feel the rich cultural heft behind the music. Some of these songs might distress the American ear -- Sangeeta's "Pyar Ka Hai Bairi", for instance, flaunts the same cheerful cheesiness that's part and parcel of the Bollywood film experience -- but for the most part, if you're willing to take a risk on a disc like this, you're going to love it.
As is par for the course with current Rough Guide compilations, the disc includes an encyclopedic multimedia track for those whose appetite for information is not sated by a few pages of liner notes. Where else can you get an education and great music?
