Bhangra Hall of Fame

[Sgill93]

gabroo shokeen

 

[ranjit singh]

rooh punjab di (toronto)
shan-e-punjab (toronto)

 

[Kartik]

kj, vibe, mbt, cornell, ubc, nj...those are the og teams of the modern circuit that influenced every team competing now in some way or other

and i dont think you should be able to discredit a team because they are still active. its not cornells fault that they are a collegiate team thats been going strong for what, 15 years or so?

Haha, thanks for noting this Sulman. First off, I'd vote for Cornell, not because I'm a member of this team, but rather, I'd be voting for the Cornell Bhangra team from way back that influenced me in 2002 onwards. Second, I don't think teams should be left out because they're still active. Teams evolve a lot over the years, especially college teams, so the Cornell Bhangra team of now is not at all the same team from 2002.

However, if you ARE counting out teams that are still competing (Empire)... we competed at probably the most (or one of) competitions for a collegiate team on the circuit this year (4, correct me if I'm wrong) so I don't think we'd qualify.

Apart from the original Cornell Team, gotta say LBC, KJ, and Sher were the biggest teams for me.

 

[ENVY BANG-RUH]

If there are collegiate teams still competing, then teams such as Cornell Bhangra 2002 (the year should be mentioned to keep thoughts organized when deciding a possible HOF spot)

Another rule, teams from certain years should not compete within the last 3 or 5 (take your pick, and let's stick with it) years to be considered HOF nominees. Just an opinion.

 

[Waleed]

all male: KJ, Sher, Soormay
co-ed: MBT, vibe, duniya
all female: UBC

 

[jasraj93]

rooh punjab dee
lyallpur khalsa college jalandhar

 

[Vijay]

i really was close to putting Phul on my list...but I feel like Cornell took the spot because they had more of an effect of making popular than phul...

same, i was trying to think of more solid coed teams and phul def ripped it for a couple years, but def gotta add Cornell to my list - still remember watching those old clips on POL back in the day from blast and fusion. Duniya Allstars also is a contender i think...tons of trophies under their belt however not sure how strong their influence was on teams - im sure it was strong on teams in BC though.


huge of fan of mbt from 02-05 years and their style i think permeated through a lot of coed teams but their trophy case might might make one reconsider their hof candidacy.

Another rule, teams from certain years should not compete within the last 3 or 5 (take your pick, and let's stick with it) years to be considered HOF nominees. Just an opinion.

this would follow a generic hall of fame trend but take a team like sgpd who has already proven themselves as a team that has impacted/changed the Bhangra scene, if wer'e playing the whole teams still competing cannot be inducted, sgpd would be an immediate candidate less than a year from retiring.

 

[Nikhil]

Co-Ed category:
Berkeley Bhangra (Mela originators)
Rutgers (1994, before MBT)
Duniya (BC style)
VIBE (BC style)
Cornell University (1 of the first collegiate teams)
Phulorida (first cross country team)
Bhangra Empire (Most famous team world wide of all time)

Live:
Gabroo Shokeen
PAU
Daviet
Rooh Punjab Dee

All Gender:
KJ
Sher
UBC

 

[Saab]

Someone should actually do this during a weekend of a comp. Maybe elite 8 have an induction ceremony. You have to think bhangra has gotten to the point where things like this go from being wishful thinking to actual things to discuss and implement.

 

[Nikhil]

Someone should actually do this during a weekend of a comp. Maybe elite 8 have an induction ceremony. You have to think bhangra has gotten to the point where things like this go from being wishful thinking to actual things to discuss and implement.

Money in the bank (shawdy whatchu drank)

 

[Nikhil]

I agree. But we need a uniform, centralized body of governance. There has been so much talk of doing this but no one to head it up. Maybe instead of a group of people wanting to throw a competition, they fund and establish the government.

 

[Saab]

It would be nice. It shouldn't be about standardizing the actual bhangra performed, but like swi has talked about in the past, providing judges, tips, and a generalized format for comps.

Like, for example, best dancer awards/jodi awards can be used for this hall of fame. It should award accomplishment, not just one style over the other. Were at a point where efficiency and communication in the community has reached a high enough level to start non-competition related projects(Saleem dont hit me) and we should take advantage of that.

 

[Manjot]

Abbotsford Bhangra

 

[Saleem]

I agree. But we need a uniform, centralized body of governance. There has been so much talk of doing this but no one to head it up. Maybe instead of a group of people wanting to throw a competition, they fund and establish the government.

What would really be the point? Hopefully not to administer the Bhangra Hall of Fame. Any voting would be called into question as biased, until every good team is in.

 

[rsingh90]

HOF teams..gotta be teams that don't compete anymore (so we can rule out teams like NJ, SGPD, NYPD blah blah) and gotta be when you think of these teams, you think legends.

in no particular order (NOT INCLUDING ANY TEAMS FROM INDIA):

Khalsa Junction
UBC Girls
Gabroo Shokeen
Rooh Punjab Dee
Sher Foundation
Duniya All-stars

 

[rsingh90]

i'd also include VCU with their old-school dancers, but i guess they still compete lol

 

[Basim]

I posted a fairly comprehensive list of old & new teams that made a large impact on the bhangra scene.

You can check it here if you missed it the first time around.

~ Basim

 

[Nikhil]

Big Sal,
The reason why I think we could do with some sort of centralized body is because of uniform recognition and standardization of judges, competitions, as well as merits (on a competition basis, team basis and dancer basis). I think we all take bhangra pretty seriously right? So it's about respecting the seriousness with which we take bhangra....making it legitimate so that it's not just a dance thing. I mean, we all train like athletes and we take every year like it's a season. So why not structure it as such? It could go hand in hand with BTF and it could support it even more, giving it official backing in a sense. A Hall of Fame would be just 1 of the many things that the organization could help construct, actually without bias my duddddddddee

 

[yraparla]

Big Sal,
The reason why I think we could do with some sort of centralized body is because of uniform recognition and standardization of judges, competitions, as well as merits (on a competition basis, team basis and dancer basis). I think we all take bhangra pretty seriously right? So it's about respecting the seriousness with which we take bhangra....making it legitimate so that it's not just a dance thing. I mean, we all train like athletes and we take every year like it's a season. So why not structure it as such? It could go hand in hand with BTF and it could support it even more, giving it official backing in a sense. A Hall of Fame would be just 1 of the many things that the organization could help construct, actually without bias my duddddddddee

We talked about this awhile ago, and it got hung on the issue of who would govern the body that sees the operations. I firmly believe my idea of a network of functional organizations (such as a group that maintains a judging database and recommendations, a group that consults and aids comps, and a group that listens and arbitrates on behalf of teams), is a better solution than some central organization. Essentialyl a backbone system that supports by providing constant communication outside of individual and limited-scope channels like competitions.

But the problem always comes down to, who leads it? Who decides who leads it? It's not a simple question and the long-term solution to this eludes me (i.e. we may find some people now who can make it work but what about 3-4 years from now when the circuit is dependent on such a network operating correctly).

 

[Saleem]

Ah. Yes, if this organization handles things well beyond the scope of a "Bhangra Hall of Fame," then yes I see the potential for it. I think we've discussed it both offline and on BTF. It's an opportunity that is simple to do, but difficult to do well. It's fraught with landmines on fairness, usefulness, geographic bias, and power issues. But yes, it could be done well.