THE BHANGRA GENIUS--EPISODE 1

[yraparla]

Anyway those are just my opinions...and i'm glad you're sharing your opinions with the circuit. Should spark some interesting conversations

You're actually saying the same thing he is. The style he refers to is one in which the overall form of a step is derived from Live bhangra sets. Theres no question Toronto has been a heavy influence in that style becoming mainstream. This is the similarity between the teams being talked about, except that Tdot/VA teams were doing it in 05-08 as a consequence of the Live-revival period.

Since '08, the scene has greatly progressed from that and the different regions have developed their own style based on that similar, live origin. The non-modern california teams are primarily derived from after this live-revival period, and are not as visible or as successful (saying this as an east-coaster so biases apply)

NorCal has always been a strong spot for live/traditional bhangra, but SoCal has not and I think that's been the issue. This folk-initiated music style is the mainstream now and teams that go against it tend to not do well. Therefore they aren't able to generate the hype and visibility seen from Tdot/VA/DC/NY. This means SoCal has been at a disadvantage and teams haven't really sprung up even though it had many many music teams before. NorCal overemphasizes live so it hasn't developed the strong folk-initiated music teams that can have consistent success.

It doesn't help that California teams have a hard time competing outside california/vancouver so the perspective on both coasts is skewed (I'm slowly learning how expensive it is now that I'm in San Diego). Beating california teams doesn't count in regional discussions, and that's probably the biggest issue.

*All the necessary exceptions apply for Empire of course. DRP is also a successful team but hasn't been quite what they were since 08 (went to BOB, etc) which is exactly the point, the scene has shifted and the style doesn't consistently play outside of Bruin/Boston comps.

Very interesting discussion, more thoughts people!

 

[sc11]

ALL HE IS SAYING IS THAT TORONTO TEAMS BROUGHT THE 'FOLK' PART OF BHANGRA MAINSTREAM..............the traditional aspect, the art of it, and the set chore pieces......just like how Cali bhangra (and a bit of BC bhangra) was the thing that put bhangra on the page to begin with......for me personally Khalsa Junction, Soormay, VIBE and UBC Girls were the teams that brough bhangra to the stage......Toronto team like NJ and Shan-e brought the CHANGE!

A perfect example of this is GTA bhangra....in 2005 they competed at Bhangra Invasion....it was clear that their style was based on Cali teams, they looked like Khalsa Junction, from their vardian style, to their gimicks and style of dance......later that year May 2005 when they competed at Groundshaker, where they had a complete new look, they had a live segment, jordian, tradition choreo segments, and less gimmicks.....this was al part of the change that bahngra experienced in north america....

Nachdey Gabru: BCG, Bhangra Invasions, Groundshaker (Cali Style) to Bhangra Nation (tradition look)

SGPD: from Team India (Cali co-ed style) to Bhangra Idols (traditional look)

And all SAACS teams followed this trend as well, modern and gimmicky pre 06/07 and traditional post 06/07.....

JUST A NOTE: GTA finished third at Bhangra Invasion behind NJ and Shan-e......

 

[faizan]

A perfect example of this is GTA bhangra....in 2005 they competed at Bhangra Invasion....it was clear that their style was based on Cali teams, they looked like Khalsa Junction, from their vardian style, to their gimicks and style of dance......later that year May 2005 when they competed at Groundshaker, where they had a complete new look, they had a live segment, jordian, tradition choreo segments, and less gimmicks.....this was al part of the change that bahngra experienced in north america....

I remember GTA's transition that season, and it is right on point, good reference bro. You know your T>Dot teams and their histories well. I smell a veteran...

And SWI, thank you for explaining what I meant and reading my mind, creep.

 

[sunnybonez]

vics like 100,000,000,000 i remember he told me he graduated from my highschool 14 years ago....>.< i know hes exaggerating but still interesting

 

[imakhilyou37]

Props on starting something like this up. I can see it being especially helpful to teams that don't have many/any experienced members on their teams.

Just a little critique on your critique haha, instead of rerecording the performance videos with your camera, theres a much easier way using sony vegas that'll make the video look much more professional and shouldn't take that much more time.

PM me if you want the keygen and link for sony vegas if you dont have it or want to know how to do it.

 

[Gabroo Tv]

I didn't even know I was being referenced in this thread!

Quick pointers:
My camera angles came about after extensive research from various setpoints. If you look back at older videos you will notice that I used to always shoot balcony view. This however took away from the "force" behind a performance, meaning you didn't get the facial expressions, body expressions, etc etc. In my opinion, you make a routine for the audience and the audience is always right there in front of you. Therefore, I always shoot dead center eye level unless I am unable to.

I do agree that balcony view will give you a better view of formations, but I still feel from a personal stand point that audience level is key. After all, that's also where most judges view the performances as well.

BMW's video will have to wait till another day. I'm a bit under the weather and the Nyquil will kick in any second now.

Harjot

 

[Gsimz]

I think this was BMW's breakout performance:

Bhangra's Most Wanted (BMW) @ Bruin Bhangra 2009


Seems like they finally brought this swag back or attempted to.

 

[Arjun Barua]

My camera angles came about after extensive research from various setpoints. If you look back at older videos you will notice that I used to always shoot balcony view. This however took away from the "force" behind a performance, meaning you didn't get the facial expressions, body expressions, etc etc. In my opinion, you make a routine for the audience and the audience is always right there in front of you. Therefore, I always shoot dead center eye level unless I am unable to.

I do agree that balcony view will give you a better view of formations, but I still feel from a personal stand point that audience level is key. After all, that's also where most judges view the performances as well.
Harjot

+1

 

[RAJ22]

I think this was BMW's breakout performance:

Bhangra's Most Wanted (BMW) @ Bruin Bhangra 2009


Seems like they finally brought this swag back or attempted to.

Koyna put, it is coming


Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeea Boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

 

[Ashveer]

Faizan this is a great vlog and I appreciate the time you took to put this together and to get conversation going…just when I thought I was going to drop off BTF for a bit. A few disconnected thoughts, keeping in mind I'm responding/critiquing something you didn't write out:

On the notion of Cali being on one page and the rest of the circuit being on another. I can see your point here and agree with it. Excluding Empire, we don't have teams that could go to the and win a top comp ('elite' or 'top tier' teams) because our teams don't look like everyone else, and yes, BMW is starting to look like everyone else. I started watching things in 2004 so my perspective might not resonate with others, but I remember what happened the last time everyone wanted to look like each other: they went live. For all you kids out there (younger than 21) there was a time in which going live was on the minds of 90% of the bhangra circuit. Bhangra was having a serious identity crisis, and the circuit reinvented itself.

I'm grateful that you and the other poster pointed out California's history in 'folk' bhangra, dating back to Fresno State Punjab Night (now Bulldog), Stanford's Bhangra by the Bay, the importance of Lal Singh Bhatti, and teams like the Davis mens' team that was around in the early 90's (some of that I wasn't even aware of till recently).

The only part of your discussion that I take issue with (which I could be misinterpreting) is that to win, you have to do a certain thing, which is dance the current way, which is folk, which is authentic, which is 'right'. Of course from POL onwards people and fought tooth and nail about what bhangra really is, but to say or insinuate that what is mainstream on the circuit today has finally realized the 'right' bhangra that is 'folk' enough or 'traditional' enough, or right is pretty much horsesht (I think you know this). In the same vlog, you critiqued BMW for not having a painting of a kheth light up or move (ironically I think that's Sher Foundation's mural). Looking as clean as and having sets as difficult as PAU is important, but ultimately to win today, you need tricks and gimmicks to please the audience, whether that's bringing girls out on stage, having things light up, doing a leprechaun kick, leaning to the side (shout out to the NJ vid Baruah put up) etc., which have nothing to do with a folk dance that came from Punjab. We make authenticity up.

 

[faizan]

I agree ash, folk is in the eye of the beholder...but you have misinterpreted my idea of folk...i completely get that gimmicks and "what it takes to win" is not folk dancing, it's entertainment, i guess what i meant was that having a folkish routine is now a must, whereas you could have gotten away with an ultra-modern set and won even up till last season...that time is over.

 

[dudhmakhna]

I don't know much about teams outside of norcal and bc... but...

all of the live teams in norcal are linked back to india teams. I doubt they copy styles off of other teams.

for example, gabroo shokeens been dancing folk/traditional/live or whatever since the mid 90's. they link back to many coaches and ustads in india, mainly from punjabi university patiala. heeray punjab deh and virse de waris has been taught by gabroo shokeen, which is why they have a similar style of dance


*edit: forgot to add pali (one of gabroo shokeen's coaches, and the current coach/singer for heeray punjab deh)

apna virsa... their coach is from pau college of agriculture (the one that always wins in their inter-collegiate comps)

babc... one of their guys was first jori for khalsa college and one of their dancers danced with shokeen (if im not mistaken)

3d... I don't know much about them other than they've been dancing for a long time. I think they started off as half live/half music

bk... ill put their name up here too since they also have traditional elements, and they did really good on half live at dda.

bc is very similar to norcal, except they have more indians... which leads to them having bigger academies and stuff. bc teams are also linked back to teams back in india, and surrey india arts club is to bc what gabroo shokeen is to norcal

there are also many traditional coaches and judges in norcal that come from huge traditional bhangra backgrounds... which is a good thing and a bad thing. that's probably the reason why mostly live teams win competitions here, or why girls live teams like ampd get ridiculed.

to be honest... after writing that last line... I think the main "shapers" of the norcal bhangra scene are the judges. when comps look for judges they always choose the aunties/uncles with the crazy resumes. I think cali's still waiting for the older judges to step down and let the younger veterans judge before there's a huge change in its style... but I still think norcal's going to be super folk for a loong while to come

and a side note that's a little bit off track... when people say there's a lack of good dholis in california.. I think they're totally wrong lol. we have lal singh bhatti here in norcal, and he's probably the biggest influence on dholis outside of the motherland... he was one of the few ustads that actually taught students how to play dhol, while most other ustads only passed their knowledge to family members.

 

[Kaur]

VCU & PPA did not look toward Toronto teams for inspiration when we gravitated toward a more traditional style of bhangra in 2006. We studied videos of teams from India.

Yeahhh I believe it was a few India videos that really changed the whole scene, haha.... in one India comp from 2007 you can clearly see where VCU, SGPD, NJ, and PANJ all got ideas from that we saw here in 2009

Hahah and until this day those 2 videos have not been posted lol. I remember getting a msg from a VCU member asking " where did you get that move from, its only been seen in one place" . But yes those videos greatly influenced the 4 teams who had them which in turn changed the whole scene.

This blog is awsome! Good Job Faizan!, just like others have said try not to make comparisons with any teams, well VCU, NJ and SGPD with 13 first places have proved that they got in on lock. But other then that the rest of us are still working at it.

Looking forward to the rest of them!

 

[campy614]

I will be posting previews/reviews/critiques/criticisms throughout the season this season, and look out for special guests!

Again these are my views and not those of any other team or person, i must stress that!

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS KID A JOB!!!!! J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, and Bachelors in Finance from Fordham University. He is a great halal bbq chef, and can perform sexual favors.

Also, the only way I'll be one of your "special guests" is if I'm highly intoxicated.

 

[faizan]

Hi joe.

 

[KaraN]

see u guys soon on his blog! messy sessions volume 1.