"Famous" Guest Performers at bhangra competitions

[Meistro]

I thought about this over the weekend: Do we really need guest performers at our bhangra competitions? I came to the conclusion that bringing Manak-E, H Dhami, Aman Hayer, RDB, etc is totally pointless. What else do these "famous" individuals do besides increase costs for organizers? A bhangra competition is not a concert, hence nobody in the audience is there to see them. As an alternative I thought about this: Why don't we use those time slots when we're waiting for the results or the after party for local talent? Take elite 8 for example....This is going to be the biggest bhangra competition that North America has ever seen. Who did they choose as a guest performer? Nobody famous in the punjabi music industry. They chose upcoming local talent Ricky Jatt. I thought this was an awesome idea. There is so much blooming talent in North America. Raju Johal is going big in Vancouver, Jasbir (Virse De Waris) is getting some good exposure in Norcal, KLASSIKHZ could DJ afterparties....The possibilities are sufficient......This past weekend Aman Hayer came to the DDA afterparty for like 30 min. All he did was stand behind a table and yell on a mic and play some of his songs. How much was he paid? $2000? $3000? Flight and hotel paid for? I honestly didn't see any point in him coming......On the other hand, if you REALLY want to invite a guest performer, get him to MC the show, perform at the end, and actually contributes to the show in other ways, it will only make the competition sound more appealing because not only will it be a treat for the audience but for the teams as well. The aforementioned artists who lip-sync a few songs for 10 minutes not only bore the crowd but the teams too because the singers are just whack and honestly probably don't care to be there. They just wanna get paid. So for all competition organizers. Please take this into consideration is it will benefit your show and cut your costs as well as give local talent opportunities to perform and get their name out there. I personally think seeing someone like Raju Johal, Jasbir, Rickey Jatt, etc is much more appealling than someone famous.

 

[PINDER KORDA SINGH]

Very good point

 

[Jabar Jung]

If guests like Pammi bai, Sarbjeet cheema who are involved with bhangra are invited, then there is a point, however all these other artists who lip sync and what not are just pointless. I'd rather see a local instrumental band or may be make a quick highlight of the whole show, show the performances for 3-4 mins again to remind the audiences and judges.

 

[MPElive]

Meistro, I am glad that you brought this up because for some reason, competition organizers believe that it might help with ticket sales if an artist from the UK or India comes to the competition. As a competition organizer, I can confirm that it doesn't help much with sales.

We should promote North American talent like Raju Johal, Jasbir, Ricky Jatt, En Karma, Sunny Khaira, Jasraj Singh etc and let them handle the stage while judges come to a conclusion about the results. Competition organizers will certainly save on massive costs and the audience will get a chance to explore the local talent. It's not a CONCERT where you have bring out Manak-E, Malkit Singh, H Dhami, Juggy D, RDB, Dr. Zeus.

One thing I really don't understand is why do competition organizers bring producers as they don't even know how to sing at all (Dr. Zeus, Aman Hayer). Completely Pointless.

 

[BDR Official Fan]

I know that the local competition that we went to this past semester was promoted more as a concert for Jay Sean then an actual competition. So of course most of the people there were to see him and after all the teams had performed he came out and gave a pretty great show. The thing was that when he left the stage the place completely emptied out and the organizer just called out the teams names who when and didn't even invite them back on stage. So I do feel that sometimes the artist takes away from what the teams have worked hard to prepare to please the judges and the audience.

 

[TheSlammer]

Excellent Point, they should just stick it to bhangra artists (pammi Bai, Cheema, Surjit Khan etc) instead of someonelike Aman Hayer. Aman Hayer is a musician, not a singer, not a performer, so if they would have brought him in for a dhol solo that would have been sick. But what he did was bunk. Waste of money, instead take that money and put it towards placing teams money. But it was a great comp regardless.

 

[Badwal]

Lets get the local mariachi band to play

 

[Varun00]

En Karma.

 

[Manjot]

give the kumkalan guy a chance

 

[asgill90]

Don't a lot of these performers sing over a cd anyways...its pointless

 

[Hand of Godard]

[quote author=MPE]

One thing I really don't understand is why do competition organizers bring producers as they don't even know how to sing at all (...Aman Hayer).

[/quote]

They need help.........GETTIN' LADIES FREAKY (freaky).

 

[Vick]

Jazzy B... Bring him and it will make a difference in ticket sales... The rest, I agree with you, they're pointless...

 

[sb123]

yeah, thats a great idea.

 

[PINDER KORDA SINGH]

The only performer that's worth the money is babu mann..if someone could get him for a comp that would be sick

 

[[Sher] Imran]

I think a lot of the artists that organizers choose are people that are famous enough to pull in non-bhangra savvy audience members. If you throw bhangra comp XYZ, sure you'll probably fill like 50-75% with direct friends/family/supporters of the competing teams, but how do you sell out the remainder of your seats? What will convince an uncle/aunty/family to go to a bhangra competition when they dont really have an interest in it? Maybe an artist like RDB/Manak-E/H Dhami - artists that most people have heard of. By selling out the auditorium with bhangra fans and people who are drawn in because of the performing artist, you're able to mitigate the costs of flying such a performer out to your location. That would be my guess

 

[imakhilyou37]

Instead of a guest performer, distribute that money among the teams competing. they're the ones bringing in the crowd, doing alot of the work, and i think it'd help the bhangra scene alottt if teams had that incentive as well as placing. Instead of having a singer or something like that, what if you had someone from the board choreograph a 10 minute routine, have each team come back on do a 1 minute segment from that choreo-d routine and exit for the next team, sort of a finale and time to have fun before the results come out as well.

 

[Meistro]

I kinda wanted to hear from comp organizers on this topic since a few of you are on this website. What is your justification in bringing a "famous" artist when nobody really cares to see them?

 

[kiren116]

jay sean would help. even though he's in london.

 

[Pooja]

The thing is, people don't really come to Bhangra competitions BECAUSE of an artist, they come to support family, friends, etc. that are dancing in the show. And although it seems like hey maybe we will fill those other seats with people because of the performer I don't think that's really true...the performer is not going to get you from break-even to making a profit...

Competitions should definitely consider inviting local talent in the bhangra scene....singers, DJs, etc. Very few artists that come to these are worth the money...they lip sync, they pretend to DJ and it ends up being pointless really...

Support our Bhangra community talent!

 

[Tuckerrrr]

jay sean would help. even though he's in london.

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