Awhile back, almost a year actually, I first wrote about the reggaeton track Mirame, featuring South Asian beats, Reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee, relative newcomer Deevani, and the production of Luny Tunes. In the time since that Post, and this one by Manish, Reggaeton has gone the way of Bhangra in mainstream hip-hop, perhaps even a bit further (how many Bhangra articles reached 7 pages in the ny times arts section?) and is headed either towards the path of continued success in the mainstream, or as Bhangra has, to remain popular for the most part only amongst its orginal ethnic fan base.
For those of us that try to follow some of the trends in desi hip-hop, it’s clear that now more than ever (it took awhile, didn’t it?) that desi remixers are coming out with tunes that reflect the current reggaeton vibe that has in the last couple of years eclipsed mainstream American hip-hop. Desi DJs such as New York’s Lil Jay (hear his Reggaeton remix of Bikram Singh’s Kawan here) and Scotland duo Tigerstyle (hear their remix of Mirala Bien featuring Labh Janjua here) along with others have been incorporating popular styles into their remixes for years, but the incorporation of reggaeton with Bhangra, or Bhangraton as the name is slowly catching on, just seems to co-exist with a certain ease that I can’t seem to hear when Redman raps over an Asha Bhosle hook. With Bhangraton there seems to be a natural synergy in both the rhythmic and vocal stylings. And so it’s not too odd to think that something more, perhaps something bigger could come of a formal connection between some Bhangra and Reggaeton producers.
Enter the Rishi Rich Project, which includes Rishi Rich, Jay Sean, Juggy D, and Mentor and Luny Tunes himself into the equation. From MTV Desi News:
“Hitmakers Luny Tunes, who produced Daddy Yankee’s ubiquitous summer anthem, “Gasolina,” are teaming up with Two Point Nine stars, Rishi Rish, Juggy D, and Jay Sean to bring about a new sensation in dance music.The two camps are producing the first official bhangra-and-reggaeton compilation album, which includes 16 tracks, with eight songs from each genre.Producer Tunes says the combination is a natural fit, “Juggy D and Jay Sean — it’s the best of reggaeton with the best of bhangra.” The compilation album will be released on Universal Records in late October.”
The first track to come of this project, ‘Push It Up’ (Aaja Kurieh) is making its rounds on the British Asian radio shows right now, and while my initial listens of the record don’t point to anything spectacular as of yet, the potential for this album to push both genres forward, either individually or together as Bhangraton, definitely exists.
Awesome post Sajit – can’t wait to hear this.
Every generation argues that contemporary songs do not compare to the songs that the generation grew up listening to.
Similarly, today’s Bhangra doesn’t quite have the same effect on me as the old school Bhangra songs of my childhood. DJ Harry’s CD just doesn’t measure up to my AS Kang audio-cassette tape “Jawani”.
There’s only so much “rail gaddi” and “hey jamalo” you can dance to .. give the new guys a chance =)
BTW, reggaeton is losing sream here in L.A. The two reggaeton stations are not playing solely reggateton anymore. Cited reason for the slowdown is the rotation of the same five tracks.
The video for Push it Up is filmed in Puerto Rico. The track isn’t mindblowing, but I saw Rishi Rich, Jay Sean and Juggy D perform some of their exclusive new material on MTV Base (that’s the urban channel for the UK) and trust me, it was OUT OF THIS WORLD
rishi rich doin some big things..but reggaeton eh, not a big fan. i do like that track with Juggy D and Jin-kohl aaja
This is too damn funny. All these reggaeton tracks sound exactly the same! Same beats over and over, ad nauseam. It’s lost that underground appeal. It’s kinda funny that the UK bhangra/hiphop producers are just riding the reggaeton wave now b/c it’s pretty much saturated the US market. Next year these tracks are going to sound pretty corny.
Funny, a lot of non-Indians think Indian music sounds the same. Same rhythms, same high-pitched chick screeching, same instrumentation, optional male gang vocal shouting “haripa!” and “a-ha!” or “brrrrrrrrrrah!” 😉
Personally, I’m excited to hear the new Rishi Rich. Just when I was going to give up on him/them, the fact that they’re working with Luny Tunes completely restores my faith in the balance of the universe. I recently acquired a mash-up of Daddy Yankee “Dale Caliente” and “Tauba Tauba” from Kaal– it’s mirchi, people.
UK Bhangra and reggaton go well together. Tigerstyle have done some good remixes. I think Rishi and Jay Sean and Juggy D are going to come back big with their next albums. This bhangratton album is just a side thing. Rishi is producing Juggy D and Jay’s new albums and they will both be heavy. In the meantime the Mentor Kollektiv also out of the Rishi Rich camp have some serious talent. Keep watching, bhangra things are taking off after a lull. By the way, Bikram Singh from New York’s album is brilliant – get a copy of American Jugni!
http://blog.batanga.com/blogs/beat_de_la_calle/archive/2006/04/17/171.aspx
(excerpts)
But reggaeton’s sudden international success is also the source of its current troubles. The rap on reggaeton has always been that it’s too repetitive. Without a deep catalog of hits to fall back on, new reggaeton radio stations found themselves stuck with a relatively small set of records to program. To critics and skeptical newcomers, it all started sounding like one long song being played 24/7.
In addition to becoming monotonous through overexposure, it also started losing the street credibility that had been nurtured for years by its leading exponents.
In the feeding frenzy after Daddy Yankee’s breakthrough, Latin labels rushed to release reggaeton records by whatever artists they could find, often second- and third-string players. Pop artists, such as Colombian superstar Shakira and Los Angeles-based banda singer Yolanda Perez, included reggaeton tracks on their records, akin to Madonna doing gangsta rap. Even J-Lo got into the act with plans to produce a reggaeton movie through her film company, Nuyorican Productions.
You mean non-Indians think all bhangra sounds the same, right? I would argue the opposite. A case in point: Daler Mehdni’s “Ta Ra Ra Ra” is obviously different from his follow-up hit “Sha Ra Ra Ra.” I mean, aside from the same haripa’s and tumbi sounds and all, one song starts with a “T” and the other with a “Sh.” So you see, the non-Indians have got it all wrong. 😉
But I’d agree, I find a lot of bhangra the same. I sometimes ask Punjabi foks if they actually listen to the lyrics in bhangra songs, and I get funny looks… of course they don’t listen to the words, because all the songs are about the same stuff!
Bhangra is not just Daler Mehndi, who is like the MC Hammer of bhangra. UK bhangra is about the rhythm and innovation of sound. The culture and beat. Music to be played loud in the car and in the club.
Actually, I like to think of MC Hammer as the Daler Mehndi of rap, though Daler doesn’t have the shiny baggy pants. But I digress. 🙂
No argument with what you are saying about UK bhangra in all it various forms. Bhangra is a huge genre of music and it can’t be pinned down to just one sound. But there are common elements you hear frequently, especially the instrumentation and the catchphrases and all.
Personally I prefer the other types of Punjabi folk music related to bhangra, like the gidda performed by women, and the Sufi flavored ghazals/geets and such.
Bhangra in its purest form, whether hardcore from India, or eclectic UK bhangra, is basically hedonistic booty shaking music. It’s meant to be felt more than thought. But as you say, Punjabi music is really varied, and there are lots of soulful and poetic folk forms as well, which sometimes influence bhangra, and are more for listening to than dancing to.
As a Punjabi music nerd, I often feel severely aggravated with other self-proclaimed lovers of Punjabi music for the same reason. Be it at a club, or at a bhangra competition, I hear songs played and see songs danced to that have hot beats, but are, in essence, really sad songs. A popular east coast bhangra team recently performed and had Gurdas Mann’s ‘Challa’ as a part of their mix, and not just that, they also had “Sachiyaan Sunaaiyaan” by Lehmber in their mix. Now, they’re bopping along to it, smiling widely and what not… for those who don’t speak Punjabi or don’t really listen to Punjabi music at all, fyi- these two songs are really sad. It’s the equivalent of getting your swerve on to “Leaving On a Jet Plane” or something. Jeez.
Hmm, you’re talking to the wrong punjabi folks buddy. One of my nerdy hobbies is translating punjabi songs for people – I love it because something that is just a beat to most people becomes so much more when you understand the words. Granted, many songs are about getting drunk and pretty women – but a lot of them have so much more. Some singers just describe that pretty woman in a way that no other punjabi singer does =)
Fuerza and Sonia, thanks for setting me straight — no disrespect intended to bhangra lyrics at all. Punjabis I’ve talked to don’t really pay attention to song lyrics, so Punjabi lyrics nerds, stand up. 🙂
I can understand about 5% of bhangra lyrics — “sohniye”, “kudiye”, “mundiyan”, “chak de” etc. The remaining 95% is a mystery, and I know the songs deal with a lot more than dancing, drinking, and having a good time. Even my wife (born and raised in Chandigarh, pretty adept at both Punjabi and Haryanvi) gets stuck translating bhangra lyrics. Anyone interested in translating “Captain Bhangra Da” or “Challa Lagda”?
I am sorry Gabroo, I like UK Bhangra and all, but I haven’t heard too many releases from UK producers or Bhangra artists in the past couple of years that I would say is innovative. Yes, there are a couple, but some of the music coming out of the UK sounds very repetitive and formulaic. The quality is so mediocre that it makes it seem that some of these “artists” are getting paid to just churn out crap. I can think of very few Bhangra records released in the past couple of years that I would say are remotely “innovative.”
Sajit
From Tigerstyle to Specialist & Tru Skool to Northern Lights and Mentor Kollektiv to Juttla to Swami to Mukhtar Sahota, the last twelve months has not been vintage, but still pretty good. Of course, there is a whole load of commercialised crap that comes out by cheap producers looking to make a quick buck, but the level of talent coming through, bubbling under, on radio shows, on the live scene, is big. Industry goes through lulls and patches.
I can’t wait to hear the Hindi or Punjabi translations of perreo 🙂
Spooky. I was just beginning to wonder if bhangra and reggateton might produce a sonorous hybrid…and here you and Karim are, both answering my question on the same day.
There is SO much good Punjabi music being released in the UK every year. At least 5-6 albums each year are simply amazing and another 3-4 have a great song or two. The problem is that very little of this music reaches the US (I’m not sure about Canada). Even Basement Bhangra (the famous party in NYC every month) is hopelessly out of date in terms of the music that is played. I order all my music online direct from the UK, and also somehow end up in Southall at least once every year, so I keep my collection updated. I remember up until about 10-12 years ago, all the UK releases were available in Edison, NJ and Jackson Heights, NY. But it became uneconomical for the shopkeepers…the cd costs so much for the shopkeeper just to import, and by the time they put a small mark-up on it to make some profit, no one is willing to buy it. Not to mention that the listening audience for that music is relatively small out here. The Sikh community in the UK is the ONLY example in the whole world I can think of where an immigrant group took its ancestral music, adapted and modified it to new circumstances, and kept it going strong for the new generation. As for people not understanding the lyrics, that is part of the sad gradual demise of the Punjabi language. And not all of the lyrics concern alcohol, caste, and women. A lot of it pertains to classic epics like Heer-Ranjha, Mirza-Sahiban, etc. A lot of it preserves many Punjabi idioms, expressions, phrases, etc. that are rapidly dying out. And instruments like tumbi, algozey, dhad, sarangi, etc. are often featured prominently, unlike Punjabi music from India/Pakistan which is often synthesizer-driven crap. Daler Mehndi is NOT the final word on bhangra or Punjabi music. I think sometimes these labels (bhangra, Punjabi pop. etc) really detract from the music itself and prevent people from taking it seriously. Anyway, I’m a HUGE fan of UK Punjabi music and I could keep talking about it for hours but it’s time to go to sleep.
Fuerza Dulce:
I agree Sachiyan Sunaiyan is a hard-edged song, but I wouldn’t exactly describe it as sad. The lyrics are somewhat bitter, but the music is very danceable. Now on the new cd from Ominous DJs, they have the classic “Jatt Heth Jandorey, Ve”, about how Sahiban betrayed Mirza, and they’ve done the song in a VERY danceable way which is a pleasure to listen to but has no valid connection to the lyrics. It’s a very dark song, not really meant for dancing.
I’m sorry, that should be “Jatt Heth Jandorey DE”. I’m sleepy.
Amitabh: The beat for Sachiyaan Sunaaiyaan is totally danceable, but you said yourself that the lyrics are bitter. I just remember being at Basement Bhangra a few years back and the DJ was spinning Ranjha by Bally Jagpal- everyone was going nuts, and I thought I was taking crazy pills. To each his own – it’s just a pet peeve of mine.
I don’t know, this really isn’t all that amazing to me. Reggaeton is a kind of Caribbean music, bhangra is a kind of Indian music, and they are being fused together. Its sort of like a cousin of chutney, but with a US/UK hip hop sensibility.
UK Bhangra has some west indian influences when it first came out too. in a way reggeaton plays a similiar part in the US that bhangra played in the UK, vis a vis Latino versus Brit Asian’s
Here is a link to the video
The best new reggaeton song I’ve heard is Tito’s “Flow Natural” feat. Beenie Man & Ines … (thanks to The Incredible Kid for turning me on to it) reggaeton beats w/ a real dancehall deejay & hindi vocals. Ines is a bit off key but she’s more tolerable than Deevani …
Amitabh,
which online sites do you use?
This website keeps you up to date with the news, gossip and new releases on the UK Bhangra scene. Keep listening to the BBC Asian Network too, they play bhangra and desi beats every day.
If you speak to UK bhangra artists they will tell you that at the moment things are pretty bad because downloading is really sapping income and making it harder to make music pay. Plus there are a couple of really fucked up labels that exploit the market and screw the artists. But the amount of talent coming through can’t be stopped. So many Punjabi kids in the UK are coming through with demos and ideas, that I predict in the next 18 months there is going to be an explosion of fresh talent. New labels are starting up, and acts like Panjabi MC, Kray Twinz, Rishi Rich etc are heavily investing in talent. They are putting their money on the line to build up the scene. The number of radio stations, night clubs, the internet and satellite TV stations, as well as bigger markets – not so much India, but Canada, USA, basically wherever desis overseas who can relate to UK music and styles – I just see nothing but a bright future for the UK bhangra industry. The best thing is how cool it is to be Punjabi and play the dhol. If you want to be cool, you play bhangra and learn how to play dhol. It’s just cool to play tumbi or dhol, as cool as being into Hip Hop. It’s streetwise to be into bhangra. That has done more than anything else to keep kids in touch with Punjabi language and vibe than anything else. Plus, the place where I give dancing lessons is a community centre, about a third of the kids learning to play dhol are teenage Punjabi girls. It is great to see British desi kids running to learn how to sing, dance, DJ, produce, and play Punjabi instruments. The classes are oversubscribed.
Like I said, the industry is full of amateurs and exploiters. But it is exciting, what is happening on the streets.
Anjali:
Isn’t Deevani on Tito’s Flow Natural as well?
Bhangra and Reggaeton? nice.
Luny Tunes and Rishi Rich, Juggy D, Jay Sean? even better.
Luny Tunes is absolute genious- I’m still in love with Mas Flow Dos (amazing). Rishi Rich is pretty awesome too. Can’t wait till October!
BHANGRATON
THE HOTTEST MUSIC SENSATION IS A COMBINATION OF BHANGRA WHICH COMES OUT OF THE STATE OF PUNJAB AND REGGAETON WHO’S ROOTS LIE IN THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO. THESE UNIQUE SOUNDS AND COLABORATIONS OF CULTURES WERE PUT TOGETHER BY A PUERTO RICAN AND A PUNJABI. THE FULL ALBUM WILL DROP ON AUG 1 AND THE TITLE IS BHANGRATON (BARRASH) VOL 1.
Sneak peak http://www.solo-catoentertainment.com/Bhangraton%20(Barrash)Vol1.html
i guess people have already played some bhangra to reggeaton crowds and people went nuts, at least around here thats the word
DJ lemo ~ the first song on that page is HOT!
DJ Lemo
Thos tracks are WICKED!
Play it LOUD!!!
Got to bring these artists and DJs to England.
This stuff is going to BLOW UP the UK!!
Mutineers: Please refrain from posting commercial comments or press release material in the comments section.
Lemo, I think what you guys are doing is interesting but the tracks are not so innovative: it sounds like the same-old Bhangra beats with spanish singing vice Punjabi. Freakytona is not bad, but because the borrowed PMC beat is conducive to the spanish rapping, more so anyway than the other two tracks. Also, isn’t the beat in track two borrowed from PMC as well–the beginning sounds like a slowed down version of the beat from Jatt Ho Giya Sharabee?
Yeah but Sajit play it LOUD in a CLUB and FEEL it!
Sajit,
IK
Although it’s interesting that there is an attempt to fuse bhangra and reggaeton music, in a sense this may not be as new as it seems. In the Caribbean and UK, there has been bhangra/dance hall fusion for years now, which I think is a wack combo because the beats are deep and they just want to make you dance. Maybe with bhangra/reggaeton, there is a bit more latin feel added to the mix, but honestly to get down the fierce dancehall and bhangra rhythms is something I’d prefer.
I really have nothing to say except for that people need to stop making videos that have people shaking their asses. I mean, you can watch and do all that shit at home, but dont show it to the people. I mean why do you want to spoil the meaning of being Desi. Indian people are known not to do that shit. I still love Jay Sean!!!!!
JAY SEAN IS SO BUFF AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE STUPID COMMENTS ARE JUS THICK IN DA HEAD!
uh oh, siddartha m, did you see comment #44?? It’s all over for you and Desidancer, apparently Indian people “are not known to do that shit”
Good post, but people have forgotton one of the most influential producers from America “SOUNDTHEORY” came up with the term bhangraton thats currently being played on the BBC radios way before anyone else did…Im glad this movement is going to be coming out with heavy hitters like Rishi Rich…You can listen to Soundtheory’s stuff @ myspace.com/soundtheory1
baljinder
i love this song it is so wicked i think jay sean is so cute and so r the other 2 i think there punjabi dance was so wicked i realy enjoyed that song and i wish i was in india or where ever the singers r now
loveeeeee that lemo song i just loveee it i think it rulz
Hi ya’ll
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