Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond

R180

The World’s First book on British Bhangra Music

As part of the Soho Road to the Punjab Exhibition currently taking place at Bristol Library, Punch are proud to present the World’s first ever published book on the music genre of Bhangra.

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The World’s First book on British Bhangra Music

As part of the Soho Road to the Punjab Exhibition currently taking place at Bristol Library, Punch are proud to present the World’s first ever published book on the music genre of Bhangra.

British Bhangra is a genre of popular music that fuses Punjabi beats, music and lyrics, UK pop, RnB, reggae, and other world sounds. Its history in Britain dates back to the immediate post – war period when migrants from Punjab, India, resettled thier lives and homes in the UK. In the post-2000s the music can now be heard across the soundscapes of multicultural cities around the globe, to mainstream fashion and advertising, and even in the songs and music of Bollywood films.

British Bhangra’s centres of music industry are increasingly located in Birmingham and London, from where its musical products are distributed and performed internationally. Yet this recent visibility is also marked by a history of cultural racism, community politics and music and cultural industry that has struggled to stake its place in British popular culture.

Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond, the first book of its kind, takes a look at the British Bhangra phenomenon. Author Dr Rajinder Dudrah, Senior lecturer in Film and MediaStudies at the University of Manchester, Ammo Talwar from Punch Records and Boy Chana, Photographer, came up with the concept of the book. Ammo explains, “The book evolved out of images, memorabilia and stories that partly developed from the ‘Soho Road to Punjab’ exhibition.”

The book is an introduction to British Bhangra music, using the city of Birmingham as a starting point to map out the journey that UK Bhangra was traveled, from its folk beginnings in the Punjab, to a fusion – based music in Post-war Britain, to now in the 2000s having crossed over into the mainstream through American Hip Hop artists and others using the Bhangra beat and sounds. The book draws on interviews with artists (both men and women), lyricists and promoters of the Bhangra scene, including analysis of some of the lyrics and album covers to give unique insight into the workings of British Bhangra music. It also contains over 90 colour images and ephemera that visually illustrate the story of the genre in Britain.