Late last year one of Hip Hop's iconic figures released an album called 'Hip Hop is Dead'. For the Hip Hop scene, the statement was a wake up call. For an artist responsible for one of the classic Hip Hop albums of all time to make such a statement, showed there must be something wrong. Irrelevant of whether it was just a publicity stunt or a grave concern of Nas', it definitely got people debating about the current Hip Hop industry. Now I am asking you (like many people have been saying of late) - Is Bhangra dead?
To make sense of this statement; perhaps we should actually look to what bhangra is. Wikipedia (granted, not the most reliable source; click here for full definition) defines it as:
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"... a lively form of music and dance that originated in the Punjab region in South Asia . As many Bhangra lyrics reflect the long and often tumultuous history of the Punjab , knowledge of Punjabi history offers important insights into the meaning of the music. While Bhangra began as a part of harvest festival celebrations, it eventually became a part of such diverse occasions as weddings and New Year celebrations. Moreover, during the last thirty years, Bhangra has enjoyed a surge in popularity worldwide, both in traditional form and as a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae."
First let me take you back a few years when I wrote an article asking whether bhangra was about to hit the mainstream. The future looked rosy. The bhangra scene was producing hit song after hit song. We would have long debates at Desitunes4u, as to who had come up with the 'Album of the year', and the mainstream seemed to love anything which resembled a bhangra beat. So how have we gone from that to a state where we are struggling to find ten albums to make it into our Top 10 of the year?
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To start with, the bhangra scene somewhere took a turn where the most important person involved in the recording was the producer. If you compare this to the mainstream hip hop scene, you soon realise this was never going to be a recipe for success. Artist like Pharrell and Timbaland have had to take to the mic in order to become established artists in their own right. In essence, it turns the album into a compilation album. Don't get me wrong - the presence of a top producer is vital to a hit song. However, is it fair that the producer takes the vast majority of the credit? It also has the effect of making many a song sound similar.
The reliance of the same singers also seemed to be a major problem. Whenever a singer had a hit song, it seemed to lead to a saturation of tracks by that artist. Every single producer was gagging for Lehmber, on the presumption that everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. At one stage, people were joking about renaming the bhangra scene to the Lehmber scene. There was only so long that this could have gone on, and it all got a bit boring in the end. Some may argue that the loss of a host of top vocalists has also not helped matters. In recent times we have seen the death of Bindrakhia, Kulwinder Dhillon and Soni Pabla. A healthy industry would be able to absorb such tragedies, but it cannot have helped in the current fragility of the scene. However, in fairness, I still believe there is enough singing talent out there, so we don't have to be exposed to the same small handful of singers polluting our airways.
The other major problem is the lyrical content of many of the songs. The lyricists seem to also be in the habit of recycling. A prime way of illustrating the point is the lack of different titles. Even I've become fatigued at the number of songs entiltled ‘Putt Sardaran De.' As Wikipedia stated, bhangra songs reflect the history of the Punjab . With so many incidents in the area, you'd think we'd have more than just songs about ‘Udham Singh' to still listen to. Some producers, are not even paying attention to the lyrics, and just hoping their 'expert' input will lead to a hit. In reality, it is only when a combination of the two occurs, that we have a classic song on our hands.
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A point that Swami recently brought up in a Desitunes4U interview is also relevant. There seems to be too many mickey-mouse producers who just aren't good enough. Many of the albums that we are exposed to are produced by guys who are not fully dedicated to the music industry. If you provide enough funds; a music label will release your album regardless of its quality. This fact cannot be considered healthy. Too many people are seeing music as a hobby, and bringing out albums in the false hope that they are going to come up with a hit album. A small word of advice, take a leaf out of my book - stick to DJ'ing. If you truly believe you are destined for a music |
career, you will have to give it your all, and it will take over your life. If you are not willing to make that sacrifice, and take that chance, maybe you should stick to the decks (or laptops if you are really cheating!)... |
The rise of the ghost producer has made things easier for the wannabe producer as well. Even if you don't have the talent to produce an album, for a fee, you could have one hit song, which could help propel your name into the BBC Network Chart (or whatever chart is considered the most prestigious nowadays) Foolish, you may think, but with the right image and PR, it could lead to a mildly successful career - I've seen it happen without mentioning any names.
The lack of genuine new talent is also of concern. When was the last time a newcomer came up with an album that almost blew us away? Granted, this doesn't happen often in any industry, but the fact that the Word Is Born album was the last time an (debut) album excited me, must say something about the state of things. Even the guys responsible behind that album had actually been around the scene for quite some time, so I guess that album doesn't count either.
So, is this a worldwide phenomenon? Is bhangra dead even in the homeland? The answer categorically is no. On a recent trip to India , I realised bhangra was far from extinct. However, what surprised me most was the biggest album out there at the moment, is Sukshinder Shinda's Living The Dream. I must admit to sleeping on this title, as I have not really been listening to any bhangra this year. Excited by the quality of the album, I decided, on my return, to start listening to a few of the Asian stations once more. Tuning into Club Asia on my daily commute, I was expecting to hear the odd quality bhangra tune; but instead all I got was Bollywood tune after Bollywood tune. I decided to check their chart to see if any of Mr Shinda's tunes were in it. To my surprise there were none. The chart was dominated by Bollywood songs. So, has the rise of Bollywood taken the place of Bhangra? Or is it a case of our top artists now concentrating their efforts to a bigger market in India rather than 'wasting' money on marketing here? Has bhangra fallen out of favour with the people who matter in media?
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It's no different on TV either. Zee and B4U Music seem to have decided that Bhangra is not for them either with the amount of Bhangra played on either channel significantly reduced in the last year or so. Quite often videos are being rejected by the channels for being ‘too desi.' What's left on TV? Mutz Cutz on Zee TV, the show were Mr Mutz's team comprises of him and the camera man who enjoy a nice chit chat and play the occasionally Bhangra video. Then you've got Daminder on ‘Jus Bhangra' which you would think played ‘Jus Bhangra' as the title would suggest. Well you would be wrong as now he plays pretty much a mix of anything and everything Asian. Plus he's looking for a new name for the show; I'm guessing they will probably to delete the word ‘Bhangra' from the title! The word ‘Bhangra' has almost become a swear word on the desi music channels.
I started by commenting on the time when bhangra was about to take the mainstream by storm? Did the mainstream suddenly fall out of love with bhangra? Definately not. Even if we look at this year, artists like Kelly Rowland (watch out for The Freemasons mix of her next tune in 2008), Nelly Furtado and Timbaland are persisting with the influence of Bhangra / Asian beats in production of their songs. The only difference is, they seemed to have realised they don't need to collaborate with Asian artists to achieve the best results. Whether this is a good thing or not is a whole different discussion. However, it has left the scores of Asian producers who were trying to crack the mainstream without much of a role at the moment.
If we look at the actual progression of the scene, there seems to be a pattern. A production outfit stumbles across a hit record or two. They come up with a few songs following the same formula. The audience becomes bored with them all sounding the same, and looks for other music styles. Who am I talking about? Take your pick: RDB, Aman Hayer, VIP Records, Rishi Rich. Artists, in the main, don't seem able to evolve their music sounds. It's almost just like a phase, while they are on top; and all they try to do is milk it for all it is worth. A period of domination is followed by total dormancy, and hoping someone else picks up the baton.
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I think the record companies have to take large proportion of the blame. True, the industry is a business, and if they are not making money, why should the company spend time and money on promoting an album. However, my qualm is the way they have responded to the rise of the download. Instead of embracing technology, which the mainstream labels have realised is the only way to go; we see the likes of Moviebox continuing to try and stop their albums working with iTunes, or just not working on PC's at all. Every single one of these measures is going to be unsuccessful. There is no way of stopping the albums being illegally downloaded at the moment.
So, it all comes down to us, the consumers, to support the scene. In a way, the scene was perfect for the digital age. As the paying public, we always bemoaned the fact that we had to pay the full price of the album, when we only really wanted one song on the |
album. After all, that was the premise behind us breaking down an album track by track here at Desitunes4u. With the rise of legal downloads, we should be able to just pay for that one track we desire. There are digital stores around offering the service, but we don't really see them publicised by the record companies as much as they should be. Instead, the companies continue to try and charge rip off prices for average albums. A few albums recently have come out at a reduced rate and all credit to the companies for trying to do something about it. After all, I was picking up CD's for just over a pound each in India. Surely, we shouldn't be paying ten times as much for the same product? |
Overall, I'm not sure which way bhangra is going to go, or what is the best way to go about changing the current state of things. This article probably raises more questions than answers them; but I think we should all agree - there needs to be an effort by all parties to try and save the situation. What are your views?
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