Something about Bhangra Competitions

No matter how excited I get at a thought of attending a Bhangra Competition, more often than not, I leave the venue drunk, confused, with a migraine headache and feeling a bit ripped off. There are several reasons for this:

a) you drink before you arrive at the venue and you somehow find ways to drink while you are there, even if it is a 'dry event'.

b) the performances NEVER match the flier in your hand, thus leaving you confused. "Performances by so and so" but "performer so and so" had problems with their visa. I mean what the fuck?

c) you can only take the sound of the dhol so much. Especially when its played some amature who took 2 lessons at school of Dhol Foundation in the same rhythm patterns. No matter how much I love the sound of the dhol, trust me it CAN get irritating, after 2 hrs of non-stop playing with no creativity.

d) lack of originality and authenticity from performers, i.e. teams dancing to the same songs. And if they have their own singer, the same singer is utilized for the next bhangra team.

e) To summarize, if you seen 1 team perform, you seen them all.

Overall, I personally think it's a total waste of time and money attending these events. Thus my reason for leaving the venue piss-faced drunk - something's got to give. Paying a $40 cover to watch bunch of kids dancing to Dushmani and Putt Jattan De mix is not my idea of a 'Bhangra Competition'. This I could do at any wedding reception here in Toronto.

But I am NOT putting the entire blame on the performers either, to their credit, some of the coordination is amazing and they put their all in. But my problem lies with the repetitiveness of each performance, i.e. choice of songs, style, overpriced tickets and false advertisement of said performers. These blame goes to the organizers, this is because they are "picking" these teams/performers to perform and setting the price. So, during the rehearsal aren't they exposed to every performance? And hence they could make a decision to ask the performers to pick a different song and/or singers to add variety. But I think the performers only fill in a form and pay a registration fee and show up on the day of the performance.

For proper bhangra competitions I turn to Youtube for my fix. "But Samosa King, you are not supporting our culture"....well watching kids incoporate break-dance and 'stomp the yard' techniques into Bhangra is not really supporting our culture either...and I'm just tired of the overpriced tickets.

And to think the organizers have the audacity to advertise "$100 VIP Tickets", which will get you closer to the Bhangra Teams and avoid lineups. OMG!!! REalllY?!!! I can actually be even closer to these performances and have Da Dhol give me a bigger headache than from my $40 ticket price you pay at a bhangra competition to a $40 ticket at any mainstream show. Its a total ripoff.

Don't even get me started on the "dress code" to a bhangra competition. I'm paying the money, I have to dress up, to sit in a seat, in the dark without a drink in my hand? What.the.fuck? I want to be comfortable, this ain't no opera, its a overpriced talent-show.

Mohammed Saddiq

One of my favorite Punjabi folk artist has been Mohammed Saddiq. Why? Well because of his versatility, his passion for music and the "dard" he puts in his sad songs. I've drank many a pegs while listening to him. And he's the only punjabi artist to have featured with Beenie Man and not even know it. LOL

I have uploaded 2 of his videos on my youtube account. One of them is a live performance from Professor Mohan Singh's Mela in 1992. The same mela where I posted the earlier video of the unknown singer performing Mirza.

Just watch this particular performance and be wowed. A lot of singers can learn from his stage presence, the song he is singing is a sad song, but his delivery ignites the audience. With little help from musicians his voice carries this entire performance. Just goes to show you, you don't need "Da Dhol" at every punjabi performance....

So, pour a peg of whiskey and drown in your sorrows with Mr. Saddiq..




Classic "Naiyo Bhulna Vichora"