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Few music genres make me happy like bhangra does. I don’t think I would own any – it doesn’t give me that kind of pleasure – but whenever I hear it, I feel the purest of joy. It’s a guiltless guilty pleasure. I feel no compunction about enjoying music that simultaneously embraces rave anthems, chill-out beats, and Western pop music, all run through sitar and tabla. San Francisco has a chain of cheap Indian restaurants called Naan-N-Curry. There, they blast bhangra at deafening levels. Whenever I eat there, I can’t help but grin maniacally the whole time.
Thus, I was delighted to discover Bhangra Bloody Bhangra. I had visions of crazy Indian mixologists stumbling across a Black Sabbath compilation, deciding it was cool, and then throwing it into the latest club hits. Alas, this was not true. Opium Jukebox is a bunch of (probably) white guys – Martin Atkins from Pigface, plus some cohorts. They’ve also bhangra-ized the Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones; the latter seems like a natural fit, actually. Sabbath, who with Ozzy had a strong hippie streak, comes off well, too. Tempos are mostly deliberate, though “War Pigs” becomes a cute drum ‘n’ bass jam. Since this project is highly premeditated, it doesn’t have the WTF randomness of the best bhangra. The immaculately sculpted tracks overflow with sitar overtones and whooshy synths. It’s a mellow, hypnotic listen. It’s also the only metal-related record ever to make me crave veggie korma.
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I can’t believe you found this record + mentioned it here. I actually found this one for $1 at a used place and had to hear it. I was pretty disappointed.
Much of this music is not actually bhangra, but just generic sitar(lite?) music – or the worst of watered down Asian Underground sounds from the UK. The Asian Underground genre actually includes the coming together for second and third generation South Asians in the UK of a lot of disparate influences: punk, political commentary, Hindi/Urdu film and spiritual songs, new wave, jazz, hip-hop, and the various electronic music movements in Britain.
Anyway – this record didn’t do anything like that for me. I think the “white guys” assessment is spot on, and it kind of shows. But it still felt like the novelty disk I had to have.
Yes, come to think of it, this reminds me of that Sounds of the Asian Underground compilation Talvin Singh put together in the ’90s. But like you said, the novelty still gets me.
I can understand your love for the sounds of India. It’s sort of an unexplored pleasure of mine as well, and I’m always like five seconds away from asking the hostess at my local Indian restaurant what songs are playing overhead.
In related news, the sitar is best instrument ever.
I’ve never heard of bhangra but I’m a little curious. Now I find myself wondering if I’ve heard it at random Diwali festivals or Indian restaurants I’ve wormed myself into in the past… Most of the Western pop + traditional/folk hybrids I’ve heard (generally of the eastern-european variety) are nauseating but the sitar is indeed a phenomenal instrument; I have some hope for this one.