New York gets down to British Bhangra beat

15 Mar 2011

New Yorkers are to be treated to the sounds and sights of British Bhangra music in an exhibition co-curated by a Senior Lecturer in Drama from The University of Manchester.

Dr Rajinder Dudrah, who is Director of the Centre for Screen Studies, will bring the world’s first visual arts exhibition inspired by Bhangra music and culture to New York next month.

Soho Road: from the Five Rivers to the Five Boroughs is brought to the city , where DJs have popularised Bhangra, by Birmingham’s Punch Records.

It follows a successful five year tour in the UK, and comprises a gallery of behind-the-scenes photography, album sleeves, promotional art and rare print from the Asian media.

After New York City, the team have plans to take the show across America from east to west coast.

The show illustrates the worldwide success of Bhangra and showcases Bhangra’s stars in the UK and USA.

A launch event on Friday 18 March at the 92YTribeca Arts Centre in Manhattan will comprise  a discussion with Dr Dudrah, Shin from DCS; co-presenter and key partner DJ Rekha; UK DJ and journalist Boy Chana; and New York based educator Nina Chanpreet Singh.

It will end with a live performance from Bhangra superstar DCS' Shin.

The US launch of Dr Dudrah's book 'Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond' will also take place.

Dr Dudrah said: “This is a unique and timely multi-media exhibition on a genre of music that hasn't been documented before in New York, or in the States for that matter, in quite the same way.

“It's the first exhibition of Bhangra music and culture in the US.

“I'm excited that a very British musical practice and experience has been taken up by our diaspora brethren in New York, and have further made it their own through a dialogue with US Rap and Hip Hop, amongst other genres.

“Birmingham and New York have now become the hubs of a new world music market as far as Bhangra is concerned.

“The exhibition, the roundtable discussion and book launch is part of a wider knowledge transfer and exchange to try and better understand how popular cultural forms travel and how particular audiences use and make meaning from them in a given time and place.