Safri Boys
Various Artists
The Indian presence in mainstream England has become increasingly visible, and Indian influence in popular music is growing as well, most notably via the ascendence of bhangra.
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Traditionally bhangra was the music of harvest festivals in Punjab, the northwest region of India before it was divided to create Pakistan in 1947. The heartbeat of the strictly percussive music was supplied by the dhol, a large two-headed, wooden-barrel drum beaten with a heavy stick in patterns that were said to reflect the movements of a reaper with a scythe. Their main crop was hemp–bhang–from which the music takes its name. Some 200 years ago the music ceased to be associated with harvest. The dholak, a smaller, tapered two-headed drum played with the fingers and capable of more intricate rhythms, replaced the cumbersome dhol, and eventually other native melodic instruments were incorporated. Still, the music was virtually unheard outside the region until the 70s, when second- and third-generation immigrants brought it to England.
The Safri Boys are currently England’s most popular bhangra act, and after listening to their new album Get Real it’s obvious why. While accepting technology and nonbhangra instruments like saxophone, their music retains rudiments of more traditional bhangra. The astonishing vocals of Balwinder Safri, all sung in Punjabi, serve as the album’s primary focus. Melodically and rhythmically complex, his singing weaves through a dense fabric of infectious polyrhythms and lush, intoxicating textures. Dholak rhythms are fleshed out by bits of reggae and house, but the combination of musical director Harjinder Boparai’s assured, ambitious writing and Safri’s soulful singing firmly grounds the album as the vanguard of mainstream bhangra.
