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Bhangra is subject to the same top-bottom pitfalls that plague any
dance music. The top has rarely posed a problem, probably due to
roots in the Bollywood pomo soundtracks best captured on the eternal
The South Indian Film Music of Vijaya Anand: Dance Raja Dance,
one of my four or five favorite CDs of the '90s. (Does anyone know if
this genius is still in effect?) It's the blah preset rhythms,
especially the dreary bhangramuffin skank, that have been the undoing
of full-lengths from Bally Sagoo and the Safri Brothers, not to
mention previous compilations like What Is Bhangra? This
definitive one corrects that problem by skimming the best of the
above artists and including lesser-known (to U.S. dancers) hits like
Malkit Singh's fat-bottomed "Boliyan." You'll be stunned at how much
get-down superproducer Kuljit Bhamra's mother, Mohinder Kaur, has on
her track. And the package goes out on Labh Janjua & Panjabi MC's
lethal Knightrider rip, which busts Busta Rhymes'.
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