Breathing Bhangra
Article in Tribune India
Folk dances and songs of Punjab are an expression of the people’s hopes and struggles for a fuller life. They constitute a bond of union between the Punjabis and their folk culture, whether they live here or far away in the alien lands. The father and son duo of Surinder Singh and Teginder Singh is no exception to this belief. They breathe, perform and teach ‘Bhangra’ across the borders, in America. Both of them are in India to accomplish their mission of ‘ documenting the origin, evolution and subsequent changes incurred to the pure form of Bhangra, the folk dance of Punjabi farmers, especially after the 1947 partition.
The California-based sports medicine specialist, Teginder Singh Dhanoa learnt the rudiments of Bhangra dance from his father Surinder Singh, a post-graduate from Punjab University and acclaimed Bhangra dancer of the seventies. Surinder Dhanoa opined that a formative or definitive concept of Bhangra had lost its originality, vigour and vitality –had rather become a physically exhausting exercise with its very soul missing. ‘ You will find its variegated forms and techniques each different from the other as performed in rural Punjab, metros, films, in England or America likewise,’ which always fails to invoke the soulful feelings, observed young Teginder Dhanoa, who participated in Bhangra competition at all venues.
‘Though folk musical or dance forms are subject to undergo changes due to external stresses like western influences and blending of modernity from modern cinema but in any case the folklore has to be an integral part of any musical culture and one must know its original form’ reiterates Dhanoa while substantiating his project of documenting ‘Bhangra’ in a film under the aegis of Punjabi Lok Virsa.
The Dhanoa’s are doing a yeoman service in promoting the rich
legacy to the culturally starved Punjabi’s living abroad. Over eighty Bhangra and Gidha dancers including Americans trained by Surrender Dhanoa are regular performers at festivals or private events, mainly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and New York universities.
The inquisitive promoters and proponents of Bhangra, Surinder Singh and Teginder had documented the interviews with those folk artists, Bazigars, folklore scholars and performing dholi’s in India and many in Sialkot, Pakistan. The 90-minute documentary film will cover the voyage of the most popular dance of the universe, the Punjabi Bhangra, with its very humble origin from the fields of Punjab to its majestic performances in the pubs the world over. The documentary film had been scheduled for screening on BBC and other channels in India and abroad.
