Dudrah Critical Review

Dudrah's article deals with British Bhangra and hopes to extend the way the genre has been looked at by previous authors in order to show that this musical style is much more complex, political, and meaningful than has earlier been suggested. In summarizing the arguments of other authors, he notes that they often think of British South Asians as a very static, monolithic group. Dudrah makes a good point in contrasting Punjabi tradition weddings and South Asian gay, lesbian, and bisexual clubs in England. Instead, Dudrah believes that British Bhangra is about identity formation for a group in diaspora in a then more racist society. The music fuses with other minority groups by bringing in influences from the black sound systems, reggae, and soul, while also including some Western styles of music.

Question: We've now looked at Bhangra music in the British and American context. Do we see any differences in how the music that is mixed affects the identity of the groups? Is there a difference negotiating being a British South Asian and an American South Asian? Can we find evidence in the different styles and scenes of Bhangra?