Comments on: BOB is now in Chicago

By: Blue

Blue — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:08:06 +0000

All right... this may be a few days early but patience is not my virtue. ^__^

I'm aiming my hotness towards this party and bringing friends. I have a few questions.

Is anyone else going? I would love to meet anyone from Team SM who's there, although I know that in a crowd of 4,000 it may be difficult.
If we get the cheap seats in the balcony, will the dancers look like little dots? Knowing that this is the first year BOB's been in Chicago, does anyone know the venue (Arie Crown Theatre) and know whether it would be better to sit in the back of the main level or the front of the balcony?
Is the after-party worth attending? ^__^

Thanks!

By: gm

gm — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:39:31 +0000

Bhangra is an elegant, energizing dance form that Desi elders and youngsters can both agree on. Finally! Bhangra is so great even all other cultures can appreciate it. It transcends race, age etc. I personally don’t care too much for bollywood dances, but Bhangra (and my personal favorite Bharat Natyam) rules!

By: mr. cicatrix

mr. cicatrix — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:00:42 +0000

I’m really glad you guys dig Gibb’s work; it’s a shame how many of the younger kids– even some dancers on teams that i’ve taught dhol to– are pretty much uninterested in all this.

You should see his thesis! Really only about dhol and rhythms but whoa.

By: Amitabh

Amitabh — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:43:49 +0000

Probably the best place to see real, authentic, original bhangra would have been at Vaisakhi celebrations in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in which Muslims also used to participate. Prakash Tandon described bhangra of the 1920's in West Punjab (now in Pakistan) as consisting of a dhol player, surrounded by a circle of dancers; the only other instrument would be the algoza (double flute), and there would be a singer singing couplets.

By: Amitabh

Amitabh — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:27:44 +0000

Mr. Cicatrix, that site (in comment #35) is AMAZING! Especially the information about the jhummar and sammi dances, as well as the way things changed after Partition, and the ways in which bhangra got modified and came to dominate the scene. WOW. This is probably my favorite comments thread here on SM in a long time. The articles make a good point…so much of what seems to be ‘authentic’, ‘timeless’, ‘age-old’ culture might be recent inventions (or reinterpretations of actual older culture). The fact is, in India, culture is no longer organic, it is very analysed, packaged, and marketed. Once you become ‘aware’ on an intellectual level of ‘your culture’ and ‘your heritage’, something changes, and it is no longer practiced in the same pure way. I wonder if garba-raas (and other aspects of what is now called ‘Gujurati culture’),as well as other Indian cultures today are also significantly different than what they were only a hundred years ago.

By: tanip

tanip — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:41:43 +0000

Hey Mr. Cicatrix, what incredibly shady promotional team are you speaking of?

Also, BOB moved cities to take the show to a new audience and to take the teams to a new city. Helps brand the name and make it more of a national competition.

For those that haven’t been to the show, the last 2 years a Raas has taken the overall prize. This was really surprising considering how popular Bhangra and Bollywood are. Helps open peoples eyes to the various forms of Indian dance.

To check out “highlights” from last years show go to http://www.bobchicago.com/promo.mp4

By: Red Snapper

Red Snapper — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:24:17 +0000

Holy freak mr cicatrix I have friends who will go crazy when they see that site of your mate! Getting forwarded to them as I type. Thanks on their behalf.

By: mr. cicatrix

mr. cicatrix — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:00:34 +0000

BOB is actually a good competition. my guess is that it moved cities because of the phenomenally shady promotional team that was pushing it here.

I was just having a similar discussion w/a friend the other day about how competitions have actually gotten better… more live music, more of a concept of the breadth and depth of punjabi dances, less school-mascots-on-tricycles-in-a-turban (i’m not making this up. i’ll post a youtube link if I can find it).

FWIW presenting “bhangra-dance” as a cultural export of the Punjabi is an entirely post-1947, fabricated thing. It’s only within the last 5 years or so that enough groundwork was laid for people to get a sense of how big, diverse, and geographically-linked Punjabi folk dances (and music) really are. I point you in this direction to my studying-bhangra-on-a-Fulbright friend:

http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~hcritz/dholpages/dholhome.html

note that this is ONLY for the extreme bhangra nerd.

By: Amitabh

Amitabh — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:52:33 +0000

closed for cleaning (#23):

THANK YOU!!! That was an amazing clip. Can't believe I never saw it before. Live singer and live musicians, as well as great dancing. Incredible! Now I'm wondering how I managed to miss that show...oh yeah, it's because tickets were sold out way in advance. If that's the quality of the performances, I think everyone in the Chicago area who can should definitely check it out.

By: Asha's Dad

Asha's Dad — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:52:31 +0000

Now what they really need is one giant blow out dance competition with styles from all across the globe. They could even make a movie about it where a dance teacher from the East comes to an impoverished inner city school and unites a bunch of malcontented youths to come together in order to win a dance competition so they can save the recreation center from being torn down by a greedy land developer.

Breakin 3: Electric Boogaloo strikes back Oh Damn You Got Served Again

I wish they would bring some of this stuff down South. All I've got is my wife's Bharata Natyam tapes. Abhi use your influence to bring BOB to Texas. We've got a Scottish Rite Temple in downtown Dallas.