20 min
Reverberate, episode 5: Birmingham's bhangra revolution Reverberate
-
- Music
Racism, riots and political upheaval seemed to be spreading like wildfire in Britain in the 1980s. In that increasingly hostile environment, the ‘daytimers’ – mostly south Asian teenagers who skipped school to attend daytime raves – began to mix their Punjabi roots with western influences, creating a new type of music: bhangra. And one song about a Birmingham street crystallised it all. This musical revolution is told to us by the people who lived it, who bought the cassettes and bunked off classes to attend the parties: academic Rajinder Dudrah, DJ Boy Chana and others whose story is of a collective musical voice that spoke back against hatred
Racism, riots and political upheaval seemed to be spreading like wildfire in Britain in the 1980s. In that increasingly hostile environment, the ‘daytimers’ – mostly south Asian teenagers who skipped school to attend daytime raves – began to mix their Punjabi roots with western influences, creating a new type of music: bhangra. And one song about a Birmingham street crystallised it all. This musical revolution is told to us by the people who lived it, who bought the cassettes and bunked off classes to attend the parties: academic Rajinder Dudrah, DJ Boy Chana and others whose story is of a collective musical voice that spoke back against hatred
20 min