Friday, October 19, 2007

Bollybutton's Beatbox


It's Friday all you sexy people and today's post is dedicated to The Music, in the hope that one of my readers is an Athenian DJ and will have his/her ears out for some new music. So today you are going to get a very essential education that will help you through life. No, really, it will.

Back in my university days, the days of my Yoof, there were three things certain in life.


1) Death

2) Taxes

3) If there was a bhangra gig in the city, Bollybutton would beg, steal and borrow to be there

So what's with bhangra? Bhangra for those of you don't know about it is music originating from the Punjab region of here and here. Punjabis, incase you didn't know, are the coolest and most fun people of all the ethnic spectrum in both these countries, and I don't say that because I have Punjabi blood; that's simply a delightful coincidence.

Bhangra music is full of beats from a drum called the dhol, which is a big drum played on both sides with two different sticks and type of guitar with one string called a tumbi. Punjabis like to sing and dance a lot and their music has evolved across the generations, resulting in today's excellent fusion bhangra. Since my university gig days are long gone, I rely on online radio and recommendations from friends to keep up with the new releases. Here is one of the current best.

It's Friday! Turn up the volume! (And, um, any DJs reading, get in touch via comments so I can direct you to more good music and spice up Athenian club nights. No respectable club night is complete without bhangra)

5 comments:

AL said...

whoa... very catchy. I don't think this genre would be hard to accept here in greece at all.

bollybutton said...

thanks for appreciating. I'm going to force Athens to be more multicultural whether they want it or not. They'll thank me later when they're super cool

AL said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8hDdMmiYv8

how about an african club... :)

AL said...

Haha.. ops. That was a silly video, I didnt watch all of it before i sent you the link. LOL. I liked the music in the beginning though. Delete post. Not cool, me.

Marilyn said...

I'm feeling Swami's music. Definitely danceable. I just replaced one of my favorite M.I.A. songs with "Hey Hey" as the background song on my Myspace page. I couldn't help it - it's so catchy! Do you know who the girl is on the song, by any chance?

P.S. Definitely contact me! My e-mail is mflores@email.smith.edu (you can publish this comment - my profile provides a direct link to my e-mail anyway.)

Still enjoying the blog!
~Marilyn