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The Word
Start with the word itself, because that is where the confusion starts.
Spelling and sound
In Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script, the word is ਭੰਗੜਾ. In English it is usually spelled bhangra. Spelling a sound from one writing system in another is always a compromise, and this compromise has led a lot of people astray.
Read as plain English, "bhangra" invites you to say bang-rah, with a short flat "a" like "bang" and a rolled or English "r". The Punjabi word sounds nearer to pun-gra. The first vowel is short and open, like the "u" in "bun", and the "gr" is crisp, not "bang" with a tail. The "bh" at the start is an aspirated sound: a "b" released with a puff of breath. The final sound is a soft "a".
You do not need to be perfect. Most of us who grew up speaking English at school and Punjabi at home carry both sets of habits around, and we mispronounce words in both languages. What matters is the effort, and the willingness to be corrected.
A small test I use in classes: say the name of the dance the way you would say it to someone's grandmother. If you would be embarrassed by the version you have been using, change it. It takes about a week to retrain your mouth.
A name for an action
Here is the idea that gives the book its title. In ordinary Punjabi speech, people do not usually describe bhangra as an object. They describe doing it. In English you "do bhangra", "teach bhangra", "go to a bhangra class", and each phrase quietly treats the dance as a thing that can be held, bought and carried about. Punjabi, as far as I understand, leans the other way, towards the doing. The common expression for dancing it, bhangra pauna, is a verb phrase. You do not own it. You put it in, you give it, you play it out.
I want to be careful here, because I am not a linguist, and a single phrase proves little. But the pattern matches something that happens whenever a living practice crosses into another language and a market. An action becomes a noun. A noun gets a capital letter. A capitalised noun gets a logo.
Where the word comes from
The honest answer is that nobody is sure.
You will read confident explanations. One popular account links the name to bhang, the word for hemp, which is sometimes linked with festival drinks in Punjab and elsewhere in South Asia. Another traces it to the fields and the crop. Others point to the regional dialect word for a particular dance or to a type of rhythm. Each story is plausible. None is settled by firm evidence that I have seen.
When you teach, resist the temptation to pick the most colourful story and present it as fact. "Nobody is certain where the word comes from, but it has always been connected with celebration in Punjab" is a perfectly good thing to say, and it is true. Being comfortable with "we don't know" is a sign of respect for the subject.
One word, several jobs
By the time the word reached the modern world it was doing at least four different jobs:
- The folk dance: a celebration performed by Punjabi communities, historically linked with harvest and the spring festival of Vaisakhi.
- The staged dance: a choreographed performance form, developed through the twentieth century for stages, competitions and colleges.
- The music: a popular music style, especially associated with Britain from the 1970s, built around Punjabi folk rhythm and instruments plus modern production.
- The brand: a label attached to fitness classes, party nights, ringtones and costumes.
Most arguments about bhangra are really arguments between people who mean different jobs. A dancer in Punjab, a bandleader in Southall, a fitness instructor in a leisure centre and a marketing agency may each say "bhangra" and mean four different things. They are not necessarily wrong. They are just not talking about the same thing, because there is no single thing.
The habit to build
The simplest practical lesson in this chapter is a question. Whenever you hear the word, ask yourself which job it is doing. Is this the village celebration, the stage form, the music or the label? Once you start asking, you will notice how often the word is used to blur the answers together.