← Dance-Fitness to Punjabi Music · Module 4 of 7 · 8 minutes

How to listen to the music

The sounds of the music

• The dhol is a large two-headed drum, played with a heavy stick on one side and a thin stick on the other. It gives bhangra its swing, and it is the engine of the music.
• The tumbi is a one-stringed instrument with a bright, twanging sound, strongly linked with Punjabi folk singing.
• The chimta is a pair of iron tongs with small metal discs, shaken and clacked for a jangling rhythm.
• Voices and clapping carry a great deal of Punjabi folk music.

Listen in three passes

1. Find the beat. Listen for the dhol under everything else.
2. Find the voice and the tumbi. Notice how they sit on top of the beat.
3. Notice what it does to your body. That is the point.

Try it with the music on the Music page.

A British story too

Many Punjabis settled in Britain from the 1950s and 1960s, in places such as Southall and Birmingham. From the 1970s, young British Punjabis mixed Punjabi folk with the instruments and production of Western pop. Bands such as Alaap, formed in Southall in 1977, became part of that story. Much of the music you hear in a class was made by people who are still alive and working, which is a good reason to credit and support them.

Bhangra is not Bollywood

Bhangra is Punjabi folk dancing and music, rooted in the culture of Punjab. Bollywood is the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai. Treating them as the same is offensive.