A multicultural frenzy builds with each succeeding song on this disc and it gets you fired-up! Jump, jump, a little higher; reach and reach again to feel the fire! As the back of the CD states, “In DJ Rehka’s hands, music is an explosion of cultures...” Deep, bass-heavy dancehall melds with Middle East and India or “Mindian”, as my friend put it a couple of years ago, on DJ Rekha presents Basement Bhangra [KOCH Records koc-cd-4180]. Actually the genre is known as Punjabi, originally a folk dance which has morphed into a genre of music using an Indo-European tonal inflection language typical of Punjab, an area of South Asia where Pakistan and India meet geographically. Mostly spoken in Pakistan, it sounds like some spicy linguistics in one of Bhangra party music. Bhangra is a newer kind of “fusion” music which incorporates more Hip Hop, Reggae, House, Drum & Bass as I translate it.
DJ Rekha has made a name for herself at one of my favorite New York City haunts of the eighties and nineties, the fabulous S.O.B.’s or Sounds Of Brazil restaurant and nightclub on Varick Street. Oh the many nights I spent there, wall-to-wall crowd, jam-packed and listening to greats like Roy Ayers or the late Jon Lucien! Out adopted Queens homegirl knows how to position herself I see! This is the kind of album that again proves that you don’t have to understand the words in order to party to the vibe, although this concept works better on some cuts than others. I don’t know the lyrics nor can translate half of the song titles and yet, it often doesn’t matter. Don’t let me be misunderstood, there are English chants and words, and it is about a 70/30 mix; but you my not notice because you will be partying so hard through the middle of the album. Jams number six, “Tere Toor” by Subs vs. Apache Indian, seven “Panj Bindiyaan” by Ominous DJs/ Lehmber with that anticipatory, coming attractions sneaky soundtrack groove, and especially eight, “Boli Panieh” from DJ Sanj with Soni Pabla really get the party started dancehall-style; the latter combing elements of drum and bass, creeping Reggae and ‘Hall into a bumpin’ aura that you’ve just got to move to. Just writing this review has my spell-checker going crazy!
Between tracks nine and thirteen the sound gets a bit played-out. In-part the foreign- language monotony and because Rekha had one our famous DJ “moments” when you lose the groove for a bit; unless you are in the throes of a club party experience, it gets monotonously lame just for listening at home. However, “Glassy” featuring Sona Family and Hard Kaur, which sounds aka a Li’l Kim & company ‘90s cut, and right through the last track, “Gur Nalon Ishq Mitha” in succession salvages some of the excursion’s earlier energy. I think it is interesting that the connotation of “basement” has become synonymous with parties of all sorts these days. Experimental, yet worth checking ou; sizeable numbers have attended Rekha’s functions in New York City – it may not work in other cities that aren’t as much of a melting pot. And I just want to know the name of that kind of culturally Arabic/Mid-Asian yodeling sound that I heard on a couple of tracks during this four- star Bhanghall dance! If you know, please write and coach me up.
