A Transnational Perspective on the Evolution of the Bhangra and the Qawwali in the United Kingdom

This paper proposes to trace the evolution of the Bhangra and the Qawwali, two popular South Asian musical genres introduced in the United Kingdom during the twentieth century. Originally, the Bhangra is a popular Indian Punjabi folk dance while the Qawwali is a form of Sufi music dating back to the 5th century BC. Recognising their unique nature, this paper examines the two as cultural and historical processes, laying emphasis on continuities and discontinuities in post-colonial and transnational contexts. In the last decades of the twentieth century, both have been reinvented and re-appropriated by British Asians, and undergone adaptations that reflect the cultural diversity and social plurality of contemporary Britain. Today, the Bhangra and the Qawwali have gone far beyond their original local boundaries to become unique South Asian cultural markers in the United Kingdom. Both genres are studied here in their evolution as axes of cultural expression and political contestation. The production of Bhangra and Qawwali and their embeddedness in transnational and transcontinental social and cultural networks, marked by influences and continuous exchanges between the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan informs us about the historical pathways both have followed, and more importantly, the valuable contributions they have made to British culture and society. Hence, this study will allow us to situate these popular musical genres in the cultural mosaic of contemporary British society, allowing us to reflect on the position of subsequent generations of South-Asians therein.