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‘The coolie becomes cool’: Bhangra and ‘Asian Electronic’

‘The coolie becomes cool’: Bhangra and ‘Asian Electronic’. Commodification, Essentialism, and Identity Kate Reichert. Sharma’s 3 Phases of the Development of ‘Asian Music’. Invisibility 1970s and prior Political and social racism ‘Asian community’ adhered by Bhangra Marginalization 1980s

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‘The coolie becomes cool’: Bhangra and ‘Asian Electronic’

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  1. ‘The coolie becomes cool’: Bhangra and ‘Asian Electronic’ Commodification, Essentialism, and Identity Kate Reichert

  2. Sharma’s 3 Phases of the Development of ‘Asian Music’ • Invisibility • 1970s and prior • Political and social racism • ‘Asian community’ adhered by Bhangra • Marginalization • 1980s • Mainstream as ‘world music’ • Continued evolution: ‘Bhangramuffin,’ Apache Indian • Commodification • 1990s and after • “Commodification of all things Asian”(322) • Mainstream success continued, remains of earlier exoticism

  3. ‘Asian Electronic’ Music in New York’s South Asian Diaspora (Murthy) • Mutiny and South Asian Diaspora in New York • Labels as “strategy” • “positivist essentialism” (229) • Diasporic reinterpretation of ‘Asian’ music • “a space where South Asian Americans can be seen as the producers, owners, and participators in something unique to their own experience” –DJ Zakhm (229) • Aesthetics value versus Commodity value • Commodity fetishism and neocolonialism • “Ethnonationalist essentialism” versus “politics of recognition” (237) • How and why we recreate essentialist categories Deconstruction of “monolithic” Asian Identity, but strategic usage of labels

  4. DJ Rekha: Personal and Commodified Identity • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmo-gqSlWN8 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOi5Cs5ra70

  5. Purity and Hybridity of Asian Musical IdentityGlobalization and Commodification • Who is being recognized? Roots, additive identities, or complex routes? • Hutnyk (2005) and Gilroy: concept of hybridity problematically relies on anterior “purity” of 2 or more components (82) • “Grannie doesn’t skip a Bhangra beat” by Sudhanva Deshpande • Growing popularity if Indipop and Bhangra pop artists in India, once dominated by artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna • Elitism turns to national pride • “So there you have it, the paradox of bhangra: its emergence as an Indian form in precisely the decade when its listeners have become more integrated into the world market and its patterns of consumption.” • Not representative of a “pure” Indian culture

  6. Bringing it all together • Essentialism and anti-essentialism are not mutually exclusive • Commodification has an influence on the labeling of and identification with various types of music • Identity and music production go hand in hand, and are necessarily context specific • Asian electronic music and Bhangra have historically created space for identity negotiation in diasporic South Asian populations that are not necessarily bi- but instead multi-cultural

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