CURRY BEAR

This past weekend some of us got to experience an A- project, The Bhangra Project. All the research and studying paid off in putting this project together organized by The Bhangra Project LLC and T.E.A.M. The 1st ever Bhangra Project was held at the Edward Nash Theater in RVCC.

The night before the event was the semi-formal mixer where teams had dinner and mingled with each other and the sponsors of the event. Not only did they get to meet Sarbjit Cheema, but they got to dance with him after dinner when all team members busted out in Bhangra moves. The mixer event was held at Rajpoot in Parlin, New Jersey.

PUNJABI GABROO (JUNIOR TEAM)

The first performance featured an exhibition act by Punjabi Gabroo Junior Team. These kids had spirit and put on a good performance. And as always, kids doing Bhangra is always cute. One member on the team – the one in a yellow costume and facial hair – is DEFINITELY not a junior. That kid must have lied on his application. This team was very energetic and performed simple moves that were executed well. They had a few good formations, though they weren’t always in sync. But who cares, they’re kids and they are still entertaining no matter what. They started their performance with two members in the two-man tower stance. There was a member playing the dholi, but he was much older and I don’t think he could be called an “official member.” However, his performance on the dholi was good. If there is one thing I must pick on for this team, it would be their song transitions. At one point during their performance, these little gabroos ended the song with a two-man tower position and made the audience think their performance was over. They quickly resumed to another song but the transition wasn’t smooth. Their final song, which I believe is called “Punjabi Gabroo” was a big fan favorite and received a huge crowd reaction. They receive a 5 in X-Factor because they are kids and were able to put on such a performance.

Costumes: 8
Mix/Music: 7
Video Intro: n/a
Props: 6
Stunts: 5
Dance Moves: 8
Synch/Formation: 7
Hotness: n/a
Crowd Reaction: 9
Originality: 5
X-Factor: 5
Score: 7.5

TUFTS BHANGRA

This team’s video intro just didn’t flow. Perhaps it was because the video was lagging or because of their choice of song. Throughout the WHOLE performance, there was a Tuft girl sitting behind me screaming her lungs out while making me nearly deaf in the process. I wanted to stab her in the throat, take out her vocal chords and stomp on them and then yell at her vocal cords. When a group of people scream, the sound just gets diluted in a person’s ears. But one single individual screaming is worse than nails on a chalkboard. And this girl was screaming every 5 seconds yelling out “Yeah (insert person’s name), whoooo.” I think she went through the whole roster. I really did not get to enjoy Tufts performance because of this girl. This girl thinks she’s Tuft’s DJ Clue, screaming over the track – and DJ Clue is very annoying. You think she’d lose her voice after the first two songs, but she went at it throughout the whole performance. SHE WOULDN’T STOP. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one annoyed. For the next performance, I’d like to ask the Tufts team to please get rid of the groupie. Now onto the team itself – This team had a decent performance but it wasn’t an overall great and memorable one. I thought the stage transition in which they brought out the girls was pretty hot – the girls appeared from the side of the stage during the middle of the performance. Also, four of the girls were hot – I think they were; can’t remember through all the screaming from the Tuft groupie. At one point of the performance, the team had their backs turned and the screen turned green. They started dancing again and I really don’t know if this move/effect was planned or they got lucky, but it looked really cool. During the performance, the boys left the girls for a solo act and the girls did likewise later. This team had some good moves but not all of them were impressive. The best parts of the dance were the Co-Ed segments. I believe one of the members on this team is Asian – I’m talking either Chinese or Nepalese. My eyes were on him as I was expecting some fusion of Kung fu and Bhangra, but I wasn’t so lucky. The team also struggled to do a 2-man tower and the ending stance consisted of three two-man towers and two girls in the center stage doing the Eiffel Tower (the Eiffel tower is also Curry Bear’s favorite sex position).

The team’s costume was average. I don’t recall this team having any prop segment or any huge stunts. The team was in sync for most of the performance but never really received a huge crowd reaction, except for that one girl; I guess she made up for the whole crowd…for the whole event actually. She came all the way from Boston simply to scream her lungs out. I’m pretty sure people in Boston heard her screaming too. I didn’t find anything extraordinary that made them stand out to get any X-Factor points. One of the drawbacks of going first in any performance is that it’s much harder to excite the crowd. Teams that go first must suffer the fate of performing to old, desi people who are still catching their breath from walking to their seats.

Costumes: 5
Mix/Music: 6
Video Intro: 6
Props: 0
Stunts: 5
Dance Moves: 6
Synch/Formation: 5
Hotness: 5
Crowd Reaction: 5
Originality: 5
X-Factor: 0
Score: 4.8

NYC JUGNI

Jugni had an OK video intro. It consisted of people doing Bhangra everywhere you can think of to the famous tune of “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees. It was kind of cheesy and didn’t really hype you up to see their performance. It just showed that the team members are a bunch of guys who like to fool around. Oh yeah, the video also mentions that they’re from NYC and ends with a TBT like pose. Jugni started off with a female vocalist with an amazing voice stunning the crowd and her Punjabi dialogues got them excited. Unfortunately, I don’t have a translation of what she spoke in Punjabi, but somewhere she did mention that “Curry Bear is my lover.” The team started their actual performance with a prop segment that later went into “Mitran De Naal,” which had some impressive move combos. The props were long staffs, which they flung around so close to each other that I was expecting someone to lose an eyeball. The dhol beats flowed with some songs while it didn’t on other songs. They had a few impressive formations. Most of them consisted of the “In and Out” formation. For those unfamiliar with the “In and Out”, it basically involves members of the team running into the middle and then out to the outside, hence the title “In and Out.” One member in royal blue looked confused at a few points of the performance and things such as these are very noticeable to the audience.

The members of this team must have huge calves because they were consistently jumping. At one segment, they had an echo of Lil Jon saying “Get Low” and then, well, they got low. That was pretty much it. The team was mostly on beat. I like their head nodding to the beat segment – I doubt it is “traditional” and I’m sure the judges didn’t think too much of it. The performers were quite graceful for the slow songs and it looked really nice. Near the end, you couldn’t hear the dholis anymore – they just weren’t loud enough. Ending pose wasn’t all that impressive and one of the towers was really struggling and almost fell. Every time I’ve seen this team perform – Pao Bhangra and Sapna – they’ve shown quite a lot of improvement. The team had a few move combos that I’ve never seen before and were done well. Throughout the performance, the team had a lot of energy so they got 3 points in their X-Factor.

Costumes: 8
Mix/Music: 7
Video Intro: 7
Props: 7
Stunts: 5
Dance Moves: 7
Synch/Formation: 7
Hotness: n/a
Crowd Reaction: 7
Originality: 7
X-Factor: 3
Score: 7.2

PUNJABI SOORMAY

Punjabi Soormay had a hilarious video intro with the infamous Daler Mendhi song that all the white people love to dance to. They even had some animation in their intro video. It really seemed like a fun loving team. Their performance started out strong and stayed strong throughout. They executed each of their moves in excellent fashion. Throughout the competition, I believe this team had the best prop segment with the staff. It didn’t look chaotic, flowed really well and was on beat. Their costume was simple and came in pairs. On the back of their costume they had their own team name printed just in case some old aunty forgot which team was performing. Their whole performance had tremendous energy and they looked like they enjoyed EVERY bit of it. That made the performance more pleasurable to watch. Majority of their music selection was fast paced, up beat songs just like their moves. During one segment of the performance, the team kneeled down to catch their breath while a heart beat effect was played. I don’t know if this worked well with the judges due to the recent trend lately of having a “traditional performance.”

Soormay might have not been conventional, but I personally thought their performance was the most enjoyable. Unfortunately, they did not receive a huge crowd reaction – they were pretty much dead. No huge stunts were performed, but they were in sync most of the time and had some good formations. This team was very entertaining throughout the performance so I gave them a 10 for X-Factor. I’d personally like to thank this team for wearing shorts underneath. If only someone would have told the black guy on MIT Bhangra to do the same last season at Sapna Bhangra.

Costumes: 10
Mix/Music: 9
Video Intro: 9
Props: 10
Stunts: 5
Dance Moves: 10
Synch/Formation: 9
Hotness: n/a
Crowd Reaction: 6
Originality: 7
X-Factor: 10
Score: 9.4

GABROO SHOKEEN

There was a lot of hype about this team from San Jose and I was very excited to finally see them perform. Going into the competition, everyone and their mothers, nephew and unborn child knew that this team was going to win. However, they did not have an intro video and their performance started immediately when the curtains opened. It was so quick that I didn’t even realize people were moving. They had really colorful and eye catching costumes. This team performed to a pre-recorded live track. Confused? They had their own band and singer do the entire performance track beforehand. They recorded the track and played it during the performance. Gabroo Shookeen received a huge crowd reaction – more than any other team that performed. Their prop segment was quite long but I guess this team likes to play with its toys. The slow segment following it was pretty hot; it flowed really well to the beat of the dhol with their synchronization and dance move combos. The whole performance had very traditional dance moves. As I said before, “tradition” is the recent trend. And this team was about as traditional as you can get, so you can see why everyone expected them to win. I personally thought this team was way too traditional and I got tired of it half way through the performance. Even though I got bored, this team consistently managed to get the crowd cheering. At some point of the performance, one of the performers got really close to a speaker and I was almost certain he was going to hurt his toes by accidentally kicking it. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t count as a stunt but had it occured, that would have been the closest thing to a stunt as this team didn’t really do any. Although I didn’t see what all the hype was regarding this team, more than half the crowd did. And by the crowd reaction, this team did one hell of a job. They get an X-Factor point of 6 for their “pre-recorded live tracks.”

Costumes: 10
Mix/Music: 8
Video Intro: n/a
Props: 6
Stunts: 0
Dance Moves: 8
Synch/Formation: 9
Hotness: n/a
Crowd Reaction: 10
Originality: 7
X-Factor: 6
Score: 8.0

PYARE PUTT ANKHILEY

H to the Izz O, V to the Izz A, this Bhangra team is repping the VA … and DC. The team’s video intro was very bizarre. It looked like a bootleg T-Series copy of a Punjabi music video by Manmohan Waris. They took a while to set up their live band so I began to get a little bored. There were three microphones that needed to be setup properly, so I guess technical difficulties were bound to happen. However, they brought the momentum back as they danced to what I believe was “Mera Punjab”. They had a live singer along with a dhol-man and two other guys with instruments on the mic. This team had one of the craziest outfits. It looked like it was designed by Louis Vuitton. And from far away, one member looked like he killed a cow and wore its skin as a costume. Straight up baller. The team did a double prop segment where they switched props in the middle of the performance. The dholi for this team was amazing. The audio seemed like it was set up poorly for the performance. Although the singer looked like an uncle, he was extremely good. They had a good selection of songs but the tempo throughout the performance fluctuated up and down.

Unlike other teams that aim for a finishing pose at the end, this team had their singer on the mic singing while the dancers slowly moved off stage. This was another team that managed to get a huge crowd reaction throughout the performance. Maybe it was the dancing skills, maybe it was the outfit or maybe it was Maybelline. I was really tempted to drug the team and rob them of their outfits. This team received a 4 for the X-Factor due to their live segment.

Costumes: 10
Mix/Music: 8
Video Intro: 3
Props: 6
Stunts: 0
Dance Moves: 8
Synch/Formation: 9
Hotness: n/a
Crowd Reaction: 10
Originality: 7
X-Factor: 4
Score: 7.2

RU BHANGRA

Rutgers was the home town team in this event so you can image the type of crowd reaction they received. They started off with a sick video intro that really pumped you up for their performance. Unlike other teams that had intro videos where their members were acting goofy, RU Bhangra introduced each one of their team members. This was a great idea, but I’d prefer next time if they use professional pictures of each member instead of their Facebook profile picture. When the team formed up on stage, there was a guy and a girl on the dholi. They also had a male and female singer. They started off with a prop segment and then went into a stunt which was two dancing two-man towers; one of them was actually a 2 girl tower. The all girl segment was pretty good, but the girl dholi seemed kind of pointless. It looked like she was there just to show that they have an extra dholi. The stunt with the pot on the head and spinning around was impressive because they managed to balance the pot on their head throughout the spinning – I guess these girls make good potheads. One dance formation I recall quite well is when they all formed a slanted line on stage. It looked pretty cool from my perspective. The “Yaar Bolda” segment was entertaining and really hyped the crowd up, but then again, the crowd was mostly Rutgers students that were cheering their home team. I would say RU Bhangra was the best Co-Ed team at the event, even though there were only two Co-Ed teams; so basically that just means they were better than Tufts. This team’s outfit was a little different from last seasons, except this time instead of looking like a bunch of skittles pieces, now they look like sour skittles pieces. I think they added purple and green outfits. Either way, it made me hungry for skittles. If only this team had performed before the intermission, I could have gone to the vending machines. At some point of the performance the team had a lot of energy and at few other points they didn’t. The crowd really seemed to enjoy the “Apna Punjab” segment. Their performance was very similar to previous performances at Sapna and Bruin, but it was nothing new. It was a recycled dance. However, I’d like to point out that it’s the beginning of the semester. This team gets an X-Factor of 5 for hyping the crowd up, but most likely it was their own people, so that’s why it’s a 5 and not a 10. The guys were also a bit sloppy this time around and one of the two-man towers at the end failed.
P.S: If anyone knows the girl who played the dholi, please tell her to contact me at CurryBear@CurryBear.com – she is my new crush. When she smiles, she looks like Bipasha Basu.

Costumes: 10
Mix/Music: 7
Video Intro: 10
Props: 6
Stunts: 7
Dance Moves: 7
Synch/Formation: 6
Hotness: 8
Crowd Reaction: 9
Originality: 3
X-Factor: 5
Score: 7.8

ROOH PUNJAB DEE & SHAN-E-PUNJAB

This is a combo team, obviously, from Toronto, Canada. They also had a combo video intro with clips from the motherland. After the video, it started off with one guy screaming on the mic in Punjabi. I felt like I was in a school in Punjab and the teacher was yelling at me for flicking my boogers at some girl. I’m sure he was saying some poetic Punjabi verses, but screaming like that would scare all the kids at attendance. They opened with this stunt of a tower in the back and in front of the tower was a guy sitting on top of another member’s back. I couldn’t make out what they were trying to go for. Their prop segment was very synchronized with the accordion looking thing (I believe it’s called saaps?) and then the stick with a flag on top, which made them look like they were color guards for a high school band team. Their audio was very loud; I don’t know if they wanted it to be so loud or if there were technical sound difficulties. The guy with the “chimtah” was pointless because you could barely hear him. Teams should stop putting guys with instruments on the side of the stage. It seems pretty pointless, unless it’s a really good dholi or you have a full live band. Even though the chimtah guy was pointless, it was made up for by their dholi. The guys looked like they were wearing hoop earrings, but I think they were connected to the pugs not the ears although I’m not sure. I’d say get some bling next time, but I doubt that’ll impress the judges. Even though the team performed to a lot of songs other teams had already done, they still managed to entertain and put on a good performance. Being last to perform is never good because some of the songs a team performs to have already been played a few times throughout the event by other teams. But if you have a good performance like this team did, you leave a good last impression that remains in the judges’ minds. They didn’t do anything extraordinary that stood out except have a good traditional performance.

Costumes: 7
Mix/Music: 7
Video Intro: 8
Props: 7
Stunts: 0
Dance Moves: 8
Synch/Formation: 9
Hotness: n/a
Crowd Reaction: 6
Originality: 8
X-Factor: 3
Score: 7.0

What I noticed from this competition was that more teams are putting an emphasis on “traditional” performances and are moving away from stunts. Teams with modern Bhangra moves are at disadvantage at these competitions because the judges now prefer traditional moves too.

The teams who I thought should have won were:
1st – Soormay
2nd – Shokeen

The teams I predicted would win:
1st – Shokeen
2nd – PPA

The teams that actually won:
1st – Shokeen
2nd – Tie – PPA / RPD & SEP

One of the first guest performers besides the junior team was G-Deep. This guy has been hyped up a lot as some Punjabi sensation so I was ready to see what all the fuss was about. I should mention that G-Deep is part of the P.NOX, the musical group we had a big scuffle about over this comic. I thought it would be difficult to write about G-Deep’s performance without sounding impartial, but I don’t have to worry about that. Whatever I write about him here will be agreed upon by those who were there. So about G-Deep…well, his “Punjabi rap” isn’t all that. In the second song he performed, he brought out one of his hype man who acted like a complete thug, Don Revo – or as I refer to him as Don Revlon. As for G-Deep, his voice sounded synthesized, so it didn’t sound real and it looked like he was lip synching. And there were certain points where he stopped singing but the lyrics kept going, so once again, it looked like he was lip synching. Or he could have just be singing over his own track, which still had the vocals on it, meaning, he wasn’t singing over instrumentals at all. It’s a possibility, not sure. Before his third song, he told some of the crowd to shut up. That was pretty humble of him. On the third song, it REALLY looked like he was lip synching. His mic wasn’t completely working and you could hear the lyrics, and his lips weren’t moving either. When he fixed the mic, his lips were moving again. During this track, all his boys came up on stage and began doing Bhangra. Some of them should have stayed off stage. It was kind of embarrassing, especially since the crowd just witnessed professional teams do Bhangra – their Bhangra looked like crap. Although I did not like his performance, I have to admit that he does have talent, has a good voice, and has potential. He just needs better beats and better lyrics and he should be fine. Oh, and he should stop lip synching to his own songs and actually sing live. He should also forbid himself from doing any Bhangra moves on stage, especially during a Bhangra competition with professional teams. As for Don Revo, he held the microphone too close to his mouth and his voice sounded like excessive bass. He sang about 4 lines of lyrics that I could hardly make out and proceeded to say “Yeah Come On” for the rest of the performance.

After G-Deep’s performance came the tribute to the late Soni Pabla. Unfortunately, people were very rowdy and rude through the tribute, up until the point in the video where it asked for a moment of silence. I found it very disrespectful that the crowd would not shut up for 3 minutes so we could pay tribute for a late Bhangra artist. People kept yelling out different acronyms and cheering for RUDE. It was ironically rude of them to do that.

As RUDE took forever to set up their band after the Soni Pabla tribute, the crowd got even more rowdy and, well, rude. It became very annoying. I guess RUDE can be described as a musical entourage that combines Bhangra, some Rock and even some Classical. Other than dholis, there were 3 guys on guitar, 1 drummer, 1 violinist and one guy on the tabla. During their first song, the vocals were not loud enough or the instruments were too loud. But regardless of the sound problems, they are a talented bunch. Around the 4th song, you can tell that the singers just wanted to bust out dancing but they were holding it in. By the 5th song, they came out with a few dholis, and the one in the middle (girl) was the same dholi girl from RU Bhangra (and my newfound love). They performed “Mitran De Naal” extremely well. After that, it became like a dholi battle in what looked like a desi version of Drum Line. The two centerstage dholi players started playing each other’s dholis and that is not a sexual innuendo. There were also segments where the drummer, guitarist and the violinist each had a solo. It was an overall amazing performance where half the crowd gave a standing ovation, as the other half were probably too lazy like me to stand. RUDE is something very original and I think they need to keep up what they’re doing. Their performance was marvelous but I’d recommend they check how their instruments sound before performing at any venue. During this performance, the guitars were extremely loud, as if they were connected to a 5 Megaton amplifier.

When the star of the night, Sarbjit Cheema came out, the crowd went nuts. He started off by singing a few heart filled Punjabi songs for the true hardcore Punjabis in the crowd. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them shed a few tears. He then went on to sing all his greatest hits while the Bhangra teams came behind him and danced bringing a very lively and colorful scenery on stage.

This man has true, raw, un-synthesized talent as a singer. This is the type of artist that is enjoyed by true Bhangra fanatics. I think TBP organizers made an excellent choice in choosing him to perform at The Bhangra Project. He was well enjoyed by everyone in the crowd and on stage. A few times, Cheema would even join some of the people on stage and do Bhangra with them rather than just stand and sing. Cheema’s performance was a perfect way to end the night.

Now let’s talk about the event itself. I thought the selection of teams for this event was pretty good with amazing performances by PPA, Gabroo Shokeen, Soormay and the collaboration teams. At most events, you only have about 2-3 major teams and the rest are just average. This event had a really strong line up. But any event without teams like KJ, Sher, and Phulorida won’t be the best. We never really saw the MC at this event but he sounded like one of the DJ’s you’d hear at desi parties. The way he spoke, trying to pump up the crowd and hyping the teams up, he sounded exactly like a desi DJ. This was an awful idea since it was hard to make out what he was saying – he spoke too fast. I would have preferred if Darth Vader MC’d the show. The venue was located in the middle of no where. It’s not a popular area. RVCC is in North Branch, but your GPS would read it as Somerville even though Somerville is about two towns over. The place isn’t hard to find because it’s located near many main roads like Route 22 and Route 28. There was more than enough parking available at the place. Venue itself looked really nice and had many lighting and other visual effects available. The audio for some performances seemed a little bit off though. The seating were also convenient. It was elevated nicely so the person in front of you with an afro wouldn’t completely block your view. Everyone had a good view of the stage wherever they sat from, and it didn’t feel like they were too far from the stage. I think the guest performances for this event were all good except for G-Deep. He just didn’t fit right into this type of event. The awarding for this event I believed was pretty fair; the deserving teams won for a traditional Bhangra competition. I just didn’t like the fact that there was a tie for second place. The winners should be clear cut just like my cocaine. The show started half hour late, but I guess that’s IST. I know many people were anxious to get the show started but there were many elderly relatives of the teams arriving. In cases such as these, I don’t mind waiting until dadimaa gets a seat. I think the stage size was perfect for a performance; not too small to make it look crowded and not too big to make it look empty. Different lighting schemes were also available for each team. The crowd wasn’t all too diverse, but at a Bhangra event like this, what else do you expect. According to some of the team members I’ve eavesdropped on or overheard, TBP is the most organized event they’ve been to. They really took a liking to all the liaisons because they catered to all of their needs. They even provided transportations to places. It seemed like the organizers really knew what they were doing. I heard TBP being praised by many team members.

Team Selection: 8
MC: 7
Location: 7
Name of the Event: 10
Seating: 8
Guest: 9
Awards: 9
Timing: 7
Stage: 10
Diversity: 5
X-Factor: 10
Score: 9.0

The after party was at Toucan in Somerset about 10 minutes away from the hotel room. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves at the party. The crowd was good being that it was all dance teams and then a few outsiders. It seemed like different teams really connected with each other because they were mingling well and dancing all out with each other. Even a few members of local Bhangra teams like TBT and Brick City Bhangra were present there. The DJ played a good mix of Bhangra, mainstream hip hop and reggae. But being an after party for a Bhangra competitions, about 90% of the music should be Bhangra, which it was not.

This thread will be locked because I’d rather have all the Bhangra teams and fanatics that read this review to go to DesiDanceTeams.Com for proper discussion. To view discussion and comments about the event, teams, organizers, or the review, visit the DDT Forum.
To view pictures of the event, visit the DDT Image Gallery.
Also, don’t forget to register your team with DDT.

* Punjabi Gabroo’s rating was based upon the fact that they are a junior team. Curry Bear doesn’t rate all male teams on hotness factor because Curry Bear is a sexist. Curry Bear only checks out girls. Curry Bear ratings are based upon Curry Bear’s knowledge and opinion. Whether you agree or disagree, doesn’t matter. But you are welcome to leave comments about teams and competitions so your opinion is stated and heard. If your feelings are hurt from this review, then you are a sissy. Curry Bear doesn’t hate any team. Curry Bear writes in the way he does because that’s his style. This is just a review. Please excuse Curry Bear’s misspelling for song titles or incorrect song titles. You’re more than welcome to make corrections to any mistakes that you spot in the review.

As always, if you’re interested in speaking with Curry Bear, write to him at CurryBear@CurryBear.com