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British Bhangra is a genre of popular music that fuses Punjabi beats, music and lyrics, UK pop, RnB, reggae and other world sounds.  Its history in Britain dates back to the immediate post-war period when migrants from the Punjab, resettled their lives and homes in the UK.

This presentation will offer an analysis of how this Punjabi folk music became a genre of popular music in post-war Britain, particularly in the Midlands. It will draw attention to key cities namely Birmingham and Coventry (with reference to Nottingham and Leicester too), in terms of how they have sustained the cultural production of this music and its industry.

The talk will also draw on and examine the following source materials: song lyrics; a cultural analysis of how and why the different musical genres are fused together in Bhangra; and a historical overview of the club venue spaces as helping to understand this soundscape of the British Midlands.

Rajinder Dudrah is Professor of Cultural Studies and Creative Industries at Birmingham City University.