DATE: Saturday, August 16
TIME: 6:30pm-8pm
PLACE: Esplanade Plaza (Access: Liberty Street) Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan
SUBWAY: 4, 5 to Wall Street / J to Broad Street R to Rector Street / 1 to Rector Street
COST: Free!
No experience or partners necessary at BPC Park’s BHANGRA FAMILY DANCE: just get up and dance to energetic and joyful music from India in a musical party spun by DJ REKHA all ages are welcomed. DJ REKHA is among the first DJs to merge classic Bhangra and Bollywood sounds into the language of contemporary electronic dance music. Drummers and dancers will perform, and then lead the audience in the basics of bhangra, a dance and musical style with roots in centuries-old folk music and seasonal, celebratory dance.
DJ Rekha is a London-born, New York City based musician, DJ, producer, curator, and activist. Named “the Ambassador of Bhangra” by The New York Times and one of the most influential South Asians by Newsweek, Rekha has been credited with pioneering Bhangra music in North America. Her record label, Beat Bazaar Music, launched in November 2011, and is a broad cross-section of musical genres – from Bhangra to Dancehall to Hip Hop to Bollywood. DJ Rekha marked the ten-year anniversary of Basement Bhangra in 2007, with the compilation, DJ Rekha presents Basement Bhangra, featuring an array of international stars, including Wyclef Jean, Panjabi MC, Tigerstyle and Bikram Singh.
DJ Rekha was the Sound Designer for the 2006 TONY winning Broadway Show Bridge and Tunnel, as well as the Off-Broadway show Rafta Rafta. She served as Associate Producer for the NPR Radio Documentary A Feet in Two Worlds, was the 2009 Cultural Ambassador to the U.S. in India for the U.S. State Department, and performed at the White House. She gives lectures and workshops on Hip Hop, politics, and South Asian art for the Smithsonian, Brooklyn Museum, and Colombia University, and her work has been featured on CNN, NPR, and PBS.
