- Basement Bhangra was founded in 1997 as an inclusive dance party for South Asians in New York.
- The club became a space for experimentation of music from the diaspora.
- Though it was shuttered in 2017, it remains a cultural beacon for up-and-coming South Asian musicians.
On a sweltering, sticky Saturday in New York City, Central Park was packed full of thousands of South Asians who were ready to throw down.
On August 6, Basement Bhangra — the now-defunct dance party founded by DJ Rekha in 1997 — celebrated its 25th anniversary with a revival party at Central Park's Summerstage co-produced by community leaders Jashima Wadehra and Pradeepa Jeevan.
It was a party like no other. Younger South Asians danced the Giddha to the drum beat of a dhol, while toddlers and the elderly sat on grass fields, gathered together to celebrate their shared culture and heritage.
From its inception in 1997 throughout its 20 years, Basement Bhangra became an institution for New York City's South Asian community. DJ Rekha, a Queens-native, held court at SOB's, a nightclub in Lower Manhattan, spinning tracks late into the night for patrons of all ages to dance to.
"By example, I am visibly queer. And I had my own personal journey with that. That's a statement in itself," founder DJ Rekha, whose full name is Rekha Malhotra, explained to Insider. "What most people don't realize about the diaspora and dance music is that the earliest club nights were started by queer folks, and that part of our history is not necessarily acknowledged."
Though it was shuttered in 2017, the dance party has become synonymous with diasporic history, marking itself as the backdrop for the coming of age of South Asians on the East Coast since the late 90s.
The birth of Basement Bhangra
Prior to living in the United States, Rekha spent some of their early years in London. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, South Asian youth across Great Britain partied during the daytime at clubs and danced to Bhangra music, creating an underground South Asian rave-like scene. Not only did this allow South Asian youth to claim a safe space for themselves at a time when discrimination in the UK was pervasive, but it also opened doors for an entire generation of DJs in the diaspora.
Rekha began their career as a DJ in New York City the early 90s, spinning at Soca Paradise, an old nightclub that was a hub for Queens' Indo-Caribbean population during their early days. They would spin Chutney Soca, a hybrid genre of music popular in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. The sounds of Chutney Soca fuse Hindustani Classical with Western and Island elements. Instruments with deep history in South Asia, such as the harmonium and tabla, are often incorporated, with a mix of Hindi and English lyrics.
The exposure from Rekha's early career spinning tracks for South Asian youth attracted organizers who asked them to create a themed club night. This eventually evolved into a monthly event, known as Basement Bhangra, which took place on the first Thursday of every month.
Rekha said that they often received "racist" and "classist" directives from other clubs they DJ'd for.
"Don't play 'Black music' and don't play Bhangra. [It was] classist against Bhangra because that was seen as the music of cab drivers, the lower-wage workers of our community, and it was racist because they assumed 'Black music' would attract a different crowd," Rekha explained.
As a DJ who would often spin songs that the audience wouldn't understand due to language barriers, Rekha began to recognize the importance of dance and movement in the songs they played.
DJ Rekha's indelible mark
Over the years, DJ Rekha has become a mentor to young, up-and-coming musicians of the diaspora. Basement Bhangra has birthed the careers of some of the South Asian diaspora's most gifted artists.
"DJ Rekha is legendary," Sikh Knowledge, a Canadian-Punjabi rapper who performed at the 25th anniversary Basement Bhangra party, told Insider. "Rekha made a space for queer Desis. A safe space for femme queer men, lesbian Punjabi women — you were safe there no matter how you presented."
The musician first learned about Basement Bhangra through cultural programming when he was growing up in Toronto. On Sundays, Canadian television showed various cultural programming and spotlighted Basement Bhangra. Years later, Sikh Knowledge became a part of the show's long-running history.
The roster of artists that have performed at Basement Bhangra in its 25-year history is vast: Artists like Horsepowar, Madame Gandhi, Sikh Knowledge, and Panjabi MC, who penned the legendary Bhangra hit "Mundian To Bach Ke" (famously remixed by Jay-Z), have graced the stage at the coveted event.
At the 25th anniversary party, American Punjabi singer and rapper Jasmine Sandlas headlined and performed some of her biggest hits, including "Illegal Weapon," which has garnered over half a billion views on Youtube.
A space for creativity and experimentation
True to its original founding ethos, Basement Bhangra also became a place where burgeoning South Asian musicians could experiment with new forms of expression.
"It was the first to really allow us to feel a space in the nightlife community, a space where you could actually get down to your own music from your own culture," Raaginder, an Indian violinist, told Insider.
The unique blend of music emerging from the South Asian diaspora — like Raaginder's blend of Indian classical violin and hip hop — often elides a specific genre.
"My sound is an amalgamation of my upbringing in the diaspora," Raaginder said. "I'd listen to hip hop, Jay-Z, Kanye at school, and grew up singing and playing Indian drums and violin at home with my musician parents. I had this really cool intersection of two different worlds that I was living in and was inspired by."
Basement Bhangra not only cultivated a space that allowed for diverse music from an immigrant diaspora to flourish, but also exposed bands like Red Baraat, which fuses North Indian brass music with jazz, to more South Asian fans.
Red Baraat didn't initially have a defined audience. It wasn't until they played some sets at Basement Bhangra that the band exploded in popularity among South Asian listeners.
"Rekha definitely put us in front of a large group of people who probably didn't hear about us, hardcore Punjabis who were ready to throw down," Sunny Jain, Red Baraat's founder and dhol player, said.
The next generation of music
Basement Bhangra was pivotal in increasing South Asian representation in music, and artists said its legacy will have a lasting impact on the next generation of musicians in the diaspora.
"Having that representation is such a big thing, because you won't feel like you're doing this for the first time. That adds so much pressure," Raaginder said.
Musicians told Insider the sense of being a part of a larger community of musicians will lead to more experimentation and vibrant new sounds from the next generation of South Asian creators.
"I feel like our moment is coming soon," Raaginder said. "The South Asian moment is knocking on the door."
As for what's next, DJ Rekha has a clear idea of where they hope Basement Bhangra's legacy leads.
"There's two things," the DJ explained. "One, we, as South Asians, want access to the same things that everybody else has, and two, we should give everyone the same access. As much as it's great to see South Asian excellence in entertainment, I want to see us open doors for not only ourselves but for other groups as well."