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Highlights:

St Mark's Square - Venice carnival,
Bridgewater Hall - Manchester,
Thames Festival,
WOMAD, UK
Festival de la Merce - Barcelona,
Sziget Festival - Budapest,
London Mela, Roskilde Festival - Denmark,
Kaustinen Festival - Finland,
Rudolstadt festival - Germany,
Tulip festival - Canada,
Druga Godba festival -Slovenia,
Ignite! - Olympic Stadium, Sydney

Dhol Dhamaka

The horns of the Bollywood Brass Band play massive hits from Indian films in the brassy style of the new wave of Indian wedding bands, driven along by the huge swinging beat of the Dhol Foundation, 3 drummers playing and moving as one.

Indian roots meet funky dance beats and jazz solos, in a fusion unique to London - on a favourite Punjabi song, Gurh Nalon Ishk Mitha (Love is Sweeter than Sugar), the dhols play chaal, the essential Bhangra beat and the horns play a Bally Sagoo-style acoustic remix.

Then stand back and hold on, as traditional and free style bhangra champions Four By Four Dancers lead bhangra into the new Millennium with a hip take on the tradition.

Dhol Dhamaka is one example of the creative ferment surrounding musics of the Indian diaspora in the UK at present. It represents the repatriation of a tradition of brass playing originally exported to the subcontinent from Britain, now transformed by Indian rhythms, vocal and instrumental styles. This is combined with British Bhangra and sounds from the Asian underground, themselves fusions of Indian roots and western influences.

The presentation includes versions of Bollywood and Bhangra classics and recent hits, arranged for brass and drums, plus drum features to prepared backing tracks. It does for Indian pop music what Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band have done for American pop and jazz.

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