On Saturday, July 23, The Cedar and Ragamala Dance Company hosted New York-based DJ Rekha with DJ Chamun, in the Twin Cities for their third time, this time in celebration of Ragamala's 25th anniversary, as well DJ Rekha's 20th and final chapter of her renowned Basement Bhangra.

Due to some good fortune (shout-out to my roommate, Sarah, who works for Ragamala Dance Company), I had the honor to sit down and chat with DJ Rekha, the pioneer of Bhangra music in North America, whom Newsweek has recognized as one of the most influential South Asian people in the U.S.

In this interview, we discuss her DJ origins, her artistic evolution, celebrating 20 years of Basement Bhangra, her relationship with Minnesota's own Ragamala Dance Company, as well as a look into her future endeavors. Listen to the full audio above, and follow along with the transcription below.

Jeff: So, I'm Jeffrey Bissoy-Mattis, I'm the APM reports Fellow and I'm here with DJ Rekha, thank you so much for having me.

DJ REKHA: Thank you for talking to me.

J: We are here for the 25th anniversary of Ragamala Dance Company, and rumor has it also 20 years of Basement Bhangra as well.

R: That's right.

J: So tell us a little bit about Basement Bhangra for some who may not know about it. What is it and what [does it] incorporate?

R: Sure. Basement Bhangra is a club night I started in New York City in 1997 in a response to musical directives I was getting from other folks at the time. I was starting out DJ-ing, at the time my gigs were mostly with other South Asian promoters, and they would always tell me, "Don't play too much black music, don't play too much hip hop, don't play too much Bhangra or Panjabi music"; I mean, those words can be used interchangeably at times, because we don't want lower-class people in our community: Panjabi music was seen as cab driver music, Hip-Hop was seen as thug music, still is, nothing has changed. Like, "You can play hip hop but don't play trap, you can play Drake but don't play Migos."

There's always a policing of sound, and so the idea about Basement Bhangra came to create a space that embraced both Hip-Hop and Bhangra. It's primarily Bhangra, but the Bhangra I was influenced by at the time and that I wanted to play, most of it was being produced in the U.K., and had a lot dance-hall synergy, a lot of hip hop, and so it mixes very well with those styles and being from New York and of an age when I saw Hip-Hop emerge, it's really close to my heart. That's really what Basement Bhangra is, it's a space that is open to anyone who likes to dance, we do a dance lesson there as well. Through the years we've a had many resident DJs, live performers over time, and it's been 20 years and we're ending our party. So we are going to do one final show, one big concert in Central Park on August 6th, with Apache Indian, Panjabi MC, a lot of rising talent from North America.

J: Alright, so 20 years coming to an end in Central Park, I'm going to see if I can try and get a ticket.

R: The show is free, you just got to get to New York.

J: So you look back at your 20 years, what has been your evolution as a DJ, what has been the impact of your shows on different generations and audience members?

R: Well, it's hard to sum up 20 years. To look at my personal evolution as an artist, my career barely started and so for me, I've just had tremendous, tremendous creative opportunities — everything from working on Broadway to public radio, to remixing such a range of artists from Meredith Monk; I always like to say "from Meredith Monk to Priyanka Chopra." And getting to travel and getting to meet and see people who this party has meant a lot to. Seeing people being inspired by Basement and doing their own thing.n

J: So, my next question is what has been your proudest in these past 20 years?

R: The proudest moment in 20 years? The proudest moment in the history of Basement Bhangra, — not my life, not everything — was when, I don't know, there's so many moments it's so hard. I'll say one, I hate being definitive, one of the proudest moments was when Malkit Singh performed at S.O.B's at Basement. Because Malkit Singh is a vocalist who originally started me on this journey in the sense that I heard his music for the first time as a teenager and it blew me away, and I fell in love with his music and I admired him for many years and finally got the opportunity for him to perform, and then he eventually did another show at Lincoln Center. But that was just amazing for me.

You know, the first time Wyclef Jean came in and said, "Yo what is this?" It's so random — the most random people all over the world, or wherever, just say they been to my party or know about it. People got married because they met there or had connections it was a part of their New York life. We've gotten a lot of accolades and press and that helps to tell people about it, and that helps a lot. For me, it's about creating a space where people feel safe to dance in.

J: And that is very important, right?

R: It is.

J: So, tell me a little bit more about how you got started as a DJ, what has been your experience as an Indian woman doing DJ, and DJ-ing for a sound that is, as you mentioned, not as respected as other sounds?

R: The gender question, the women question, it does come up sometimes, and you're bringing it up — I don't like to talk about it. Only because it's tricky business, because the more you draw attention to it, it sort of reinforces the idea that it should be a marginalized issue. At this point in time, there are thousands of women DJs, hundreds of thousands, I would say, and women don't get the placement and respect, but that is true across the board. You know, I just did what I had to do. And I guess, I wasn't really aware of my limitations. I just did it and found avenues. I created my own lane as best as I could.

And in terms of Bhangra, within the hierarchy of our music, I mean, Bhangra music has come full circle, has become respected in the hierarchy of South Asian culture. Every Bollywood movie has a repurposed Bhangra song that I was playing 15 years ago, because it's good dance music! When something makes you move and its good, you can't put it down, you can't ignore it.

J: How would you describe your current DJ style? Are you the type of DJ that does a lot of premeditation before the act or are you more of a "I get up there, I feel the crowd, and I say 'OK, this is what I'm playing right now.'"

R: This is a good question, I love this question. I am all about the crowd, 100 percent. I have my ways and my tricks and my things that I know work, but I never know what I'm going to play. I think I know what I'm going to play, and then I just go on and play what I need to play. And in terms of the premeditation — you have to prepare, you have to know your music. Because we DJ with a hybrid system of serato, you should cue your records up, you should have your potential starting points, but how it actually jumps and pops off is the moment.

It's not premediated in that way; I have the tools at my hand, and how I'm going to use them I can't predict until the situation. So, like, you know when you play live music venues — for instance, the summer stage show — there's so much, and for good reason, there is this schedule. And I'm always like, "I don't know." The first time I did a proper bigger mainstream venue, they kept asking me when the bigger mainstream act would go on, and I was like, "I don't know — when its right, when the time is right." They don't work that way, they need to know, band goes on at this time, sound man is ready, I was like, "Oh, we go on when it's the right time." So, it's hard to predict, its really about the crowd, is it really busy, what does the crowd know, how hard can I go, will they really know this music, can I go deeper, can I make deeper cuts, do I have to keep it a little bit light? I'm not New York, are there some New Yorkers longing for home, should I play some New York hip-hop? You know, Prodigy just died from Mob Deep, should I play it, or will I lose people because they don't know who that is? There's so many variables and I'm thinking about them all the time. So my style is, I just want to keep people dancing.

J: I'm a huge dancer, so I'm looking forward to all that. Two more questions for you. So, this is your third time here in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities, to perform. How does this relationship with Ragamala start?

R: This is a great question, it baffles many minds. It starts in Martha's Vineyard, the whitest place in America. We were both in residence in a place called The Yard, which is a dance organization that brings in different artists and dancers, and luckily, they're smart enough to recognize DJs as important to dance, so we were overlapping in our residences. And I was annoyed thinking that the person who put this together was ignorant of our forms and just put two brown people together, but he saw something and thought we might have something in common; and even though our individual art practices and content is not similar, our approaches to our work are similar and some of our challenges are similar. So, we just have a great personal artistic connection, even though we haven't actually created or worked together. We're part of a larger arts community.

J: Could you say two more sentences about the similar [artistic] approach that [you and Ragamala Dance Company] share?

R: Sure. In terms of approach with Ragamala, we're both taking a form that has a lot of preconceived notions and that is mass produced, especially within the [South Asian] diaspora, and we're trying to put our own spin on it and elevate it and position it in different audiences, and I think that's fun and challenging, and I think that's where we connect with each other.

J: So the last question: Twenty years for you, the final show here in Minneapolis, huge show in Grand Central {Park in New York] on August 6th, and 25 years for Ragamala, what does that mean for you doing all of that here tonight, especially celebrating with them as well?

R: Well, I mean it's so exciting to celebrate Ragamala's 25th year. Summer Stage is the last show for Basement Bhangra, but it's not the last show for me. I'm still DJ-ing.

J: So, what's next for you?

R: I'm just going to take some time and I'm thinking about some creative projects. Trying to do some stuff that's a little bit noncommercial, not direct DJ-ing, interested in radio, myself, a documentary project brewing, radio documentary project, and maybe some more abstract sound design work.

J: All right, and last question I promise, what should we expect from you tonight?n

R: Dancing, Dancing, Dancing, Dancing.

J: OK, Dj Rekha, thank you so much for your time.

R: Thank you!

DJ Rekha's last show in Minneapolis was a major success as hundreds of locals rushed to the Cedar Cultural Center to show their support for both her and DJ Chamun, the Minnesota native, who opened for her. It was a night full of good vibes, great DJ-ing, and of course, plenty of dancing.

If you happen to be in New York this weekend, make sure to attend her final Basement Bhangra show at Central Park, which is free to the public. Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your dancing shoes — you will not be disappointed!

Jeffrey Bissoy-Mattis is a researcher at APM Reports. He's a Twin Cities native by way of Yaoundé, Cameroon. When he's not in the zone researching, you can find him binge-watching Master of None, perfecting Spanish, or working on his podcast, Maintainin', which debuts this summer. Follow him on Twitter @JefeThaNomad.

Resources

DJ Rekha - official site