New
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Lesson 4 of 5
  • Year 10
  • Edexcel

Bhangra as fusion

I can explain how modern bhangra is a fusion of different styles.

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Lesson 4 of 5
New
New
  • Year 10
  • Edexcel

Bhangra as fusion

I can explain how modern bhangra is a fusion of different styles.

Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and

Copyrights help

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Bhangra has continued to develop as a style, not only in the Punjab but also separately in the UK.
  2. Modern bhangra is a fusion of elements of traditional Punjabi music and Western popular music.
  3. A typical bhangra groove includes chaal on the dhol and a tumbi playing a simple, repeated pattern.
  4. Vocals in bhangra are influenced by Punjabi traditions. They are often microtonal, melismatic and 'bend' between notes.

Keywords

  • Dhol - A dhol is the key instrument of bhangra - a two-headed drum that plays the chaal.

  • Tumbi - A tumbi is a common instrument in bhangra. It is a single-stringed instrument that often plays a repeated riff.

  • Microtonal - If a melody is microtonal it uses notes in between the 12 notes of the Western scale. It uses intervals smaller than a semitone.

  • Melismatic - If singing is melismatic, it means that multiple notes are sung during one syllable of a word.

Common misconception

Bhangra is a style of music from South Asia.

Bhangra in its modern form is an example of musical fusion, between Punjabi traditional bhangra and Western popular styles of music.


To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Bhangra as fusion, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Where possible, encourage the use of authentic bhangra instruments. More advanced DAW software will have dhol and tumbi sounds, but where these aren't available use similar sounds if at all possible, ensuring that pupils are clear that tumbi and dhol are the typical instruments used in bhangra.
Teacher tip

Equipment

DAW and/or class instruments

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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