DJ Rekha (born Rekha Malhotra, 1971) is a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-born

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, DJ, producer, curator, activist. They have been credited with pioneering

Bhangra Bhangra may refer to: * Bhangra (music), a genre of Punjabi music * Bhangra (dance), a folk dance of Punjab region * ''Bhangra'' (film), a 1959 Indian Punjabi-language film See also * Bhangara, Nepal Bhangara, Nepal is a village development c ...

music in North America. Their first album, ''DJ Rekha Presents Basement Bhangra'', released in October 2007 on

Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch"), formerly known as Koch Records and Entertainment One (eOne) Music/Records, is an American independent record label and music management company based in New York City. It was formed in 1987 as a music div ...

, fuses the Indian genre of bhangra music with international

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and drum beats.

Early life

DJ Rekha spent the first year of their life in London, and the following three years in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. They credit this time in India as critical for exposure to

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

, the primary language of bhangra. They returned to London briefly until their family moved to

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. DJ Rekha spent most of their adolescence in

Westbury, Long Island Westbury is a village in the town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Westbury area. The population was 15,404 at the time of t ...

and currently lives in Jackson Heights, Queens. They graduated from

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

with a degree in

Urban Studies Urban studies is based on the study of the urban development of cities and regions—it makes up the theory portion of the field of urban planning. This includes studying the history of city development from an architectural point of view, to th ...

while simultaneously experimenting and honing their craft on the

turntables A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

Music

DJ Rekha launched a monthly event known as Basement Bhangra at

SOB's SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold opened SOB's in June 1982 with the purpose of exposing the music of the Afro-Latino d ...

Varick Street __NOTOC__ Varick Street runs north–south primarily in the Hudson Square district of Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. Varick Street's northern terminus is in the West Village, where it is a continuation of Seventh Avenue South sout ...

. From 1997 - 2017, Basement Bhangra popularized the traditional-modern bhangra blend, making the genre a part of the NYC

club scene A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

. The final 20th anniversary show was held at Central Park's Summerstage on August 6, 2017. DJ Rekha has brought South Asian music to New York by spinning at events like P.S. 1's Warm Up Series, Central Park's

Summerstage The City Parks Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization that provides free arts, sports, education, and community-building programs in parks across New York City. Founded in 1989, the Foundation operates in more than 400 parks, recre ...

Prospect Park’s Celebrate Brooklyn
Brooklyn Museum's First Saturdays, and the annual flagship

Loving Day Loving Day is an annual celebration held on June 12, the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision ''Loving v. Virginia'' that struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states. In the United States, ...

celebration held in New York City. They arranged the music for ''

Bridge and Tunnel Bridge and Tunnel (often abbreviated B&T or BNT) is a term – often used pejoratively – to describe people who live in communities surrounding the island of Manhattan in New York City, and commute to it for work or entertainment. It refers to ...

'', the ony Awardwinning Off-Broadway show. ''Newsweek'' recognized them as one of the most influential South Asians in the US, and they have received accolades from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, ''The Fader'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', among others. Their debut album, ''DJ Rekha Presents Basement Bhangra'', is a 17 track mix CD with four exclusive tracks including two original productions from Rekha. In this album, DJ Rekha collaborated with

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

Panjabi MC Rajinder Singh Rai (born February 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Panjabi MC, is an English recording artist, rapper, record producer and DJ. He is best known for the worldwide Bhangra 2002 hit " Mundian To Bach Ke", which sold 10 m ...

, and Bikram Singh, among others. The album weaves Punjabi folk traditions, dance hall rhythms from the U.S., U.K. and

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, and DJ techniques that are 100% New York. Since 2010, DJ Rekha has hosted 'Bhangra and Beyond', a weekly radio show on BTRtoday.

Equipment

Turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

* Roland SP-808 sampler

Entrepreneur

In 2000, DJ Rekha founded Sangament (sangam is

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

for "confluence" — a place where two rivers flow together), a production company that produces live concerts and provides music consulting services to record labels, cultural institutions, media companies, and corporations. DJ Rekha produces live events and her monthly parties, Basement Bhangra and Bollywood Disco through Sangament, Inc. DJ Rekha founded Basement Bhangra in 1997 in New York. It occurred on the first Thursday of every month and became an international phenomenon, drawing an extremely diverse audience. It started with dance lessons and then turned into a dance party. It received international press, being featured on the cover of Billboard magazine and in Dutch and Japanese television.

References

External links