Bhangra bash!

If you tune into KBOO Community Radio every Tuesday night, you may have heard electronic rhythms, global beats and the sounds of urban folk converge through your speakers. This is the world of DJ Anjali and her collaborator, The Incredible Kid.

Aside from spreading the good word of global electronic music via the radio waves and throwing down her own mixes, Anjali is also putting her talent to good use, helping house the homeless a world away.
“indiaBUILDS is an amazing cause,” Anjali said. “Who doesn’t dream of dropping everything and going to help those in need?”

For almost a decade, Anjali has been moving through Portland’s club scene, holding down a residency at the Fez Ballroom along with The Incredible Kid, all the while bringing a bit of south-Asian feel to the music she exhibits. Her musical enthusiasm also extends to dance, which she flaunts with ease. It is not uncommon to find Anjali hitting the dance floor to inspire others to get their groove on.

“I’ve been DJing for nine years,” Anjali said. “And studying a variety of dance forms for twice as many years.”
Though electronically transposed, her music has a very natural and organic sense to it, almost as if much of it retains the folk essence it draws upon.

This Thursday, Anjali plans to shake up Lola’s Room in a benefit for Habitat For Humanity’s indiaBUILDS, a program aimed at a goal of building basic housing for 50,000 families in India. All proceeds from Thursday’s concert will go toward funding the volunteers for indiaBUILDS.

“I’d love to be building houses for families in India,” Anjali said. “But dance and music are where my talents are best served, so why not combine both passions?”

According to their Web site, Habitat for Humanity’s indiaBUILDS is a five-year effort to provide housing in India before the end of 2011. This March, over 100 volunteers from around the world will join together with the help of another Habitat for Humanity program, the Women Build Initiative. Over the program’s entire run to date, more than 1 million volunteers have been utilized for the effort. The homes built range from 240 square feet to 360 square feet.

In other words, your money spent at the show will be doing a hell of a lot of good.

In addition to DJ Anjali’s compositions of bhangra and Bollywood beats, the DJ herself will be giving bhangra and gidda dance lessons before the party commences.

“Bhangra is a household word around Portland thanks to the efforts of my partner, The Incredible Kid, and I,” Anjali said. “Gidda is a lesser-known form of Punjabi folk music and dance, but just as energetic and infectious! I’ll be giving dance lessons in both styles this Thursday.”