The Canada-based dance crew, Maritime Bhangra Group, began creating Bhangra-dance videos to raise awareness of their identity. But, as they've gained viral fame, the videos have gained a new purpose.
Who doesn’t love a good, well-choreographed dance video, especially when it's set to catchy Indian Bhangra music (a popular genre that fuses traditional Indian music with Western pop) and the Sikh dancers are adorned by colourful turbans and sport flowing beards?
This latest viral Bhangra video that’s breaking the internet is from Nova Scotia, Canada. And it’s not just the beats and the moves that you will love, but the whole story behind the video.
“We started these Bhangra videos to dispel the ignorance about our identity, and that worked very well," Hasmeet Singh Chandok, co-founder of the group tells SBS Punjabi.
"Then we started working on other issues, and our group has so far raised $300,000 for Syrian refugees and other causes."
Shot on an iPhone, the video of three young turbaned men clearing snow and then breaking into Bhangra moves with shovels in their hands has gone viral on the internet. It has so far gained over 1.5 million views on the Bhangra group’s Facebook page alone, and another half-a-million on their YouTube channel.
Despite this being a low-budget, or no-budget-at-all project, that doesn't mean that the three gregarious Punjabis didn't take it seriously.
Hasmeet Singh tells SBS Punjabi that it wasn’t before the eighth take that the result was up to their liking. He says the dancers braved a bone-chilling minus 30-degree temperature in their short-sleeved tees for hours.
Maritime Bhangra Group Source: Facebook/Maritime Bhangra Group
As Singh explains though, it's not just entertainment. The group dances with a greater purpose. This video has been shot to raise funds for people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, which is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects cells in the brain and the spinal cord.
Hasmeet says when he and his brother arrived in Canada as students in 2013, they had to face some unpleasant incidents due to their different appearance. And that's when they started doing these videos.
Maritime Bhangra Group Source: Facebook/Maritime Bhangra Group
The Bhangra group also works with school students to counter problems faced by students.
“Our group is not-for-profit. We go to different schools we talk to students not just about dance but bullying, racism, rejection in life,” said Hasmeet.
The videos are shot on mobile phones without any sets or professional assistance, but the lack of resources hasn’t deterred the group from delivering one hit video after another.
Maritime Bhangra Group Source: Facebook/Maritime Bhangra Group
“One can find enough excuses, but if you truly want to bring change, all you need is just determination,” said Hasmeet.
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