ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief account of bhangra, its presence in Ashmead, and its interethnic spread. Bhangra is a form of folk music and dance closely associated with the harvest festival of Vaisakhi, performed and enjoyed by Panjabi of Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Jain and Christian orientations throughout the India-Pakistan borderlands. Panjabi crossing is part of a set of recreational activities which appeared to decline rather than increase in their influence as adolescents got older, and black and white adolescents simply drew Panjabi into familiar breaktime practices as an auxiliary element. Winning, losing and deception were essential elements in the inter-ethnic relationship involved in Panjabi crossing, and to facilitate the play, bilinguals were quite happy to converge towards the rudimentary competence of their monolingual friends. In different ways, both bhangra and sound system events involved a fairly close relationship between performers and audience.
