Interview with A Bhangra Mobile DJ Naveen Sharma

0:00 I'd like a little bit more information on Bhangra and how else

Alright, here we go. Alright ladies and gentlemen, I'm on Skype now to a gentleman by the name of Naveen who is Indian, he plays Bhangra music, he plays Bollywood style music. I've known this guy for quite a few years, he's a very good guy, he's got a big heart and the last time I met him we were in Vegas. So I have, as you know, I've done quite a few videos or a few on sort of Bhangra. Now I'd like a little bit more information on Bhangra and how else... To get it, then contact and ask a guy like this. So, Naveen, if you'd just like to introduce yourself. Thank you, John. And yes, it was a pleasure to see you last week in Vegas. Like John said, my name is Naveen Sharma. I've been a DJ since 1997 and I primarily specialize in Indian weddings and events. We do Bangla music, Bollywood music, and Western music, Top 40 hip-hop dance, etc. I'm in Michigan in the United States.

But we travel all over the country, United States, Canada, even international locations. Alright, tell me Naveen, now, over, well I suppose western style music, we play all different kinds of genres, but, I mean it's a bit of a shame actually because I've never been to a proper Indian style wedding, I'd love to go to one, but I've seen them sort of on television and what I have seen... is that the vibe seems to be up in the sky continually. It seems to be full of energy and the music just pumps out energy. Can you maybe give a bit of insight into what it's like for the people who've never been, like myself, to an Indian-style wedding? What it's like? It is very high energy. It's very colorful. A lot of people use that to describe, but yes, it's very high energy. You know, an average event might have 300 to 500 guests.

2:26 You know, six hours or five hours of a reception

You have the parents, and then you have the college kids and the younger kids, so all different generations. Our events typically will start at 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. They go all the way up until 12 or 1 in the night. So you're there the whole day. You have different events, the reception, the wedding, the brat, which is the parade, which is outdoors, Indian drapers. There's so much involved with an Indian wedding. It's not just... You know, six hours or five hours of a reception. Yeah. And then you have the whole day and then there's even events the day before. Yeah. You know, it sometimes becomes a whole weekend. It's definitely a big production. How does it compare? What are the differences between a Western-style wedding and, you know, an Indian-style wedding? Well, I'll give you a quick example. The last Western wedding I did a few months ago, you know, the guest showed up at 6 o'clock.

4:52 Style weddings, main differences, bangra style

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you have lunch, then you have a break from say 2 to 5 o'clock, and the guests around 6 o'clock for cocktails. The doors open at 7. You have your introductions, you have your speeches, you have some performances, you have like full video slideshows. You have a number of speeches from friends and bridesmaids and groomsmen and cousins. And dinner, and then once dinner ends and you have your dancing, which can go anywhere from 10 p.m. all the way up to 1 a.m. And in those three hours you're playing the Bollywood, the background and then some of the western music as well. Alright, when we were in Vegas last you mentioned one thing that I thought I like, I like that.

It was that you, well whether it's just your weddings that you do but I'm pretty sure you meant everyone's, is that the guests like the music to change every couple of minutes so you don't, am I right in saying you won't play an extended version of a track? There's so many Bungra songs, so many Bollywood songs and then Western but oh yeah yep I mean if you are playing the whole track you're gonna lose the floor people are going to come up to you and say hey change in music so okay you gotta keep your toes you gotta you gotta keep the crowd going the whole evening. Keep it going all right is it possible then If, what I'll do is I'll put Naveen's info in the description of this video.

Can people get hold of you, subscribe to your channel and maybe get hold of you if they need any more information on Bollywood sort of Bangra style weddings? Sure, of course. You know, we have the upcoming Las Vegas DJ show in September. I'm going to be a presenter there. I'm going to be talking about Indian weddings, cultures, education, language.

You know, the different do's and don'ts that may come up if you're available. I do have a YouTube channel and we'll put the links in the description. It's just youtube.com slash Naveen4NSC. I also have Facebook, facebook.com slash DJ Naveen Productions. So if you ever need any consultation, if you ever get a call for an Indian wedding, we'd love to help you out. And if you can make it out to Vegas in September, then you can... Enjoy our seminar and learn more about our weddings. And I appreciate you taking some time to chat with me today, John. Great, okay, let me think, what else can I ask you? So, what do you think are the main differences, or what is one or two main differences between the Western style and the Bangor style weddings? What are the main differences, do you feel? Well, I think the main difference is that they rely a lot on us as the DJ, the MC, the performer.

To lead them, to direct them. Oftentimes I'll talk to my clients one or two times. Sometimes we don't even meet because they're busy with work or school. They're in different states. So they rely heavily on me for the planning and for the music selection and just helping them direct everything. Sometimes you don't have access to the bride and groom. Sometimes you're working with the parents or other family members. It's a little bit different with the Indian community versus, I guess you can say, the Western community that they just rely on us a lot. And in 17 years experience, I've seen it done at all, so I kind of bring that element and I explain it to my clients. If you don't have time for planning and all that, don't worry, I will take care of everything.

Okay, fantastic. Alright, we'll cut it here. Naveen, it's been an absolute pleasure. Again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do want any more information on Indian style weddings, Bollywood style, don't hesitate. Contact this guy. I will be doing more tutorials to do with Bangra style music and I am going to be working closely with Naveen. I know very little about Bangra style music and Naveen is going to help me to choose the correct tracks to use in my tutorials and at the same time The two of us are going to work together to hopefully inspire and teach you people out there the joy of Bangra and how uplifting it is. And it's full of energy, isn't it, mate? Full of energy. The Bangra as well as the Bollywood music too. We'll do some tutorials on that. It's definitely full of energy. I mean, it's great music, great beats. Great. Alright, I'm going to finish off and you can say a little bit. Practice and... Enjoy. Thank you, Naveen. Thank you. Take care.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.