Balbir has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to Bhangra Music and to Punjabi Culture. His Bhujhangy Group has been recognised by the Guinness World Records 2022 for performing continuously for an incredible 55 years.
‘Bhujhangy’ meaning child, a name established for two very young brothers in 1964, Balbir and Dalbir. In 1964, Balbir and Dalbir were called the ‘Bhujhangy Jhata’ at their local Sikh temple – Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick. It was here that they met music teacher Mr Darshan Singh Bhogal, who taught Sikh history, alongside teaching young students the Indian tabla and harmonium. The ‘Bhujhangy’ brothers started to sing religious hymns accompanied by the tabla and harmonium across UK temples and started to build quite a following. They mainly performed at the Smethwick Gurdwara Sikh temple, which was the first Gurdwara built in Europe – and this is where their journey began.
Singing in temples has always been the forefront of Bhujhangy’s career. From all over UK, Bhujhangy had thousands of fans wanting to hear their fresh new sounds. In 1967, they recorded their very own EP called ‘Teri Chiti Nu Parah’ in Uxbridge, London Studio’s with producers Sukhi and Gurnam. 100 copies of this EP were recorded and distributed in local jukeboxes around the Midlands by hand.
As time went on, Balbir and the late Dalbir Singh Khanpur used their experiences from their homeland of India and the UK to build a foundation in the UK as pioneers of Bhangra Music. They continued to release over 300 songs which were a mixture of religious songs, Gurbani Shabads, Quwalli and Panjabi/Urdu Gazals, Panjabi folk songs, Hindi songs, classical songs and Panjabi Bhangra music.
