The most immediately noticeable thing about the bhangra bashes at Club Elixir is the harvest of movie-star-handsome men.
These are not Hollywood types, but more rightfully the kind of dark leading men found in the constant stream of cheesy romance films out of Bombay or New Delhi.
At Club Elixir, they’re young, with thick, black hair and alabaster teeth, dressed in fine linen shirts and loose pants with pleats. They wear beepers clipped to their belts, almost to a fault, sometimes accompanied by a sleek, paper-thin cell phone. Their smiles are broad, inviting, their manners impeccable.
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The women, quite frankly, don’t fare as well. They all seem like the kinds of girls who got straight A’s in high school, not because they were brilliant but because they knew how to follow instructions. At Elixir, they sport matching shoes and handbags, perfect manicures. They’re not bitchy; they seem more lost, perhaps uncomfortable.
Which is too bad, because bhangra nights, increasingly more frequent at places like Club Elixir and the Funky Buddha Lounge, are rare rhythm parties that should help free the soul. Bhangra is what happens when traditional music from the Punjab region of India meets reggae, pop, ska, hip-hop and techno: It’s a beat-intensive, often trance-like, psychedelic experience.
Bhangra originated as a phenomenon in the U.K., where the bashes had a rave-like, anarchist feel and young people danced until the morning light.
But at Club Elixir, where the dance parties are organized by a crew of very dapper East Indian medical professionals (honest), it’s a little different. For starters, there’s a dress code: No sneakers or torn jeans. And while the audience is mixed, most of the Indo-Pakistani dancers seem to empty the floor during the bhangra tunes, coming back, fresh from their toilettes and with new drinks in hand, once good ol’ common house is spinning again.
“Our audience consists primarily of second-generation professionals and students of East Indian origin,” says Bal Nandra, an anesthesiologist and assistant professor at the University of Chicago Hospitals who is part of Divine Productions Inc., the group that puts on the shows. “Our First Friday events at the Funky Buddha Lounge have evolved into a very ethnically and culturally diverse scene. Many of our patrons live in the Chicago area, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.”
But, as if to emphasize that the gigs are upscale, he quickly adds, “Our audience typically finds out about our events via e-mail, mailers and postings on various Web sites.” Divine Productions was conceived two years ago in response to what Nandra — a sinewy, turbaned hunk — and his pals saw as a need to further develop a networking or social circle within the East Indian community.
“As all concepts, things took time to develop, but persistence and cohesiveness have allowed us success for some time now,” he says. “It just so happened that at the beginning of our journey, bhangra music was becoming somewhat popular and was invading the U.S.”
More recently, Nandra and company have been experimenting with live music, integrating the sounds of the local Indo-funk and reggae band Funk-a-desi into the First Friday events Divine sponsors at the Funky Buddha. The next one is Sept. 4 and will feature the sounds of Maninder Singh on tabla-percussion and Rahul Sharma on sitar-bass guitar.
At Club Elixir, there is plenty of room to work up a sweat (though few do), what with two floors, three bars, a pool table and an outdoor balcony. The atmosphere is relaxed, with folks lounging throughout the club, leaning against the bar or the exposed brick walls. Rich, red velvet drapes add a nice touch. On the walls, there’s a constant slide show of patron snapshots taken on other nights. Everything has the glaring feel of a Polaroid, but no one seems to mind or to find anything ironic about the blatant self-reference. In any case, service is friendly, quick, although the drink prices are a tad high.
Deejays at Club Elixir — the very heart of bhangra (the genre’s big stars tend to be mixmasters like Bally Sagoo) — are proficient and creative, but most of their innovation is for naught: The crowd prefers the known hits from Puff Daddy and Mary J. Blige, the heavier beats of American urban soul. Too bad, because bhangra’s frantic drive, its giddy, high pitches and claps, can give all that a run for its money.
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the facts
Fridays, 10 p.m.-4 a.m., Saturdays, 10 p.m.-5 a.m., Club Elixir, 325 N. Jefferson St. For additional information about special events or shows at other venues, e-mail [email protected] or call 312-540-6733.