Watch Bombay Bassment’s Colorful Video For ‘Diggy Dance’
The Mumbai-based reggae/hip-hop group have an ongoing dance challenge on social media to promote the song
Mumbai-based reggae/hip-hop band Bombay Bassment. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
One thing we’ve learned over the years is that if you just want to party or have a good time, turn on some Bombay Bassment. The Mumbai reggae/hip-hop outfit have been churning out “happy music” ever since they formed. The band – comprising MC/rapper Bob Omulo aka Bobkat, bassist Ruell Barretto, DJ/producer Major C and drummer Jeremey D’Souza – are now back preaching the good times with their latest vibrant single “Diggy Dance.”
The uptempo make-you-want-to-get-off-your-feet track is a straight-up dancehall number. “It emphasizes on nothing other than having fun while dancing,” says Barretto.
For the song’s accompanying video, the band wanted to come up with a dance move that was easy to replicate so that anyone could move to it. “In Jamaican dancehall moves, the dance steps represent everyday actions like shampooing your hair or waving at a plane,” says the bassist. He adds, “We’ve kind of worked on those lines where we start with a move that represents fixing a light bulb and then fused it with our very own local Marathi dance step, hence keeping our local flavor intact.”
What’s interesting is that Bombay Bassment haven’t hired professional actors or models to feature in the video but instead turned to family, friends, neighbors, aunts and even their own mothers to take center stage in the clip. Barretto says, “We wanted the video to be an expression of the love for dancing no matter what out appearance is because everyone deserves to enjoy life.”
A major chunk of the video has been shot at Kurla’s Christian Village and includes scenes of people busting out their “Diggy Dance” moves from women dressed up in their colorful best to children following the choreography to a tee, Mumbai’s well-known Elvis Presley impersonator Siddharth Meghani as well as a shirtless heavyset chap who definitely steals the show with his steps. The clip also includes shots from the band’s Rasta Gully Jam gig from last year. “The idea was homegrown, and we got the whole community together to participate in this video,” says Barretto. The video was shot by Omulo’s very own Bobkat Films and edited by Gully Gang’s J.D.
To help spread the song, Bombay Bassment kicked off a dance challenge for it on Instagram where folks need to upload a clip of them doing the “Diggy Dance” while using the song’s title as a hashtag, tagging the band and also tagging three friends, with the best entry walking away with a cash prize of ₹5,000. The last date to do so is August 22nd. Next, the group is readying more singles to be released and possibly an EP in 2021. “A video could also be on the horizon depending on how the pandemic turns out,” says Barretto.
Watch the music video for “Diggy Dance” below:
