#2004: The Word "Fusion"

Indians like to use the term "Fusion" when referring to either food, music or dance.

When used in the context of food, Fusion means a mixture of two or more cuisines. Fusion themed restaurants, which commonly have the words "Buddha" or "Bamboo" in their titles, sprouted in the early naughts but have since devolved from trendy night spots to arenas for after work speed-dating sessions.



When used in the context of music, Fusion means a hybrid of disparate sounds often times from regions of the world not immediately associated with each other. For instance, Jazz/Country would not be widely considered Fusion; it would be called Alison Krauss. Bhangra/Broadway, or Bhangway, on the other hand, would be considered Fusion. Indian Fusion bands are usually some mixture of Indian pop, Electronic and Funk, however, because they're formed by a sitar/bassist who listened to too much David Byrne.

When used in the context of dance, Fusion means the interplay of Eastern and Western styles. Unfortunately, to practitioners of Fusion dance the only Eastern and Western styles of dance are Bhangra and Hip-Hop, respectively. Fusion dances, therefore, usually involve girls not talented enough to participate in classical dance, guys desperate to demonstrate embarrassingly limited hip-hop skills, and underwhelming performances relying too heavily on remixes. Fusion dances also often times have Fusion dance names such as, "Kabhi Kushi, Never Gham" and "Kal Ho Na Ya Di'nt."