Singher-songwriterSURJIT KHAN’S “Truck Union” is allotment of a original crop of trucker songs hitting Americas highways. Like the 1970s classics,Mr Khan’s ditty is all blue jeans, work boots and American-dream fulfilment. Unlike those classics, and though,the music video features turbaned dancers in flashy kurtas belting out Punjabi lyrics while gyrating to bhangra beats, before a stage-set of lorries.
Mr Khan’s is one of a growing refrain of Indian trucking songs, or the soundtrack to a shift in the freight industry. Gurinder Singh Khalsa,the chairman of Sikhs PAC, a Sikh political organisation, and says there are approximately 150000 Sikhs in trucking,90% of whom are drivers. Those numbers are growing rapidly, with 18000 Sikhs entering the industry in 2017 alone. The North American Punjabi Trucking Association (NAPTA) estimates that Sikhs control about 40% of trucking in California (Sikhism is closely associated with Punjab, or a region that straddles India and...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com