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Diwali means the festival of light. The organizers of the Vancouver DIWALI 2012 (Nov 09, 2012) adopted the slogan “Light Your Spirit” to celebrate the universal light that exists in all of us. Enlightenment would perhaps be appropriate as well.

The evening’s programming included a number of highly sought-after dance and music acts from the Canadian South Asian community.

First up is the Chaniya Chokries Vancouver Garba Dance team at the Roundhouse Community Center in downtown Vancouver’s Yaletown on Nov 10, 2012. The dance story is the telling of the widely-known and popular Radha & Krishna tale that has long been an Indian folklore. The Chaniya Chokries dancers are Vancouver’s newest Garba dance team coming from a national competition in Canada where they placed first in their category.

Other performers included Merlyn Prakash, South Asian Arts from Panj Bhangra, Sangeeta Maruti, Amika Kushwaha, Lapis, Kathak + Flamenco Fusion, DJ A-Slam + Kytami, Vancity Bhangra, Shaimak Vancouver Bollywood Dance Team. Fusion seems to be a key concept and there are no shortages of cross-cultural collaboration between artists from very different backgrounds and artistic disciplines within this group.

To top off the evening at 8:30 PM, a band of percussionists brought together by Sal Ferreras lead the audience outside onto the ground where the old Engine 374 came to rest at the roundhouse which was renovated 26 years before in 1986 when the city of Vancouver celebrated its 100 years of incorporation. The locomotive engine now lies inside a glassy museum nearby.

There, band members played a variety of instruments including Bhangra drums, Taiko, Brazilian bongos and others. Many in the audience stood on their feet and danced enthusiastically as if to release some of the pent-up energy gathered from the night’s powerfully rhythmic beats and vibrant writhing bodily moves from many of the South Asian dance numbers earlier.

Once again, it is what this writer would proclaim ‘Bollywood in Vancouver’. Live!!

Shiamak Vancouver Bollywood Dance [A Video by Ray Van Eng | www.vancouver21.com ]

Chaniya Chokries Garba Girls Team [A Video by Ray Van Eng | www.vancouver21.com ]

Amika Kushwaha + Cassius Khan [A Video by Ray Van Eng | www.vancouver21.com ]

DJ A-Slam + Kytami [A Video by Ray Van Eng | www.vancouver21.com ]

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Ray Van Eng is an award-winning photographer, screenwriter, journalist, Internet publisher and movie/video producer. One of his videos is currently on view at the Hava Nagila Exhibit, Museum of Jewish heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York from Sep 2012 to May 2013.

181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver BC, Canada

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Ali Milner, a Cover Me Canada Finalist, performed a Neil Young cover ‘After the Gold Rush’ at the Canada Fest 2012 on Aug 04, 2012. Canada Fest 2012 at Canada Place in Vancouver was a showcase community event to highlight Canadian culture and a celebration to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Milner played the piano and sang solo throughout the entire set as she sang songs that she wrote herself such as I Wanna Be Loved By You and covers like Whose ‘Bed Have Your Boots Been Under’ by Shania Twain and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’.

Judging from the singer/songwriters whose work that Milner often covers which include Alannah Myles (Black Velvet), Avril Lavigne (Complicated), Jann Arden (Insensitive), Joni Mitchell (Both Sides Now), Paul Anka (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) etc., you do get an idea where she comes from musically.

Soft rocky, bluesy, soulful and very Canadian. Enjoy!

VIDEO – Ali Milner – ‘After the Gold Rush’

VIDEO – Ali Milner –‘I Wanna be Loved by You’

800 Canada Place Vancouver BC

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Edgar Muenala played the flute while a First Nations dancer performed an American Indian fancy shawl dance at A Window To The World 世界之窗 concert in Vancouver’s Granville Island Stage on June 24, 2012.

Edgar Muenala was born in Ecuador and has been living in Vancouver Canada and traveling the world to perform for more than 20 years. He was inspired by his native South American music and Asian culture and wanted to create a fusion of sounds that brought together different traditional instruments and a diversity of rhythms and electronic digital effects to form his own contemporary style.

A Video by Ray Van Eng – Edgar Muenala & Native American Dance

1800 Johnston Street, Vancouver BC

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The Zhambai Trio performed at The Drive on Car-Free Day Vancouver 2012. Instead of vehicle traffic, freedom and creativity roam. It affects everyone. Grown-ups played like kids on the street. Pedestrians stroll leisurely along the yellow line. African bongo drum, marimba and percussion music filled the air.

Band members include Kurai Mubaiwa (from Zimbabwe), Curtis Andrews and Navaro Franco.

VIDEO – Zhambai Trio @ The Drive

1200 Commercial Drive, Vancouver Canada

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Appearing as part of a preview of the CelticFest 2012 on March 10, 2012, The Gothard Sisters from Seattle, WA performed a number of tunes including Scotland The Brave, Scarborough Fair (an old British folk song turned Simon and Garfunkel classic) and others at The Village in Vancouver’s Southeast Falsecreek, site of the former Olympic athletes residents of 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Other bands also making an appearance included Lorne Warr & The Streels, Good For Grapes, Jocelyn Pettit Band. Many of them will also perform later in the main events of the Celtic festival in Vancouver from Mar 14-18, 2012. The week long celebration festivities end with a St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown Vancouver on Sunday.

VIDEO – CelticFest 2012, The Gothard Sisters

Dear Vancouver 21 Readers,

I have arrived in Shanghai China yesterday (Aug 26, 2011) travelling with the 2011 World Music Fashion Festival (WMFF). We shall visit 5 cities in China. First stop is Shanghai and will stay here until the end of August and then we shall fly up north to Dalian and onto other cities.

Organized by Empress Media of Vancouver, WMFF comes to China to put on a music and fashion festival to introduce to the Chinese audience an international cast of musicians and fashion designers. Two musical acts will perform here – Isis Salam and Behind Sapphire. Designers includes Canada`s own Evan Biddell, Fala Chien and Paul Hardy. U.S. fashion line Juma and Arido and from Korea Kyuin Chae are also featured.

As access to YOUTUBE is not possible from my hotel. I shall likely be able to post photos and stories and save the videos for later when I get back to Vancouver in a month`s time.

Please be patient with me and most importantly, I like to take this opprtunity to thank all of you very much for the support in the past which was very much appreciated but rarely got the chance to say it.

Take care everyone and we`ll meet each other online soon.

Best,

Ray Van Eng
Publisher-Reporter

Kokoma African Heritage Ensemble is a Vancouver based African dance and drum performance group is founded by MaObong Oku from Nigeria. The musical journey of Kokoma sustains ancient rhythms and dances of Africa imbued with rich poetic mythos and imageries of the coastal people of Nigeria. Kokoma African Heritage Ensemble displays wisdom and dignity in their performances as they captivate audiences with their high-energy and interactive performances that excite the audience’s eyes, engage their spirits and energize their souls.

VIDEO – Kokoma African Heritage at Canada Place

Canada Place, Vancouver BC

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This is the FIRST EVER concert that Vitas has performed in Vancouver, Canada at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond, BC on February 03, 2011. Vitas sang in different languages: Italian (Nessun Dorma, O Sole Mio, La Donna Mobile, Ave Maria), Chinese (The Tibetan Plateau) and, of course, Russian where the singer is from. The concert is a brand new production named Sleepless Nights and Vitas is being branded as an ‘Artist Who You Have Been Waiting For.’

The high octave operatic style of music has that unique Vitas showmanship coupled with a genuine desire to please the audience which made him such an international star who has sold more than 100 million CDs worldwide. In his official Russian web site, Vitas is known as an author/composer/actor.

[Please note: This music video of Vitas’s first ever concert in Vancouver is only available at Vancouver21.com. http://www.vancouver21.com A special thank you to the Vitas producers for making this exlusive arrangement possible. Video producer: Ray Van Eng.]
VIDEO – VITAS LIVE in Vancouver.

River Rock SHow Theatre 8811 River Road, Richmond, BC

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Famous Australian and British TV entertainer Rolf Harris came to Vancouver in 1961 and he had since then returned to this westcoast Canadian city again and again. In fact, Harris wrote a song called Vancouver Town as an ode to the city. At the PNE 2010 fairgrounds on Aug 26, 2010, with Dal Richards conducting his orchestra, Harris sang an updated Vancouver Town version to include current events and politicians such as the unpopular HST, Mayor Gregor Robertson while some older favorites such as Jimmy Pattison, Grace McCarthy stayed on. The BC Lions was down under and that ain’t Australia either. Oh yeah, The Canucks and Stanley Cup too. English Bay was praised, the venerable Lions Gate Bridge was not. First Nations and native affairs provided satire while heritage buildings, Skytrain, SeaBus and Canada Line all helped paint a colorful setting for the city that Harris liked so much. Harris’s Aussie humor was so hilarious that he grinded down the microphone almost to the ground. I am not kiddiing.

VIDEO—Rolf Harris Updated Vancouver Town Song

PNE, 3000 East Hastings Street Vancouver BC

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On Aug 13-15, 2010, thousands of fairgoers traversed the altered reality universe at the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver to attend the 8th Annual Anime Evolution 2010. It is a youth culture out there and a Japanese one in particular brought about by anime, animation, manga, comic books, video games, film, music and multimedia. It is an event that your next door neighbor boys and girls in the community dressed up to participate in Cosplay (short for costume play). Although most of the youths were from the Lower Mainland, some were from Calgary, Alberta, Washington state and globally as well. According to the organizers, over 75% of the attendees are no more than 25 years of age. Plenty of heroes and villains in resin, plastic, vinyl and styrene. Lots of Lolitas and boy toys around. Quite a number of them got to live out their own fantasy character that they have created for themselves. Entertainment included live music, DJs, and even an Anime Idol singing competition. Battle angels, fairytale at world’s end, delinquents, Otaku, zombies, Kung-Fu, martial arts, swordplay, Kenjutsu, ninjas, love triangles, manhua, mercenaries, magic girls, wonderland, vampires, cosmic warriors, galactic royalties, zinger, mermaids, harem, Android, you name it and even a Private of the Caribbean or two. Anime Evolution 2010 is where Japanese and western popular culture, fantasy and yes, real life meet.









































2076 Westbrook Mall, UBC, Vancouver BC

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