www.vancouver21.com

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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The Closing Gala Dance Celebration for the 2012 HSBC City of Bhangra concluded a week long festivities at the HSBC Bank of Canada headquarters in Vancouver BC on June 10, 2012. Under the giant Swinging Pendulum, the energetic South Asian Bollywood-styled moves were presented by the HSBC Bhangra Team, a group of HSBC employees with no former training and took only weeks of practicing their dance moves to Punjabi-themed remix music by DJ Rekha. A convincing and winning act!

Gala Closing Bhangra Dance – A Video by Ray Van Eng

HSBC Bank Canada 885 West Georgia Street Vancouver

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New York-based Bikram Singh came to Vancouver to perform South Asian Indian Punjabi song and dance at Downtown Bhangra 2012. The event is organized by the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration (VIBC) Society and is part of the City of Bhangra Festival from May 31 to June 10, 2012. The HSBC Bank Canada sponsored festival offers free concerts and dance performances in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) and ticketed events at the W2 Media Café, the HSBC Pendulum Gallery and other venues. Featured performers included Anakh E Gabroo, A-Slam, Indanation, Bikram Singh, Luv Randhawa, UNC Bhangra Elite, Panj Girls etc.

Once again, it is Bollywood in Vancouver!

VIDEO – Bikram Singh at City of Bhangra 2012

Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver BC

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The South Asian song and dance are getting more and more popular these days. Here is a performer that is very unique in this genre. Anita Lerche is from Denmark but she sings and dances Bollywood songs very well. In this video that I have photographed, she sang two very popular Hindi songs in the Punjabi language – Gori and Mela. The video has become one of Lerche’s most popular clips on Youtube which have attracted more than 7,000 views so far and going up everyday.

In May 2010, we had the Downtown Bhangra event in Vancouver or otherwise known as VIBC (Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration) and that was when this Danish Bollywood sensation came to perform. There was a Sawan Mela South Asian Summer Festival back in June too. I look forward to any South Asian shows in the future in this city. The next major South Asian festival in town would likely be desiFEST in April 2011. Can’t wait.

VIDEO – Anita Lerche’s Bollywood act in Vancouver

Vancouver Art Gallery, West Georgia Street, Vancouver BC

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The 8th annual Sawan Mela (or South Asian Summer Festival) is held on June 12-13, 2010. It’s a free-for-all outdoor family-oriented event organized by the South Asian Family Association (SAFA) that celebrates the South Asian culture and to promote harmony and understanding among different segments of the Canadian society. This year’s event take place at Lumberman’s Arch in Stanley Park. It was a sunny and beautiful Saturday on June 12 when these photos were taken. Enjoy and celebrate diversity.

Sawan Mela. Group portrait of Indian female dancers.

Sawan Mela. Colorful Indian fashion and bangles.

Sawan Mela. Four Indian young men in traditional men’s wedding clothes.

Sawan Mela. Lady in traditional Indian sari wedding gown.

Sawan Mela. Bollywood style song and dance.

Sawan Mela. Merchant shows off Tibetan shawl/blanket made of Yak wool in Dharamsala.

Sawan Mela. Leila Khakbaz of One Leaf and her own designer leather handbags www.oneleaf.ca

Sawan Mela. Gillisha at Eye Candy Cosmetics – www.eyekandycosmetics.ca

Sawan Mela. Mandy and her partywear dresses at Criminal Eyes – www.criminaleyes.ca

Sawan Mela. essica with Eye Kandy Cosmestics products – www.eyekandycosmetics.ca

Sawan Mela. Indian cushions at the marketplace

Sawan Mela. Earrings made with recycled papers.

Sawan Mela. Time to eat. South Asian family gathering.

Sawan Mela. Tandoori chicken cooking.

Sawan Mela. Lemonade drinks to wash down all that spicy food.

Sawan Mela. Lady in traditional sari wedding dress.

Sawan Mela. Balloon making at RJ1200 (AM1200), It’s The New Apna Thing.

Sawan Mela. traditional South Asian sari wedding gown.

Sawan Mela. Indian sari how-to demonstration.

Sawan Mela. South Asian jewelry.

Sawan Mela. Indian shoes with curled tips.


Sawan Mela 2010, Lumberman’s Arch, Stanley Park, Vancouver BC


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Let’s hope the weather turns sunny for the next two days so Vancouverites can enjoy the 8th annual Sawan Mela 2010 at Stanley Park Lumberman’s Arch. Otherwise known as the South Asian Summer Festival, the event is scheduled for June 12 and 13. it is a FREE for all with much Bollywood shenanigans, Hindi and Punjabi songs and dance, food et al. Everyone is invited. There are even shuttle bus services at the Skytrain Burrard Station that will take you to the site at Lumberman’s Arch during festival hours. Organized by the South Asian Family Association. Check out their Facebook page for event schedules and details.

June 12 & June 13 (Sat & Sun) Sawan Mela 2010, 2950 Stanley Park Dr. Vancouver BC

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Danish Bollywood sensation Anita Lerche in May 07, 2010 Downtown Bhangra




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Enjoy the front-row seat view of a performance by Danish Hindu Punjabi sensation Anita Lerche at the Downtown Bhangra on May 07, 2010. Bollywood Indian song and dance, not in Mumbai India, but on the streets of Vancouver BC Canada. Lerche is a singer/songwriter from Denmark. She is the first non South Asian performer to have released a solo album in the Punjabi language. A perfect follow-up to the excitement created by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. With SFBC dancers and dhol drummer Menpel Rana. This is the seventh year of the Downtown Bhangra, a new form of Vancouver entertainment that is growing in popularity.

Richmond’s diverse population is well served by a wide variety of churches and temples. All the world’s major religious beliefs are represented here on a short strip of the #5 Road in the city.

Come to the “Highway to Heaven” as this Richmond roadway is called and you can witness multiculturalism in action in the different houses of God. Muslim mosques, Asian Kwun Yin temples, Buddhist enlightenment schools and places of worships for South Asians, Christians, Jews etc. can all be found here.

In 2007, CBC’s The National and CBC Radio One Sounds Like Canada selected Richmond’s No. 5 Road as one of the 52 finalists in the Seven Wonders of Canada contest that also included other iconic places and symbols such as the igloo, Niagara Falls, CN Tower etc.

In the end though, Richmond’s #5 Road lost out to even Vancouver’s UBC Wreck Beach where devotees of the back-to-nature religious faith beat the pants off everyone in their own group as well.

As the saying goes, to be included is already an honor. The #5 Road in Richmond, BC should be proud.