Vancouver Celebrates Diwali is back for its 9th annual festival of contemporary and classical South Asian arts & culture.
Following several community workshops across Vancouver, Diwali Downtown promises to illuminate Vancouver with eclectic and colourful South Asian cultural displays and performances that celebrate the past and burst into the future.
Diwali Downtown is on Saturday November 10th and runs from 3PM to 8PM at the Roundhouse Community Centre.
The venue will also host an Indian bazaar featuring South Asian crafts and food, a room-sized rangoli, a video display of community responses to the question ‘What is Diwali?’, and plenty of Diwali crafts for young and old.
This year’s Vancouver Celebrates Diwali is set to end outdoors with the grand finale Sticks & Skins, a drum explosion featuring percussion styles from across the globe, accompanied by a procession of candlelit diya lanterns, the traditional symbol of Diwali to end the “festival of light” in style.
For more information go to www.vandiwali.ca/events.
Babu Kishan is known as an innovator of Fusion Music in India, and can trace his performing roots back to India in the 1970s working with the family of the great Ravi Shankar. Babu Kishan's well-know musician father Purna Das Baul was one of the leading visionaries in exporting Indian culture to the world in the 1950s. Babukishan is the first person to cross over from a Baul (Lineage Yogic Tantric Bards) to Indian Classical, Folk, Bollywood and International Fusion Music. Outside of India he has composed and performed Fusion Music with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, poet Allen Ginsberg, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and many more.
Amika Kushwaha presents a Kathak solo recital with live accompaniment by Cassius Khan and Akhil Jobanputra. The performance showcases the spontaneity between Amika’s Kathak dance and Cassius Khan’s tabla while Akhil glues the two together on the harmonium. Amika's specialty is her uncanny intuition on stage; from her darting eyes to her quick feet, able to create intricate patterns and interweave this dance form with literally any form of music. Cassius Khan is an internationally renowned master performer of ghazal and tabla. Akhil Jobanputra is a young and talented Indian Classical vocal student of Pandit Jasraj.
Lapis is the creation of Mohamed Assani and Rup Sidhu. Mohamed Assani is a celebrated sitarist with a unique sound. He is widely known for his authentic raga performances as well as his creative ability to adapt his instrument to different genres, and has recently settled in Vancouver. Rup Sidhu specializes in bhangra, dancehall & hip hop. Their paths crossed when they collaborated on a sound track for the National Film Board and thus began their creative adventure. Their mutual love of live music and improvisation forms the basis for their music.
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