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‘Tons of #BhangraLove’ at Surrey-focused City of Bhangra Festival this year

Six-day festival at venues in Surrey and Vancouver from June 11 to 17
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This year’s City of Bhangra Festival includes more events happening in Surrey than in the past, including its signature Downtown Bhangra showcase.

The six-day festival promises “tons of #BhangraLove” from June 11 to 17, with more than 350 performers featured at venues in both Surrey and Vancouver.

On June 17, the free, day-long Downtown Bhangra event moves to Surrey City Hall Plaza for the first time, featuring “world-class headliners, local bhangra teams, talented B.C. artists, workshops and more,” according to event planners. Performers that day will include Zora Randhawa, Fateh Doe, En Karma, DJ Intense, Sabrina, Beya Likhari, Shivani Bhagwan and Chaya Kumar, along with more than a dozen bhangra dance teams.

Other 2017 City of Bhangra Festival events in Surrey include VIBC’s Desi Music Incubator, a free, six-hour session set for June 11 at Surrey Arts Centre. The event, sponsored by Music BC and Creative BC, offers a series of skill-building and networking sessions for youth interested in music and the music business, including a music-production workshop with India’s EDM superstar Nucleya, a lyric workshop with Vancouver rapper Horsepowar, a DJ-ing workshop with DJ Khanvict and an industry workshop with members of Music BC, Nimbus and SOCAN.

Later, on June 15, KPU Surrey plays host to a “Bhangra: WE” event from 6 to 9 p.m. This free panel discussion is, according to event planners, designed to delve deeper into “an exploration of the complexity of our identities as young South Asian change-makers. ‘Bhangra: WE’ features presentations as well as panel discussions on the theme of ‘Intersections.’ This year’s panel includes a range of progressive women artists, academics, musicians, dancers and writers. Topics will include creative entrepreneurship, the diasporic arts, female identity in Punjabi music and Punjabi culture, and social media and the arts.”

In Vancouver, festival events include the inaugural Reel Bhangra short-film fest June 12 at Vancity Theatre (to include the debut screening of Bhangra City, produced by Delhi 2 Dublin with funding from Telus), and a performance by Rupi Kaur, author and multi-media artist, at the Vogue Theatre on June 14.

More festival details are posted at vibc.org



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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