Brampton’s Most Loved South Asian Dance & Music Festival
Brampton, ON (July 25, 2023): Downtown Brampton once again came alive to the sights and sounds of South Asian culture with award-winning Vibrant Brampton festival on July 21 and 22. Held at Garden Square in Brampton, the fun filled two day festival was the 8th annual edition of the Vibrant Brampton presented by TD organized by the non-profit group Arts and Culture Initiative of South Asia (ACISA).
Thousands of people from Brampton, Mississauga, Milton, Richmond Hill and other neighbouring cities attended the festivities. The audience also included people from other provinces and from South of the border.
Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown addressed the audience while Sonia Sidhu, MP from Brampton South, presented the organizers with a plaque and a congratulatory message from Hon’ble Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. MPP from Brampton South. MP from Brampton North Ruby Sahota also addressed the crowd.
Bollywood playback singer AAMAN TRIKHA, headliner for the first day, performed for two hours to the delight of the audience and had them singing along, dancing, and applauding to the sounds of his superhit numbers. The musician supported by a local band, The R&B United, entertained the audience with several of his songs including chartbusters “like “PREM LILA” featuring Salman Khan, and “HOOKAH BAR” featuring Akshay Kumar as well as the song which gave him a big break into Bollywood ‘GO GO GOVINDA’ from OH MY GOD
As well, 60 other artists presented diverse music and myriad performances.
Local acts on July 21st also included the 2022 winners of #Vstar Talent Hunt & Mentorship program, launched back in 2020 as a platform to hunt for upcoming local artists and providing them a bigger platform to perform alongside professional artists at the main stage of Vibrant Brampton Festival. Some of the notable acts on the first day included Indigenous artists Aqua Nibii Waawaaskone and Nichole Leveck, Bollywood, and fusion dance performances by Jadoo Entertainment and Hips Don’t Lie. Performance groups like Canada Dhol Tasha, Mudra Dance, Kashmiri Dance, Smoke Wagon Blues Band made everyone sway, swing and dance. Some of the other acts included duet performances by award winning local singers Raina Sen, Sumana Ganguly, Prabha Subhadra, Shantanu Banerjee and Rushi Purohit with the Headliner of the day, Aaman Trikha.
The second day on July 22nd was even bigger in terms of attendance and performing artists. UK Bhangra Music legend JASSI SIDHU and Pakistani Punjabi heartthrob FALAK SHABIR were the two headliners along with over 90 other local artists. Besides these, the audience enjoyed performances from internationally recognized, Indo-Caribbean Canadian “Chutney Music” group called “The Band Destiny” followed by energetic Bhangra dance by both Girls and Boys by none other than the Nachdi Jawani Group.
Earlier, the show started with the remaining four winners of the 2022 VSTAR Talent Hunt & Mentorship Program- Aiyesha Haws, Aankansha Patel, Shereya Gambhir and Starz Dance. The Festival gave an opportunity to perform local upcoming Punjabi singers Supreet Singh and Sukhmaan Rathore. Their performance stole the show with their Punjabi numbers, with original creations. The crowd frenzy was to be witnessed when Jassi Sidhu started with his most popular numbers like ‘Veerji Vyon Chaelya and “Chandigrah kare Ashiqui” who was supported on stage by non other than local Canadian celebrity, DJ K-Sqaure.
The Finale act by Falak Shabir supported by local musicians led by Nadeem Ali from the famous Avengers Band was the pinnacle of the show. Falak entertained the thousand plus frenzied crowd with his ever popular Punjabi numbers like” Tu Mera Dil,” “Yaar Mila de”, “Rog”, “Soniye” and “Rabba Ho.” He laterenthralled the crowd with his super hit Bollywood number “Saajna” from the film, “I Me Aur Main and also presented many other Bollywood songs, like “Kya Tujhe Ab Ye Dil Bataye” from the film,”Sanam Re,’ “Mera Mann Kehne Laga” from the film, ‘Nautanki Saala,’ and “Kaisi Ye Judai Hai’ from the film, ‘I Love NY.’
The festival had everything for everyone- varied food vendors, ethnic apparel, footwear, jewelry vendors, local artisans, Henna artist and most notably a kid’s zone which included face painting, balloon twisting, workshops on Bhangra, Bollywood and Salsa dancing and a community arts project.
“We wanted to ensure an amalgamation of culture and diversity in Ontario,” said organizers and co-founders Sandeep Prabhakar, Arpan Banerjee and Ricky Bajaj. “Vibrant Brampton promotes local talent and we wanted to include an exciting line-up of upcoming artists and well-known names in the entertainment industry that would appeal to all.”
The festival was presented by TD Bank, Mainstage Sponsor WOW Mobile Boutique, Supporting sponsors Lazeez Shawarma, Downtown Brampton BIA and community partners like Canadian Blood Services, Brampton Library, Brampton Arts Organization and Cancer Warrior. This year’s funders included the City of Brampton, Canadian Heritage, Ontario Trillium Foundation and FACTOR
Click here for pictures and highlights of the event- https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jhdoow8lhyi0iim3r2a18/h?rlkey=8r4w6rkm6nj7b86gom4f1ivhy&dl=0
ABOUT ACISA
Arts & Culture Initiative of South Asia (ACISA) is a non- profit organization with a vision to promote cross-cultural understanding with the aim to bring a diverse community together in celebration of life, culture, art, and tradition.
The organization’s mission is to promote the diversity of South Asian art forms by showcasing local artists and providing them with an opportunity to present their work to a wide audience; break cultural barriers and encourage participation, allowing all communities from all across Canada to experience the different forms of South Asian Arts and culture; showcase South Asian heritage as it continues to evolve imbibing the cultural values of Canada and communicate key messages that share the philosophy of diversity with residents of Brampton. For more information, visit www.acisa.ca.
