City of Bhangra Festival: June 11 – 17

June 11 – 17 in Vancouver and Surrey

Local Music Stars En Karma, Horsepowar, DJ Khanvict
US Artist Beya Likhari, and EDM Superstar Nucleya Perform

Presented by the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration

The Largest Bhangra Festival in North America

Sabrina Sapal

Local heroes En Karma and DJ Intense will be performing at the Free Downtown Bhangra concert on June 17, for the City of Bhangra Festival.  The Free Downtown Bhangra show moves to Central Surrey’s City Hall Plaza for the first time, with a full day of music, dance, and celebration.

The theme of this year’s City of Bhangra Festival is INTERSECTIONS.  Buoyed by the success of last year’s GENDER narrative, the 2017 festival continues to create space in our community for those whose identity is doesn’t fit in a category.  With the theme of Intersections, we have programming that features world-class events

Delhi 2 Dublin,

that helps us recognize both diversity and interconnectedness in culture and community.  We are not simply female/male, queer/ straight, cis-gendered/ trans-gendered – but a complex combination of these.

June 11: VIBC’s Desi Music Incubator Surrey Arts Centre, 12-6pm.  FREE

In partnership with the Surrey Art Gallery.  Sponsored by Music BC and Creative BC

A special one-day series of skill-building and networking sessions for youth interested in music and the music business, the Incubator features: a music production workshop with India’s EDM superstar Nucleya; a lyric workshop with Vancouver rapper Horsepowar; a DJing workshop with DJ Khanvict; and an industry workshop with members of Music BC, Nimbus, and SOCAN. Reaching across cultural and age boundaries, this event brings together some of the finest international and local South Asian talent and music industry professionals to share skills, network, and build community.

June 12: Reel Bhangra: VIBC Short Film Fest – Vancity Theatre

Featuring the world premiere screening of Bhangra City produced by Delhi 2 Dublinwith funding from Telus.

The City of Bhangra Festival introduces an inaugural evening of film spotlighting the voices of young South Asian filmmakers. Curated by local director, Monica Cheema, this 2-hour event showcases several local and international short films. A mixer with Delhi 2 Dublin and special guests follows the screening.

June 14: Rupi Kaur – Vogue Theatre

Renowned feminist, poet, multi-media artist and international phenomenon Rupi Kair will headline a show at the Vogue Theatre.  Called the “Voice of her Generation”, Kaur’s first book of poetry and prose, Milk and Honey was on the New York Times bestseller list for over seven months, and she has over 700K Instagram followers.  Opening for Kaur’s spoken word performance is Baltimore-based singer, Beya Likhari, who performs a unique East Coast style of Bhangra.

June 15: Bhangra: WE  – Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey  6-9pm FREE

Following the success of last year’s groundbreaking panel, Bhangra: SHE, the festival delves 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.

 

Featured speakers:

Moderator of Bhangra: WE Rakhi Mutta (Toronto) and creator of web series Anarkali, manager of Rupi Kaur and KayRay; singer Beya Likhari (Baltimore); singerSabrina (San Diego); filmmaker Monica Cheema(Surrey); and dancers Shivani Bhagwan and Chaya Kumar (Los Angeles).

 

June 16: JALOOSFortune Sound Club, Vancouver 10pm

A massive hit in 2016, City of Bhangra collaborates for a second year with Fortune and local DJ duo Lil’India.  Joining Lil’ India on the all-gal roster are guests that include Baltimore’s Beya Likhari and San Diego’s Sabrina.  Accompanying the music, a mini art show curated by the Don’t Doze collective, and Monica Cheema.

June 17: Downtown Bhangra – Surrey Central City, 12 – 8 pm.  FREE

City of Bhangra’s marquee event, Downtown Bhangra, comes to Surrey for the first time!  This full-daylong family celebration of bhangra culture features world-class headliners, local bhangra teams, talented BC artists, workshops, and more. 2017’ s Downtown Bhangra showcases the joy and diversity of bhangra, and promises to be the fest’s best day yet!

The lineup includes: singer Zora Randhawa and rapper Fateh, who have been tearing up the charts with their recent hits; local heroes En Karma, who are sitting on a brand new album; DJ Intense, who wrote the music for last summer’s anthem, Suit; and San Diego-based up-and- coming singer, Sabrina.

June 17: Bhangra HeavyweightsCrystal at York, Surrey, 10pm

When all is said and done, we finish the fest the way we know best – with the hottest bhangra dance party of the year in our fave downtown Vancouver venue!  This year features a performance by Toronto’s J. Statik playing head-to-head with hometown heroes from the Decibel Crew.   Maximum capacity 500 people so get your tickets early!  A showcase of the finest DJs in North America’s bhangra scene.

Creativity, conversation, cutting edge art, and exciting events that celebrate Bhangra, the Punjabi folk arts, South Asian youth culture, connections and diversity – that’s what’s in store at City of Bhangra 2017.  We invite everyone to visit the festival and be inspired, informed, challenged, excited, and entertained.

6 days, 2 cities, 350+ performers and tons of #BhangraLove!

More information and Tickets: www.vibc.org, and www.facebook.com/vancouverbhangra/