Vibrant Brampton’s first virtual South Asian Festival draws over half a million audience
More than 100 artists took the stage to perform diverse forms of Art, Culture, Music
#Brampton, #Ontario; #VibrantBramptonFestival; #ACISA; #NationalBank; #SandeepPrabhakar; #RickyBajaj; #VibrantBramptonEFestival; #VibrantClassical; #SouthAsianDigitalFestival
Brampton(ON), Aug 20: The launch of the largest South Asian digital festival in Brampton #VibrantBramptonFest, biggest digital festival in Canada, presented by National Bank and supported by Lazeez Canada, concluded its successful virtual buzz on August 12.
The live performance of the ‘festival of festivals’, was attended by thousands of people each day from their own homes, revelling, participating, applauding and generating a massive audience reach.
Conceptualized and arranged by the Arts & Culture Initiative of South Asia (ACISA), this year’s festival presented over a 100 artists’ lineup including local and renowned international names.
The popularity of this year’s main festival event that began on July 21 and was scheduled to conclude on August 11 was so well responded that organizers had to add another day to conclude the grand finale on August 12.
The highlights of the festival including fusion performances, dance presentations and varied music from across the globe were greatly applauded and appreciated from audiences.
The huge increase in the numbers of social media reach and engagements right from the commencement of the festival on June 22nd, and the launch of its talent hunt program #VibrantStar by emerging artists was followed by the conclusion of the main festival on August 12.
“We are pleased to announce that the #VibrantBramptonFest was very successful despite the pandemic. Our Social Media reach for both Facebook and Instagram was immense with the total post reach at 543,081 and the total post engagement at 291,776,” says Ricky Bajaj, co-founder and president, ACISA.
“We would like to take this opportunity to specially thank National Bank, this year’s festival title sponsor, as well as Lazeez Canada. We would also like to send a shout out to all our local and international artists, community collaborators, volunteers and media partners, without whom #VibrantBramptonFest would not have been possible, added Arpan Banerjee, one of the founders of the festival.
This is also the first year for #VibrantStar, the emerging artists talent hunt contest with eight winners in different genres of performing arts — vocal, instrumental and dance. A total of 33 were selected from hundreds of video entries, part of a 4-week LIVE online audition from June 22 until July 17, 2020.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/watch/1493987660651545/709727596489608
“Vibrant Star was held to support local talent with a vision to groom musical and dancing abilities and to provide an opportunity to perform in Brampton’s largest arts, culture and heritage festival, #VibrantBrampton,” said Sandeep Prabhakar who chairs the Board at ACISA.
Stemming from the need and demand for a platform for local Classical Music & Dance artistes to showcase their art forms in GTA, a new festival called Vibrant Classical Music & Dance is also being launched this Wednesday August 19, in a digital format until September 2nd.
“Classical Music and Dance has always aimed for the “classes” and not the “masses” But our goal is to let the masses experience & enjoy the class of this genre. It is the purpose of this festival to allow classical music and dance to reach as many ears and touch as many lives as we can” adds Sandeep Prabhakar.
The screen shots of the artists from Day 1–7 as well as the link to their performances are given below
Day 1 — SREERAMA CHANDRA
The amazing lineup of artists commenced on July 21 with the celebrated Sreerama Chandra, Indian Idol 5 winner and Bollywood playback singer from Mumbai, India. Along with Anita Lerche, renowned Danish Punjabi Singer currently living in the USA and award winning Canadian Indigenous artist David Maracle.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/2878876695556435/?v=2878876695556435
Day 2 — AMAN TRIKHA
On July 22, Aman Trikha, India’s playback singer from Mumbai, took the stage performing LIVE from Mumbai. He was supported by local Canadian Bollywood Singer Parichay and several other local artists.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/308141257221920/?v=308141257221920
Day 3 — SAHIR ALI BAGGA
July 28 brought in Pakistan’s award winning musician of Coke Studio fame — Sahir Ali Bagga, who has composed music for TV performances of Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Azra Jehan, Sanam Marvi and many more performers. Earlier in the evening Maza, the Band, local Canadian pop band also of Pakistani origin, enthralled the online audience.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/295645805109126/?v=295645805109126
Day 4 — BHOOMI TRIVEDI
The spectacular lineup continued on August 4 with live performances by Bhoomi Trivedi, well known Bollywood playback singer and Indian Idol finalists, and renowned Broadway Singer and artists Syndee Winters.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/987282765058012/?v=987282765058012
Day 5 — LV REVANTH
On August 5, LV Revanth, Indian Idol 9 Winner and Bollywood Playback Singer graced the stage with his mesmerizing presence as the headlining act. Earlier in the evening Raghav, renowned Canadian Bollywood pop singer and Toronto’s successful award winning dance duo — Hemant and Vaishali Panwar — well known for their kathak performance, blew the audience away with their performances.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/977792519405187/?v=977792519405187
Day 6 — HEMANT BRIJWASI
The brilliant singer, Hemant Brijwasi took the stage, keeping the audiences spellbound with his performance. Brijwasi is the winner of India’s prestigious reality TV singing competition Rising Star 2 and popular singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs. He has also sung for films like Soorma, Genius, Bhootnath and many more.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/300122941414459/?v=300122941414459
Day 7: NAVRAJ HANS
The #VibrantBramptonFest grand finale featured Navraj Hans, Punjabi heartthrob, singer, actor and emerging youth icon. The Son-in-law of Daler Mehndi, he has done playback singing for several Bollywood and Punjabi movies and some of his best known works are “Jind meriye” from the Bollywood movie Purani Jeans, “Chote Chote Peg” for Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, and “Mundiyaan Tu Bachke” with Palak Muchhal for Baaghi 2.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/vibrantbramptonfest/videos/223690612294239/?v=223690612294239
#VibrantBramptonFest has proved to be a success featuring local talent and performances by the likes of Kinjal Chaterjee — famous Bengali and Bollywood Playback musician, Sarabjit Cheema — renowned Canadian Punjabi folk singer and other well-known personalities. Those who missed the #VibrantBramptonFest 2020, all E-Festival 2020 videos can be found here.
Click to download
https://www.facebook.com/watch/1493987660651545/678871159640955
Local Artists photo links are provided below:
Bollywood Dance School Canada
Jadoo Entertainment
The Butler -Fearon O’Connor School of Irish Dance
Syndee Winters
An Trio Ensemble
Toronto Chinese Orchestra
Zakisha & LiftID
Young Blood
Raz Hilland Quartet
Shivanjali Dance Academy
Masaisai Afro Fusion band
A a non-profit organization with a vision to promote cross cultural understanding, Arts & Culture Initiative of South Asia (ACISA) aims to bring a diverse community together in celebration of life, culture, art and tradition. With its mission to promote the diversity of South Asian art forms, ACISA showcases local artists and provides them with an opportunity to present their work to a wide audience, break cultural barriers and encourage participation. ACISA continues to evolve imbibing the cultural values of Canada by allowing all communities from Brampton and rest of Canada to experience the different forms of South Asian Arts and culture to showcase South Asian heritage to communicate key messages that share the philosophy of diversity with residents of Brampton and rest of Canada.