Newmarket SA Music & Arts - Post Event Report
On the evening of Oct 9th, a most beautiful thing happened in Newmarket Area. The inaugural annual South Asian Music & Arts Showcase performed to the delight of a packed audience, with all proceeds going to the Southlake Hospital.
The show is only the beginning. Our readers are encouraged to participate in this beautiful story of South Asian pride with an online donation now. Any amount, directly to the hospital through this link, will be gratefully receipted.
With a cast entirely of volunteer performers, the stage opened with a graceful performance of Pushpanjali, a Bharatnatyam dance by Newmarket sisters Sanjana & Shwetha Kamath opened the stage Greetings from the Prime Minister was conveyed by MP Lois Brown.
This was followed by greetings from the Premier, Mayor Tony van Bynen then Southlake Hospital representative Mrs. Elen Moyo. The Showcase offered something for everyone. Guests were treated to a medley of Indo-Caribbean and authentic Indian foods.
Sisters Venessa & Soshauna Oryema wowed the crowd with their high energy moves to “Angoori”. Vipul Patel and Talib Ansari are also local singers who kept the crowd tapping to their tunes. Shivani Hegde did justice to coaching from her father, local music teacher Vinayak Hegde. Performances were skillfully sequenced by Program & Stage Director Tulsie Prashad, also a local music teacher. Team member Vivek Bhatt was instrumental in sourcing of MC’s Neha Bhatia and Sonia Chanana, as well as the competitors for the evening’s highlight: the Seniors’ singing competition, won by Mr. Ghansho Bhatia. Local artists as well as attendees were an inspiring representation of the area’s diaspora of people of South Asian background – hailing from the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Kenya, South Africa among others, as well as our local neighbours. Many friends from outside of the area stepped in to helpl as volunteer performers, workers or simply support. These include performers Savitree Persaud, Mahesh Rekha , Sandeep Shashikant’s tabla fusion group, and several others.
While Indo-Caribbean food was catered in from Scarborough, local India Gate Restaurant generously prepared the Channa Masala at no charge, using channa donated by Bedessee Food Imports. Vendors were present with a variety of fashion textile, jewellery and Mehndi artistry.
Tireless community leader Ranji Singh along with the organizing team of Tammy Brown, Vivek Bhatt, Vinayak Hegde, Tulsie Prashad, and Rohan Persaud and Roger Singh were committed to deliver the South Asian Music and Arts Showcase. It is the first of many more events to come states Ranji, His vision is to organize annual events that will enable the South Asian community in Newmarket and its surrounding areas to enjoy South Asian music, arts, culture, food and fashion without having to go very far from their hometown. The organizing committee plans on expanding this event to a day-long celebration within the next 3-5 years. Their ultimate goal is to have a weekend-long festivity that will attract tourists to Newmarket and give the local talent in Newmarket a chance to shine. Another great attribute of this event is that it is done for a noble and charitable cause; all the proceeds from this event go to the Southlake Hospital. It will be an ongoing initiative.
As Ranji mentioned during the event, the purpose of this South Asian fest is twofold:
First, it will drive culture-based fundraising for local charities through community social celebration and enjoyment. The funds collected through the fundraising will be donated to the Southlake Hospital, since health is a common concern for all.
Second, it will help to celebrate multiculturalism, diversity and inclusivity in the Newmarket Area by fostering a spirit of community pride among people of South Asian background and also by providing inter/intra-cultural educational opportunity for all neighbors in the Newmarket Area. Additionally, it will engage, support, promote and showcase local talent and culture-based enterprise as much as possible.
Although the area’s South Asian population has visibly grown exponentially over the past 10 years, most area South Asians are unaware of each other. Most commute on a frequent basis for simple culture-based groceries, entertainment and socialization. This team is set to change this isolation from each other.
This event not only has obvious economic benefits for the Newmarket Area, it also promotes multiculturalism, which provides cultural benefits as well, and also it will lessen the number of South Asians travelling to bigger cities like Toronto to find South Asian talent, food and entertainment, hence limiting the number of vehicles driving to the GTA. This, in turn, will prove to become environmentally beneficial for the country and the planet as well.
As Ranji announced at the event, area volunteers are being sought to assist in any of the three key areas: organizing, strategic planning, and doing the work. It is expected that this will be e next big thing in Newmarket. New volunteers will help take the event forward as South Asians hold their heads high knowing they are making a community difference to the wider community which they have chosen to call home.
Altogether, this South Asian fest is geared to become Newmarket’s very own cultural festival. This event promotes economic benefits, environmental benefits as well as cultural benefits to the Newmarket Area.
MP Brown and the Mayor stayed on for the entire evening. Then, on the morning of Oct 10th, Newmarket’s Mayor Tony Van Bynen tweeted “South Asian Music & Art Showcase, another Newmarket first, attended by hundreds. Great displays of talent, energy. culture & traditions”.
See below for Event photos:
MC Sonia, Southlake RHC representative Elen Moyo and MC Neha. Photo by Kelvin Brown
Sonia, Neha, MP Lois Brown, Ranji, Mayor Tony Van Bynen. Photo by Kelvin Brown.
Kamat sisters of Newmarket, Shwetha and Sanjana performing the Pushpanjali, a Bharatnatyam dance. (Photo courtesy of the Showcase)
A Percussion Rhythmic Fusion by Pranavan Prathab on Mrudangam, Amritha Jayaprakash on Drums, Shreedhara Madhyastha on Tabla, and Sandeep Shashikanth on Ghatam. Photo courtesy Talib Ansari.
Volunteer musicians Ravi, Dylan, Roger, Talib, Tulsie and Vivek. Photo courtesy Talib Ansari.
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