DHOL EXPERIENCE WORKSHOP

The Dhol is a traditional barrel-shaped Asian drum originating from the Northern Indian state of Punjab which today forms the foundation of contemporary Bhangra music.

Visitors to this workshop came along to experience the sounds of this unique instrument, and the smaller Dholak drum, and were invited to learn the basic beats and perform a short musical piece by the end of the workshop, which they did with great enthusiasm.

DANDIYA RAAS WORKSHOP

At the same time as the Dhol Experience, participants of the Dandiya Raas workshop were shown the basic steps of this popular and vigorous traditional group dance of Gujarat, which is performed with short sticks known as Dandiyas.

The dance can traditionally be seen at the Hindu festival of Navratri, but nowadays is performed at most happy and joyous celebrations such as weddings.

MAIN CULTURAL EVENT – "DHAMAKA"

The main focus of the SGAP Cultural Event was the Dhamaka, which was a fun-packed showcase featuring traditional music, song and dance performances from South Asia.

The Dhamaka was held in the Main Hall of the Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre, and as the visitors started to arrive at 6:00pm for this sold-out ticket-only event, they were all greeted with a welcome drink by members of the SGAP Management Committee.

The hall began to fill steadily, with a growing sense of excitement, and by 6:30pm, guests began to help themselves to a selection of delicious buffet starters, which included some special snacks for the younger visitors!

The starters for adults included Vegetable Samosas, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Kebabs, Channa Chat, Salad & Chutney.

As people were enjoying their snacks, they were visited at their tables by a magician, JK Magic, who delighted and entertained the guests with some close-up card tricks and sleight of hand.

The main programme commenced at 7:45pm following a brief introduction by SGAP Chairperson Jitesh Mistry. He thanked the Management Committee for all their hard work, and also the SGAP members for their continued support for this event and all the other activities throughout the year.

Co-hosts for the evening were SGAP Committee members Vijay Chandiramani and Meera Adodra who kicked off the Dhamaka with a blockbusting musical introduction to the festivities!

The evenings first musical piece was a Tabla recital performed by two students of SGAP's tabla classes. This was a graceful performance demonstrating not only the dedication and practice required to play the tabla, an Indian drum which has been in existence for some seven centuries, but also the versatility and subtlety of sound that can be elicited by this traditional Asian instrument.

The first of the evenings dance performances followed this, featuring SGAP's Bollywood Dance students aged 4-7, who gave a delightful rendition of the Bollywood hit "It's The Time to Disco". The performance from these young dancers had real energy and pizazz and certainly won the hearts and rapturous applause from the audience!

Students from SGAP's newest class, Bollywood Singing, were next on stage performing a medley of Bollywood hits from recent years. This was an impressive display of vocal talent from all the students who performed these memorable tunes with gusto, backed by a brilliant Dhol accompaniment.

The second dance performance from SGAP's Bollywood Dance students, aged 8-11, was a fantastic interpretation of the remixed Bollywood hit "Pretty Woman". These performers showed real talent and a flair for showmanship – Bollywood, look out!!

The final performance was a traditional Dandiya Raas style dance, fused with the recent Bollywood mega-tune "Maahi Ve", and performed by both SGAP members and Management Committee. The result was an excellent blend of time-honoured dance and modern-day Hindi-pop!

The co-hosts Vijay and Meera then brought the evenings live entertainment to a close – they did a fantastic job of keeping the audience entertained between acts, with information about each performance, its cultural history and contemporary context, and of course with a lot of humour!

All of the performers (and their tutors) were presented with trophies at the end of each of their performances, which was particularly appreciated by the younger artists, and lauded by the audience. It was a great way to show appreciation for the exceptional entertainment provided by the performers!!

After all the excitement of the performing arts, it was time to relax to the delights of a fantastic main course buffet. Guests were in for an amazing treat with such delicacies as Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Jalfrezi, Muttar Paneer, Tarka(Channa) Dhal, Pilau Rice, Rogni Naan and for dessert, fresh Jelabi.

During this time, the SGAP Management Committee took the opportunity to distribute surveys about the Cultural Event, with the added incentive that fully completed surveys returned by the end of the main course would be entered into a prize draw. Performers from the Bollywood dances were asked to draw the winning entries - the runners-up won a gift voucher, a DVD player, with a first prize of a DVD recorder!

The evening ended with a fantastic disco with video screens, bubble machine and live Dhol music, and the DJs serving a bouncy mix of Bollywood hits, Bhangra and other traditional and contemporary Asian music and song to take the festivities beyond midnight!!

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The overriding response from the surveys, verbal comments to the SGAP Committee, and emails from our members, which are still coming in, was that The SGAP Cultural Event 2004 was one of the best, if not the best-ever, SGAP activity!! Guests were delighted by the professional organisation and hosting of the Event, high quality of food and of course the amazingly good live music, song and dance performances!!!

The SGAP Management Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all the guests for supporting this worthwhile event, the performers for entertaining us all so well, the caterers for an excellent dining experience, the DJs for an outstanding set, the stage, lighting and sound technicians who made the entertainments sparkle, the camera team for recording the event, Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre, the waiting staff, the dozens of volunteers who helped make the Cultural Event such an outstanding success, South Gloucestershire Council and, of course, the Heritage Lottery Fund who helped to financially support the Event.

See more photos from the Cultural Event in the Photo Gallery.

Article by Kamlesh Mistry

The SGAP Committee are very proud to announce that SGAP have been awarded, on recommendation from the Home Office, the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service 2004. This award, formerly known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award, is given for outstanding achievement by voluntary groups who:

• regularly devote their time to helping others in the community

• improve the quality of life and opportunity for others

• provide an outstanding service

We are greatly honoured to be one of only 110 groups nationwide who have been given this prestigious Award, which comes in the form of a Certificate signed by Her Majesty The Queen, and a Commemorative Crystal.

It is a reflection of the hundreds of hours of voluntary work that members of the SGAP committee, past and present, have devoted to ensure SGAP achieves its aims, and also recognising the commitment of many other volunteers who work behind the scene.

More about the Queen's Award...

Meeting the Queen

Three of the founder members, Jitesh Mistry, Vijay Patel and Pramod Mistry were invited to a reception at St James Palace on 19th July, where they were privileged to meet and talk to the Queen and Prince Phillip.

It was also an opportunity to meet other winners from the UK, and some of the judging panel who chose the winners, who were very complimentary about our work.

The Queen's Award Presentation

The official presentation was made by the Lord Lieutenant Elwes on behalf of the Queen, at a special ceremony on Friday 30th July at the Village Hall in Emersons Green.

The invitees included members of South Gloucestershire Council, Avon & Somerset Constabulary, SGAP long standing members, teachers, committee & partners, and the press.

In true SGAP style, the evening began with a welcome from our Master of Ceremonies, Vijay Chandiramani, a romantic song from Sangeeta Dewan, and a slide show presentation of our events for the last 5 years.

This was followed by speeches from the Lord Lieutenant, the SGAP senior officers, and finally the presentation of the Award itself. There was a lot of praise from councillors for the way SGAP is managed, the dedication of the volunteers, the informative and interesting speeches, and with a photo session we had to get a time extension on the venue!