Sikhlens Vaisakhi Virtual Weekend Celebration
This year, due to the pandemic, the Sikhlens Vaisakhi Weekend Celebration 2021 is being expanded to a three-day event and it is being “held” virtually on our Sikhlens YouTube channel.
Friday, April 2nd 7:00 PM
Reverend Dr. Gail Stearns, Dean of the Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Fish Interfaith Center, at Chapman University, begins with introductions to our Friday program. It starts with a short ten-minute film on “Sikhs Serving Humanity”. In this film, you will hear from Sikh organizations from all over the world who are trying to do their part to help alleviate the global issue of hunger caused by the pandemic.
The film will be followed by Jasjit Singh in “Kisaan Mazdoor Ekta: Sikhs and the Art of Protest” and Kirtan Singh who will speak about “The Essential Intersection of Human Rights and Religion”. We conclude with Simran Jeet who talks with Baljinder Kaur, the illustrator of the children’s book, “Fauja Singh Keeps Going” about “Celebrating 110 Years of Fauja Singh: Reflecting on the Wisdom of Our Elders”.
Saturday, April 3rd 5:00 PM
Host Nikki Gill introduces Reverend Nancy Brink, the Director of Church Relations at Chapman University, who introduces our first film, “Faith: A Passage Through India”. After the film Gurpreet Singh will say a few words.
Then Teresa Singh an American filmmaker, designer and creator who partners with her husband, Jasprit Singh, introduces her documentary “A Table for Sixty-Thousand”. The film tells the story of the largest and longest-running Free Community Kitchen (Guru-ka-Langar) at the holiest of Sikh shrines (Harmandir Sahib) also called The Golden Temple.
Sunday, April 4th 5:00 PM
Nikki Gill again hosts, this time a virtual concert. We start with Sonny Singh is a Brooklyn-based musician and social justice educator. He has launched a solo project that reimagines the spiritual tradition of Sikh kirtan with boundary-defying Punjabi anthems to uplift & ignite.
The next performers, known as Absolute Focus, provided an excerpt from a virtual live stream concert they did in March 2021 entitled “Women’s Raga Massive Festival.” Kamaljeet and Jas Ahluwalia are part of the new wave of Asian musicians emerging from the western hemisphere.
If you’re a fan of Manika Kaur and Kirtan, you’ll want to join us for her sessions. Manika has become the fastest selling contemporary Sikh solo artist in the world. She begins with a Spoken Word performance about the Farmers’ protest in India and then transitions into her famous Kirtan.
Join us for all three days of programming at youtube.com/Sikhlens