WSN staff report
OAKLAND CA: Once again the Henry J.Kaiser center in Oakland California was transformed into Punjab by the Punjab Cultural Society. This group of young men and women out-did themselves this year performing to a packed audience. It was a nonstop delight of pomp color sadness and laughter. The main speaker Dr. Jagit Singh Raju was introduced to the audience by Japinder Dhanoa. Dr.Raju welcomed the audience to the show and thanked everyone for coming and stressed the importance of keeping the culture alive while living abroad. “Culture and languages are what assure and guarantee the existences of nations if culture and languages are lost nations are doomed” he said. While Dr. Raju was speaking I went backstage to see the preparations and speak to some of the participants. What saw back there brought tears of joy to my eyes? I saw every participant with hands folded heads bowed joining in Ardas to the almighty. Parshad brought from the Fremont Gurdwara Sahib was distributed to all by Lal Singh Bhatti and I was informed that every show always began with Ardas. The or Qanizers are very insistent that every participant must have full faith in the Almighty and their trust in the Ardas must be absolute.
The master of ceremonies as in the past years was professor Hasan Jahangir Hamdani he was applauded by the audience who have come to love and respect him for his eloquence in Punjabi Urdu and Farsi.
The show opened with Mele Punjab De to a thundering round of applause. This extravaganza directed by Ramesh Walia depicted the very soul of Punjab through the different festivities of Punjab such as Lori Teean Vaadi and the village mela. The second item written and directed by Balbir Singh Ragi was Lahoo Punjab Da this took the show to a very serious point.
Lahoo Punjab Da presented the tale of present day Punjab a story of a family whose one son is killed by the police The younger son sees no option but the gun and the tale of present day Punjab a story of a family whose one son is killed by the police The younger son sees no option but the gun and the parents struggle trying to persuade their son to put the gun down and see reason They ask his friends to make him see reason but they too join him understanding that normalcy has left their lives forever. It was performed with vigor and emotion. There was a tear in every eye. Ragi touched the heart of everyone sitting in the audience.
The next item represented the very reason this society came into being to teach Punjabi culture to the children born here What an outstanding job they have done. Directed by Surinder Dhanoa and Dhol played by Tejinder Dhanoa QGimmy) himself a product of Nachdian Kalian. Trophies were given to all the children by the societys Balbir Singh Ragi and special awards were given by S.Amanjit Singh Tut.
Heer Ranjha was a delightful ballet directed by Surinder Dhanoa who also played Ranjha and Japinder Dhanoa played Heer. This handsome couple truly presented the love talk with all the emotions and detail which was evident by the applause.
This was followed by Yaar Vajawe Dhol a teenagers dance directed by Mani Dhanoa. Following was the tribal dance of Punjab Bajigurhs Sammi directed by Mani Dhanoa and Nimarata Dha. lt was wonderful to see a dance that may lose itself to the urbanization of Punjab. The skitthat followed Kalakar directed by Ramesh Walia was about the interaction between Kalekar and his wife. The audience was in stiches with laughter Ramesh Parminder and Amarjit were great but Gurinder Chahal (wife) stole the show.
What followed was truly remarkable it was the Malwai Giddha you felt as if you were in the sand dunes of the Malwa of yester years with all the men high on one thing or another standing around and singing Bolian. Dressed in white and black turbans just the right lighting with a burning sun backdrop Surinder Dhanoa was able to create the true Malwa.
Following the intermission the audience settled into the sounds of Lal Singh Bhattis Dhol accompanied by woof his students Tejinder and Baljit. The three of them brought the house down. This was followed by Sassi Pannu a charming ballet directed by Lal Singh Bhatti himself. The Giddha this year was in the second half. It started with Jaago which to the surprise of the audience went off stage and made a round giving it the true feeling of the village Gali Surinder Dhanoa directed the Giddha. This was followed by Santo Banto Skit directed by Surinder Dhanoa that kept the audience fully entertained. The following item Udeckan directed by Mani Dhanoa and Nimareta Dha was a work of art the coordination and the attention to detail in everything from costumes to each dance move was impeccable. Bombay could not have done it better.
No Punjab night would be complete without Naklan both Surinder Dhanoaand Ajaypal Bath were great well rehersed and at case and natural.
Satpal S.Deol sang Juggni written by Ajaypal Bath. It was refreshing to see that all the instruments were original and none modem electronic equipment. The show ended with the everlasting Bhangra directed by Surinder Dhanoa. It was well put together and was very fast moving.
All the participants were introduced indivdually and Surinder Dhanoa thanked the audience.
As the audience was leaving Dhanoa Ragiand Walia went into the theater to personally thank people for coming. They were being hugged and congratulated for the show and were already being asked about the following year. The sense of joy gratitude and humility was in the faces of these organizers who were proud of their culture and their local community. But the community equally looked proud of itself and of their very own Punjab cultural society and their Punjab night
Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1992
