Making Headlines Welcome to the Vaisakhi 2012 edition of Jugnu Bhangra Group’s Newsletter. Jugnu Bhangra Group wishes everyone a very happy Vaisakhi. The past year has been full of achievements and success including an Akand Path to celebrate the 40th anniversary, raising money for charity, entertaining crowds at a cricket match involving the Indian national team and judging national bhangra competitions. In recognition of these achievements the group has also received global press coverage from Des Pardes and the Punjab Times. The group thanks everyone involved for their hard work over the past year and continued support in the future. April 2012 J ugnu B hangra www.jugnubhangra.com J ugnu B hangra J ugnu B hangra
Transcript
Making Headlines
Welcome to the Vaisakhi 2012 edition of Jugnu Bhangra Group’s Newsletter. Jugnu Bhangra Group wishes everyone a very happy Vaisakhi.The past year has been full of achievements and success including an Akand Path to celebrate the 40th anniversary, raising money for charity, entertaining crowds at a cricket match involving the Indian national team and judging national bhangra competitions. In recognition of these achievements the group has also received global press coverage from Des Pardes and the Punjab Times.
The group thanks everyone involved for their hard work over the past year and continued support in the future.
April 2012
Jugnu Bhangrawww.jugnubhangra.com
Jugnu Bhangra
Jugnu Bhangra
Jugnu Bhangra
Jugnu Bhangra
Jugnu also congratulate Manbir Singh Sihota who celebrated his 21st birthday in December. Manbir has been an active member for many years and has always worked hard to contribute positively in the group in many ways. His birthday celebrations were capped off with a performance from the group and a guest appearance from Bee2.
After spending the past few years working behind the scenes in the bhangra industry from his studio in Southampton, G-Company released his debut album entitled ‘Folklore’. The album was accompanied by an official music video directed by eNCy Films (Neil Coxhill), which highlights the lead track ‘Nachna Nai Onda’ featuring Ashok Gill on the vocals. The boys from Jugnu spent a day on location shooting the video which also featured the Jugnu van. The song proved to be a summer hit and was well received throughout the bhangra industry. Check out the video on YouTube and download the album from iTunes.
Jugnu Bhangra Group, established in Gravesend in 1970 and one of the UK’s longest established Bhangra groups, concluded its 40th Year celebrations in April 2011 with an “Akhand Path”, an exhibition of the Group’s work at their base (The Studio), and hosting of the drama production of “The Maharaja and the Kohinoor” at Woodville Halls.
An Akhand Path is a continuous reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scriptures, concluding with a religious service. Jugnu’s Akhand Path was attended by hundreds of people, with about 400 guests present on the last day. About 100 Jugnu members, past and present, helped throughout the three days.
Jugnu’s guests included Bhangra and music groups from across the country, including:
sent messages of congratulations. The group was congratulated from the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, during the performance of world famous Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan, by Sukhi Bart of Brit Asia TV Channel.
Jugnu particularly wishes to thank those from the above groups who have worked with us for many years, including Satnam Singh Poonia, Gurcharan Mall, Sardara Gill, Palvinder Dhami, H. Dhami and Sukhi Batth. The writer Balbir Singh Kamal came to give his best wishes.
Past and present group members honoured song writer and lyricist Harbans Singh Jandu Litranwala for his life-long service to promote Punjabi language and culture. “Jandu Litranwala” was presentedwith a certificate anda book signed by Jugnu members and other guests. Mr Jandu read a poem that he wrote especially for Jugnu, which thrilled everyone.
Jugnu founder and President Dr Surjit Singh Randhawa welcomed guests and gave a history of the group. Gurdwara President Jaspal Singh Dhesi praised how Jugnu members always take a leading role in serving the local community and the Gurdwara.
Guests were invited to Jugnu’s base, the Studio, after the Akhand Path. All were amazed at the facilities that Jugnu has been able to develop, and the way that Jugnu works
Manbir’s 21st
Jugnu in G-Company’s
Debut
The Big 4 - 0with local partners and agencies to maintain the Punjabi culture in new generations. Jugnu founder member, Shaminder Singh Bedi MBE, described to visitors how the Studio had been developed and is managed, in partnership with Holy Trinity School.
New look website and Facebook profile As a continued effort to keep our members, fans and sponsors appraised of our progress, and to celebrate the 40th anniversary, Jugnu have launched a new website.
The new website was designed by Jugnu’s very own design entrepreneur Amar Drubhra. To see more of Amar’s work, visit www.amardrubhra.com.
In addition to the new website, Jugnu are now on Facebook. To get the latest updates and photos from Jugnu’s travels, check out www.facebook.com/jugnubhangra.
Bhangra vs CricketKent County Cricket Club played World One-Day Champions India at Canterbury in August 2011, and Jugnu entertained the crowd with vibrant dancing, loud Dhols and colourful costumes. Jugnu’s dancing was appreciated by the sell-out 7,000 crowd as much as the cricket, while they waited for the game to start after some rain.
Jugnu sent 30 of its members to Canterbury. They celebrated every boundary with loud and rhythmic beating of the Dhols, bringing the atmosphere of cricket on the Indian Sub-Continent to Kent. Jagdev Singh Virdee, Chairman of Jugnu said: “Jugnu have always been at the forefront to promote Punjabi culture and support such events wherever possible. This event provided a unique opportunity to bring together Bhangra and Cricket in Kent, the Garden of England. Jugnu provided a great atmosphere at the match by dancing, singing and playing dhols throughout the match.”
Jugnu Bhangra Group and Gravesend’s Shinde Bains (of ShindeA1ConstructionLtd)jointlysponsoredtheManof the Match Award, won by Joe Denly of Kent. India
wonthematchbyjustfiveruns.ShaminderSinghBediMBE from Jugnu Bhangra said “It was a great honour to be part of the Man of the Match presentation, with the supportofShindeA1Construction.”
Indian stars present included M S Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, S K Raina and Virat Kohli. The tourists were managed by veteran India player Shivlal Yadav. All enjoyed watching the Bhangra from the team balcony before the match started. Also watching the matchwasveteranWestIndianplayerCliveLloyd.
The Mayor of Gravesham Mr Tanmanjit Singh Dhesi joined the presentation party for the Man of the Match Award, thanking the teams for a great match and praising Jugnu Bhangra Group for being great ambassadors of Kent and Gravesham.
Surinder Singh Dhinsa, Manager of Jugnu Bhangra, said: “Jugnu have always flown the flag for the Punjabi community and keep the Punjabi culture alive in the UK. The group have over 80 members of all ages including male and female dancers, and about 30 were atCanterbury.”
singer Amrik Singh Kalsi sang with the Group’s performances, while organisation of the evening was supported by many; including Shaminder Singh Bedi MBE (former chair and founding member), Amarjit Kalsi, Indy Sandhu and Jaspal Bhanot.Weare proud to support the charitable activities of the Mayor and proud that he, as a young British Sikh, has achievedthisposition.”
The evening, full of lively international entertainment and compered by Jugnu’s Vice Chairman and InternationalTourManagerKeithWyncoll,included:
• PunjabisongsbylocalsingersPritpalSingh Padda and Vijay Singh • LadiesfromtheJugnuBhangraFitnessclass givingtheirfirsteverpublicperformance. • Jugnu’slongtermfriend,AfricanartisteUsifu Jalloh, giving an amazing performance that brought together African story-telling and drumming with Bollywood Hindi and Punjabi songs • Afinalemadeupofelectrifyingperformances by Jugnu’s male and female teams and a joint performance, followed by a fusion of African Drum and Punjabi Dhol.
Jugnu Bhangra Group held a fund raising event to support the Mayor of Gravesham’s selected charities, Ellenor Lions Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Support. A cheque for £2,000 was presented to the Mayor, Councillor Tanmanjit Singh Dhesi.
Contributions from those attending and proceeds from the auction of a cricket bat signed by the Indian Cricket team were topped up by Jugnu Bhangra GroupandAsianWelfareSociety.TheMayorwasalsopresented with a Jugnu glass trophy to mark his year as Gravesham’s First Citizen.
The Mayor said: “I am extremely grateful for the love and support that Jugnu members have shown me in my year as Mayor. The reason that I appreciate Jugnu somuch is that your aims and achievements fit sowell with my vision and theme for this year, which is ‘Integration’. How well you achieve this has been shownbrilliantlytonight”.
Jugnu Chairman Jagdev Singh Virdee says: “I would like to thank everyone who performed and those who worked behind the scene to make the evening, and the past year, a success. Surinder Singh Dhinsa choeographed the evening brilliantly. Jugnu’s lead
Giving Back Judging Competitions The group was also represented at the two UK University Bhangra competitions; Capital Bhangra and Bhangra Showdown.
Capital Bhangra was organised by Naujawani.com; a Sikh & Punjabi internet broadcaster. The inaugural event was held at the BloomsburyTheatre in London and hostedby YouTube Asian sensation, Superwoman. Jugnu’s very own Surinder Singh Dhinsa was one of three judges alongside Isha Dhillon and Simon Berik from Queen Mary University’s Bhangra Society. Jugnu also performed an exhibitionitemattheevent.Withthreeteamscompetingforthenight’stopprize,UCL-LSEwonthetitleofCapitalBhangra champions 2012.
Jugnu’s Deepak Drubhra returned as one of the judges for the UK’s most established university bhangra competition –The Bhangra Showdown.Now in its fifthyear, the competition was held at the world famous HMV
Hammersmith Apollo and attracted an audience of 3,500 bhangra enthusiasts. Nine university teams wowed the audience with a mix of traditional and modern bhangra performances and there were also performances from Saini Surinder, Bee2 and TajE, Nirmal Sidhu and America’s very own Bhangra Empire. The event was organised by Imperial Punjabi Society and hosted by BBC Network Asia presenter Tommy Sandhu. Having judged the event in 2011, Deepak was one of seven judges in this year’s competition alongside other dancers from Gabru Punjab De (Birmingham), Virsa Punjab (East London), VasdaPunjab (Southall), and The Punjab Dancers (Southall). With a traditional performance, Queen Mary and BartsUniversity won this year’s competition. University of BirminghamandImperialCollegeLondonfinishedsecondand third respectively.
Jugnu congratulate the teams who participated in both competitions and the organisers for organising two hugely successful events. Every team’s performance from both competitions is available to view on YouTube
Phot
o by K
aran
Kalsi
Training with Jugnu Dhol ClassesAll levels Sunday from 5.30pm
Bhangra ClassesBeginners class Thursday from 6.00pmAdvanced class Sundays from 6.30pm Thursday at 7.00pm
Festivals In a busy year, Jugnu performed at many key festivals across the UK including Basildon Festival, Fling Festival in Chelmsford, Colchester Carnival, Crawley Mela, Broadstairs Folk Fesitval, and the Herne Bay Festival, and performed alongside H Dhami at Thurrock Theatre.
