A related photograph.
New Delhi, April 13, 2015: After three days of food, music and cultural events, curtains came down on Sunday on this year’s Baisakhi Mela, which celebrated with élan the cultural heritage and legacy of Punjab.
Popular Punjabi singer-actors Hardy Sandhu and Ami Virk regaled the audience on the final day of the festival where nine well-known Punjabi singers performed over three days.
The festival was presented by Punjabi Academy and Department of Art, Culture & languages, Government of Delhi to mark the beginning of the Punjabi New Year with Baisakhi.
In a setting that replicated a typical vibrant Punjabi village, the Mela put different facets of Punjabi life on display. The best exotic food from Punjab was accompanied by the most authentic arts and artefacts such as Phulkari, Nale Parande, Bangles, inlaid wooden Furniture & Punjabi Juttis. The Festival is also enriched with beautiful cultural programmes such as Gatka, Bazigar, Dhadi, Naqal, Gidha, been, algoza dhol and Bhangra.
Other singers who performed at the festival were Harshdeep, Vatsala Mehra, Master Saleem and Shipra Goyal.
“We are delighted by the response people of Delhi have shown by flocking to the festival. If you live in Delhi, you live in the midst of a thriving Punjabi community. The Punjabi food and culture is bound to touch you in many ways. However, the urban shift of Delhi means we never get a glimpse of a true Punjabi setting, which is ethnic in every way. Punjabi culture is a rich tradition and this annual Festival is a vehicle that gives us an opportunity to present these beautiful forms of Punjabi Art and Culture,” says Secretary, Art, Culture & Languages, Government of Delhi.
“Punjab is a land of rich cultural heritage. Through the Baisakhi Festival, we try to re-create every aspect of Punjabi life in a traditional setting of a Punjabi Mela where the traditional artefacts of Punjab are displayed and sold. The Phulkari, the Punjabi juttis, the wooden furniture designs are hardly ever seen in our everyday urban lives and the Baisakhi Festival is the place where you can find them. Besides, several well-known singers of different genres also came together to present the wide and versatile facets of Punjabi music, be it the soulful Sufi music that talks about the sufi saints of Punjab, or the foot tapping bhangra, pop music,” says Jawahar Dhawan, Secretary, Punjabi Academy.