Desifest: More Than Just Music

Written by Jaidah-Leigh Wyatt (@wyatt_______j)

Photography by Jaidah-Leigh Wyatt (@wyatt_______j) and Rachel E. Strouble (@willo.nef)

Gerrard Street East, also known as Little India, is home to the Gerrard India Bazaar, an established cultural hub in Toronto for the past 50 years. A thriving South Asian community can be found living, working, playing and performing in this area, and arts programming is helping to bring another important element of South Asian culture right here to the streets of Toronto. 

To celebrate the beginning of South Asian Heritage Month, the popular music festival Desifest returned for its 19th year, with an abundance of musical performers and events for the general public to engage with. To start off the month, on May 31st SatsB & Dee Devan’s Open Mic Unplugged took place at the Lahore Tikka House on Gerrard. It brought together a variety of artists to showcase their talents while creating a community space of celebration and reverence.

Desifest and the Open Mic Unplugged event is a labour of love, effort and community resourcing that is graciously supported by both the BIA and the city of Toronto. 

I’m so proud to represent Gerrard East in my ward. I’ve supported Desifest since 2006 and helped them get off the ground and continue to do that. What a great evening here of tremendous talent and community on Gerrard.

~Paula Fletcher - City Councillor (Toronto-Danforth)

Gerrard East, being home to Toronto’s largest marketplace of South Asian goods in the country, is naturally the place that a lot of newcomers and members of the diaspora frequent. Because of Desifest’s important connection to the culture, it seemed fitting to spark off the festival on Gerrard before moving on to other areas of the city.

This is where you get 365 days of culture and heritage and it’s an amazing opportunity to bring the artist community back to Gerrard India Bazaar where it all started almost 50 years ago and use the next generation to shape up the next 50 years of the Bazaar.

~Tasneem Bandukwala - Executive Director of the Gerrard India Bazaar (BIA)

Starting out in 2006 and growing each year, Desifest aims to showcase the talent of the South Asian music community in Toronto. The festival itself took place at Sankofa Square on Saturday, June 14, from 11am to 11pm, featuring over 30 artists and bands and 20 curated food vendors. Desifest is a full cultural festival, showcasing multiple aspects of the South Asian community and providing a family friendly space for everyone attending. The entire festival, of course, would not be possible without the help of SatsB’s infectious enthusiasm and community organizing.

Sathish Bala (more commonly known as SatsB) is one of the founders of Desifest, doing his best to create a shared community of musicians, artists and audience members who are willing to embrace South Asian culture far from its roots. His effects on the community are being felt by the people he's working with all around the city. He’s connected musicians with their future collaborators, given a stage to poets and spoken word artists, and created a home away from home to many members of the South Asian diaspora in Toronto

I have played in other bands in Toronto but they’re mostly Western bands, like pop bands, metal bands, R&B kinda music, but I’m from India and I haven’t connected with my music until like three years since I’ve been here and this was a great opportunity for me to reconnect with my genre of music that I grew up with. So this was great. It feels (like I’m) back home though it’s not actually home. So yeah, it’s very warming to the heart to me, personally.

Unni Krishnan

A wide range of artistry is displayed at the open mic nights, from singing, to covers of popular songs, mashups and even poetry! The show itself started with slam poetry by Gurveen Dang, the only spoken word performer in the crowd. Typical music and artistry events can often exclude the more quiet practice of writing, but Open Mic Unplugged is far from your typical event. The soft spoken but powerful poetess started off the event with a bang, and reminded everyone of the wide talent pool that can be found in the South Asian diaspora.

It’s good to see when poetry becomes part of any event. I think it’s an artist’s job to show where they are hiding and often their audience is hiding at the same place. The event was all about making everyone united through words, music & dance. That’s the beauty of art. The event made you feel seen through art.

~Gurveen Dang

Now in its third season, the Open Mic events are a monthly recurrence aimed at platforming South Asian musicians, multilingual performances and creating a hub for artists to get to know each other and potentially collaborate. With many repeat performers and seeing as many 80+ artists per month, the Open Mic has become a pillar of the musical community for many burgeoning artists. Dee Devan shines here not only as a host that helps maintain the space and keep energy up, but as a performer as well. She’s on the ground as a musician who not only aids other musicians in the diaspora but encourages the crowd to join in on the music, creating a unique collaborative environment for everyone whether or not they’re on stage. Dee is the heart of Open Mic Night and was a pleasure to see at Open Mic Unplugged. Many people have felt impacted by the encouraging environment that she has helped to create in these spaces.

"I’ve been with Desifest for about 3 years now, and all I can say is that the journey’s been incredible. What I love about being here is that they’re so inclusive and they’re so respectful and they’re genuine, kind-hearted people and it’s just always amazing to work with people like that. They’re so supportive of my music, everyone else's music, any music! We literally just represent art how it should be: with respect and with admiration. " ~Muskaan Arora

Creating communities, making music and celebrating culture - that's what Desifest is all about. In the end, it's much more than simply performing - but preserving a cultural history while creating something new and building a home away from home. With a few dedicated organizers, consistent backing from the city and a welcoming community, Desifest shows us that the South Asian diaspora in Canada is here to stay.

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