SUMMER SOUNDS: FREE OPEN-AIR CONCERTS
Indian Summer Festival Spotlight - Thursday July 10, 2025 from 5:00-7:30pm
Indian Summer Sounds kicks off the series with a jam-packed evening of genre-defying music curated as part of Indian Summer Festival (July 4-13, 2025)! The free show opens with the expressive strings and vocals of Sejal Lal (Surrey), transitioning into the soulful melodies of Jody Okabe (Vancouver). Next, immerse yourself in the hip-hop-infused elemental soundscapes of kraKIN (Vancouver) featuring the award-winning and JUNO-nominated Ruby Singh, hailed by CBC Radio as “a visionary... blending the technological world with art, social, and environmental causes.” The evening culminates with Surya Brass Band (Surrey), leading a procession through the plaza to Horizons, Indian Summer Festival’s ticketed event at the Vancouver Playhouse, starting at 7:30pm.
This is music for everyone—rooted, boundary-pushing, and full of possibility.
Sejal Lal is a violinist, singer, and songwriter. Using her vocals, violin, and loop station, she crafts layered vocal and string arrangements, drawing inspiration from western classical, hindustani, folk, jazz, r&b, soul, and pop music. In September 2022, Sejal’s original composition for Langston Hughes’ poem “Fulfillment”, was included in an exhibit at The Morgan Museum and Library in New York City, featuring the work of Ashley Bryan and Langston Hughes. Along with developing solo material, Sejal is one half of longstanding R&B-soul duo Laydy Jams, with her bestie Missy D, through which she has performed at numerous festivals, including Indian Summer Festival, the UN Women Delivers Conference, the Vancouver Coastal Jazz Fest amongst others. Sejal is a South-Asian-descent settler from Surrey, BC and currently living on the traditional and unceded territories of the Snuneymuxw peoples.
Jody Okabe is a Two Spirit Indigiqueer person of Ts’msyen, Japanese, and French ancestry, and a proud member of Kitsumkalum. Their family belongs to the House of Raven, W’aap K’oom, Ganhada Clan. Raised on the territories of the Ts’msyen, Tse’Khene, and Lheidli T’enneh peoples, Jody is currently a guest on the stolen, unceded, and occupied homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations.
Jody discovered their voice co-creating grassroots open mic nights with friends, a space rooted in connection, vulnerability, and joy. Since then, they’ve graced the stages of Vines Art Festival, Festival Afloat, Heart of the City, Indian Summer Festival, Manifesto with IndigenEyez, and performed at the opening of the 2018 JUNO Awards. In 2021, they were commissioned to create an original piece for the Powell Street Festival honouring their great grandparents Taki and Denjiro Okabe.
kraKIN is a more-than-human hip-hop collaboration bringing together the sonic stylings of Ruby Singh, the amphibious intellect of Michael Datura (aka professah exile), and a boom-bap menagerie of West Coast plants, amphibians, and mushrooms. In an age of ecological crisis, this multi-species assemblage aims to decompose human dominion and reintegrate our minds with the resonant ecology of a living world. kraKIN creates their unique place based sound by cutting and crossfading samples of field recordings of biomes throughout western Canada and incorporating "biosonification"-a technology that translates the bioelectric signature of flora, fauna and fungi into musical information. Singh named his latest project, kraKIN, based on the birth of the project in the Octopus Islands, the habitat of the giant pacific red octopus, in Desolation Sound. The tracks include everything from cedar tree basslines, wolf-howl and orca song synths, fungi-triggered 808s, to woodpecker hi-hats - resulting in an ecological portrait aiming to shapeshift perceptions and help us stay awake to the ways of the world.
"A visionary artist... blending the technological world with art, social and environmental causes." - CBC Radio Canada
"Mesmerizing, vibrant... Singh isn't just crossing genres, he's straddling astral planes." - Globe and Mall
"Singh spins the sounds of plants and animals into a symphony." - Vancouver Sun
The Surya Brass Band is the only traditional Indian-style brass band in North America. Started by Surya Singh in 1999 and based in Surrey, BC, the Surya Brass Band is a unique concept and has performed all over Canada. With its unique arrangements of Bollywood and Indian folk music they not only give high energy but also a full range of emotion. The vibrant and attractive uniforms they don also add more flavour to their performances. Consisting of an enthusiastic group of local professional musicals dedicated to promoting excellence in brass banding, you will be amazed how Canadian musicians play Indian music flawlessly.
Indian Summer Festival elevates the exceptional creativity of South Asian arts and artists. We produce some of Vancouver’s most vital and distinctive arts + culture events, positioning the city as a dynamic harbour of international ideas and global perspectives.
Each year, the festival presents provocative arts events that feature some of the finest artists and visionaries from Canada, South Asia and beyond. Where the worlds of literature, politics, and the arts intersect, the Festival offers a dynamic platform for fresh thinking and meaningful conversations, where bold ideas are explored and powerful stories come to life. From leading voices in literature to genre-defying performance art, immersive installations to classical ragas, Indian Summer Festival has presented emerging artists as well as Nobel, Booker, Grammy and Oscar prize nominees on its stages. As a multidisciplinary arts organization, we present the best in music, dance, literature, visual, new media, and interdisciplinary arts.
Explore the 2025 Indian Summer Festival Lineup at indiansummerfest.ca
ABOUT VCT PRESENTS: Summer on šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn
Vancouver Civic Theatres is excited to present Summer on šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn, a series of FREE outdoor events taking place in July and August 2025 at 650 Hamilton Street!
Summer Sounds FREE Open-Air Concerts - Thursdays July 10-August 14 at 5:00pm to 7:30pm
Dance Dance Dance FREE Pop-Up Dance Classes - Fridays July 18-August 15 at 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Sunset Cinema FREE Outdoor Movie Screenings - Every Wednesday in August at dusk
Free outdoor concert featuring Derek Gripper with Guy Buttery and Emily Wurrarrmara.
JUL 17
Free outdoor concert featuring AL Qahwa and Tio Chorinho with Flávia Nascimento.
JUL 24
Our Pride Celebration will light up the plaza with two phenomenal local bands!
JUL 31
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