Festival Accès Asie invites you to an interdisciplinary performance that includes storytelling, spoken word, live psychedelic rock fusion music, and video with Himmat Singh Shinhat and his solo work PANJ.
Himmat struggles to accept the sudden and unexpected death of his father, Harchand. A river of silence has separated them since Himmat came out as queer. There is unfinished business between them, questions that remain unresolved.
Himmat turns to his mother, Surjit, for support. As they share memories of Harchand, she reveals confidences she has carried all her life, about her husband, and about the history of her family. Out of this dialogue, a deeper mutual understanding starts to emerge.
As Himmat recalls his 40th birthday and the “peti,” a traditional Indian wooden chest, that his father had made for him, he finds the answers to his questions.
PANJ follows the journey of Himmat’s Punjabi Sikh family from the aftermath of the decolonisation of the British Empire to the emergence of Himmat’s identity. The performance explores themes of dislocation, separation, and loss, taking the audience through five moments in time and space, from the rivers of Punjab to the banks of the St-Lawrence.
