The night was filled with music, dance and festivities attended by Indian expatriates, local Indian business owners and friends of the community.
Philstar.com/Jan Milo Severo
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine-based Indian production Desi Matters celebrated their 10th year anniversary in the business with "Baisakhi Fest 2024" held in Hilton Manila in Newport City recently.
The night was filled with music, dance and festivities attended by Indian expatriates, local Indian business owners and friends of the community.
In an interview with the media before the event, Desi Matters Productions Rav Singh said that the production caters to Indian community in the Philippines.
"Desi Matters Productions started as a small entertainment company which caters to Indian community here in the Philippines. I'm a DJ and I was able to start my small entertainment company, which was lacking in the Philippines. There were no Indian performers, basically there was no Indian-based production," Singh said.
Singh said that the production company's vision is to have a cultural exchange with the Philippines.
"There were no Indian events happening in the Philippines. We were minorities in the Philippines but we wanted to show who we are to Filipinos, we wanted to have that cultural exchange on food and performances. That was the main vision and then slowly, we grew and then we did events. We brought a lot of our Indian partners," Singh said.
"We organize Indian concerts, we brought in artists from India and then from there, we opened Desi Matters and we offer our services for different events like Indian wedding, birthdays," he added.
At the same event, Singh announced that the production company now has a creative hub, Desi Matters Studio, and an events company, DMS Prime.
"It's getting better. For example, when we look back 10 years ago, no one was eating Indian food, it's different now. And you know, how Indians are looked upon a few years ago. But right now, we've managed – not just our company – but it was a joint effort of our whole community, and our respective governments are pushing it. So it was a joint effort. We want to showcase that Indian culture is vibrant and colorful," Singh said.
Baisakhi Fest 2024 is organized and coordinated by Beyond Logistics Events. In line with the event, Shroff Travel, one of their sponsors, also celebrated their 30 years in the travel industry.
The event is also sponsored by PAGCOR, PRA Philippines, Retirement Authority FICWSI – Filipino Indian Commerce & Welfare Society Inc., Swaadisht Manila, Rich Royal Indian Curry House, Flavours, HME Happy Manila Entertainment, MK Productions, Indian Cultural Association of the Philippines (ICAP), Punjab Indian Grocery, Punjab Appliances Store, The Furr Project Animal Hospital, Ambica, Hilton Manila Beyond Logistics Events and Lulu Money.