Sri Dasmesh pipe band wins big at KL Scottish games

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Asia Samachar | 18 May 2015

The Sikhs made their presence felt at a Scottish traditional games in Malaysia with the Sri Dasmesh Pipes and Drums sweeping 13 medals and emerging as the overall champions for the pipe band competition.

The band swept the overall bag pipe band group competition at the 2nd Kuala Lumpur Highland Games (KLHG 2015) in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

The Kuala Lumpur-based band won gold for the Mini Band Competition (Group) competition. Last year, it won the silver medal.

In individual events, it took home another 12 medals: five gold, four silver and three bronze. The Sri Dasmesh drummers swept all the medals up for grabs for the solo tenor drumming (grade D) and the solo bass drumming.

“Our drummers are all self taught as you don’t have professional tutoring in Malaysia. At a later stage, we did get some training from Drum Srt Lucy Jones from Australia,” lead drummer Sergeant Tripert Singh tells Asia Samachar.

The band pipers had trained along with Pipe Major Barry Paul Gray from the Sydney-based Hawkesbury Napean Valley Pipe Band. Gray had invited Sri Dasmesh drummers to join his team for the Australian Nationals Championship 2014.

The highland games originated from the “ancient test of strength”, packed with traditional Scottish games like caber tossing and hammer throwing. It also include the playing of bag-pipes, dancing and a range of entertainment for young and old.

It was organised by the Selangor St Andrew’s Society, founded in 1887 with the Sultan of Selangor as its patrons, aims to promote Scottish culture in Malaysia.

SRI DASMESH PERFORMANCE:

1) Mini Band Competition (Group): Sri Dasmesh, Gold (2014: silver) 

2) Solo Snare drumming (Novice): Kesh Babbar, Silver. (2014: silver)

3) Solo Drumming (Grade D): Tripert Singh, Gold. (2014: Gold)

4) Solo Tenor Drumming (Novice): Gurkiret Kaur (Gold), Priya Kaur Kesh (Silver).

5) Solo Tenor Drumming (Grade D): Manmeet Singh (Gold), Jasroop Singh (Silver),  Sukhpreet Kaur (Bronze) 

6) Solo Piping (Novice): Maninderpal Singh (Gold)

7) Solo Piping (Grade D): Rajdeep Singh (Bronze) 

8 ) Solo Bass Drumming: Tripert Singh (Gold), Jasroop Singh (Silver),  Charanjit Singh (Bronze) 

[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE! Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]

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