What’s up: Poetry night, Punjabi dance party, Supersuckers, Bachata Festival and Asian Heritage Month

What’s up: Poetry night, Punjabi dance party, Supersuckers, Bachata Festival and Asian Heritage Month

Poetry night lands at mystery bookstore

Speaking Crow
Whodunit? Mystery Bookstore, 163 Lilac St.
Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Free

Aspiring poets of the world (or at least Winnipeg), rejoice: the city’s longest-running poetry evening returns for an in-person event Tuesday at Whodunit?, presented by the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

This month’s featured reader is local author Sue Sorensen, whose debut poetry collection Acutely Life was published in February by At Bay Press. The evening will also feature a range of new and experienced poets reading a few minutes’ worth of their work.

If you’ve got a poem or two in your notebook (or head) that you would like to share at Speaking Crow, pop down to Whodunit? and put your name on the sign-up sheet before spots are full. The event is free.

— Ben Sigurdson

Punjabi dance party

Canada Life Centre
Friday, 8 p.m.
Tickets $179-$1,700 plus fees at Ticketmaster

Indian multi-hyphenate Diljit Dosanjh returns to Winnipeg Friday for his second show at the city’s biggest music venue in as many years.

Dosanjh is a singer-songwriter, Bollywood actor, television personality and rising global celebrity. He has more than 17 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has starred in several blockbuster Hindi films.

In 2023, he became the first Punjabi artist to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, introducing his music to a wide North American audience.

Dosanjh’s Dil-Luminati Tour landed in Canada on Saturday with a reported 54,000 fans flocking to BC Stadium Place for the show, making it the largest ever Punjab music concert outside of India, according to Billboard Canada. He released his 13th studio album, Ghost, last fall and has collaborated with Sia.

The artist is known for big, highly produced concerts and for involving local community groups on his tour stops. During his last visit to the city in 2022, Dosanjh was joined on stage by bhangra dance students from the Winnipeg Punjabi Arts Academy.

Friday’s concert at Canada Life Centre is nearly sold out.

— Eva Wasney

Get sacrilicious with the Supersuckers and Electric Six

Supersuckers
Pyramid Cabaret, 9 p.m.
With Electric Six, Volk, Robojom
Tickets $25 at showcase.com

The Supersuckers are the self-described “greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world” and have often proved it over the course of a 36-year career, while also dabbling in punk, roots and outlaw country.

Formed in Arizona in 1988, the band moved to Seattle just as grunge was taking off and were outliers on SubPop records in the 1990s with revved-up albums such as La Mano Cornuda and The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers, before switching gears and showing off their country chops on Must’ve Been High.

In the years since, the band, now a trio featuring original vocalist-bassist Eddie Spaghetti alongside guitarist Marty Chandler and drummer Christopher von Streiche — both of whom have been in the group more than a decade — has recorded and toured constantly, switching between rock and country records. Its latest album, Play That Rock ’N’ Roll, was released in 2020.

The band is on the road with rock outfit Electric Six on the Cheap Salvation tour.

Electric Six formed in Detroit in the mid-1990s and is fronted by the energetic and charismatic Dick Valentine. The group split for a few years and returned in the early 2000s and scored a hit with the dance-punk single Danger! High Voltage. Since then the band has gone through numerous lineup changes while releasing more than 15 albums, including its latest, Turquoise, last year.

The Cheap Salvation tour hits the Pyramid Cabaret Friday with Nashville rock duo Volk and local electro-new-wavers Robojom.

— Rob Williams

Winnipeg Bachata Festival

Fort Garry Hotel (Friday and Saturday) Hargrave Street Market (Sunday)
Various times
Tickets start at $42, full weekend pass $241 from Eventbrite

This three-day celebration of bachata, salsa and kizomba dance styles features artists from across Canada, the United States, Mexico and Spain.

Hosted by world champion bachata dancers Harold Rancano and Regan Hirose, the festival includes dance competitions, performances, workshops and parties, as well as an exclusive piece by international bachata artist Dama.

Events will be spread across three days at two different venues.

Competitions (4 to 8 p.m.), a mini performance showcase (9.30 p.m.), a beginner dance class (10.15 p.m.) and social dancing (10.30 p.m. to 1 a.m.) take place on Friday at Fort Garry Hotel.

On Saturday, guest workshops are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and a performance showcase from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Dama concert starts at 10.30 p.m.

On Sunday at Gusto North Patio, workshops run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is a kids showcase at 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. will be performances and a party

All ages and experience levels are welcome.

— AV Kitching

Celebrate Asian Heritage Month at Manitoba Museum’s first First Friday

Manitoba Museum
Friday, 4 to 9 p.m.
Free

The Manitoba Museum is opening up its doors for free on Friday evening, when attendees can take in programming commemorating Asian Heritage Month.

Over generations, Winnipegger Thomas Rempel-Ong’s family migrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong and Canada. He explores and shares that history via artifacts, photographs and documents that were recently donated to a museum in a series of short films that will be played in a loop in the Winnipeg Gallery Theatre from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m..

In the Planetarium, stargazers will be able to explore constellations and sky stories from China, India, Japan and Korea. Shows run every half hour beginning at 4:30 p.m. The last show starts at 8:30 pm.

Elsewhere, museum goers can also visit Manidoo Miiniigooizowin, A Gift from the Creator in the Discovery Room & Welcome Gallery, an exhibit commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization. The objects on view represent the 34 member Nations, and celebrate the resilience of the Anishinaabe and Dakota peoples.

The Manitoba Museum will offer free general admission to the Museum Galleries, Planetarium and Science Gallery from 4-9 p.m. on the first Friday of the month.

— Jen Zoratti