"Bijuriya": a hybrid drag performance by Gabriel Dharmoo

This event is sponsored by the Center for South Asia.

About the performance
Presented in a hybrid format of artist-talk, live performance and video excerpts, Gabriel Dharmoo will present his interdisciplinary drag performance "Bijuriya" - an inventive meeting between in and out of drag identities. While Gabriel is a music composer and experimental vocalist, Bijuriya is a drag artist engaging with South Asian culture. Gabriel values innovation and risk taking as he navigates Eurocentric artistic scenes. Bijuriya seeks to touch the hearts of fellow brown queers. Both have marginal practices, engaging very different audiences. Gabriel and Bijuriya are one person, coming on stage as one to negotiate their hybrid and multifaceted identity. Code-switching between drag performance, original songs, experimental sound design and the porosity between singing and lip-syncing, this piece celebrates the artist’s brownness through an array of unexpected talents. A quirky yet vulnerable exploration of their inadequacy to fully represent the subcultures they seek to embrace.

About the performer
Bijuriya is a drag artist and musician active in the Montreal (Canada) cultural scene. Merging music, drag and theatre, her solo production Bijuriya has been presented a dozen times in Canada since 2022 (Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Kitchener, Peterborough) in festivals, theatres and iconic queers space such as the PuSh Festival (Vancouver), Buddies in Bad Times (Toronto), Montréal Arts Interculturels (Montreal) and the Queer Arts Festival (Vancouver). Her EP Bijuriya Chamke and song Problematic Fantasy, feat. BiG SiSSY) are available on streaming platforms. Strongly inspired by her South Asian culture, her musical collaborations span many genres, from early music and Baroque with Les Goûts Réunis, to South Asian music and a band project that pays tribute to multiple types of musical genres and eras. She has MCed cabarets with Jhalak, Festival Phénomena, Festival Accès Asie, Suoni Per Il Popolo and Geordie Theatre.

​​​​​​​This work was made possible by a Humanities Seed Grant from Stanford Public Humanities.