Meet The Malaysian Sikh Pipe Band That Made Us Proud In The World Championship

Yet another group of Malaysians making us proud in the international arena!

Malaysia’s Sri Dasmesh Sikh pipe band from Kuala Lumpur rose to the top spot at the recent World Pipe Band Championships held in Scotland last weekend. The talented group of youngsters were named champions of Grade 4B.

The band also won the drumming and best parade category. “It was an indescribable feeling when our name was announced as the winner and the Jalur Gemilang national was raised, ” said Tripert Singh Khalsa, the leader of the group to The News Straits Times.

“We are proud to see the flag on the main stage. This is our best gift in conjunction with the country’s Independence Day,” he added.

The band during the pre-World championships
Source: Asia Samachar

The only act from Southeast Asia to be crowned the winner, the band beat 12 other countries (including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Scotland and Spain) to claim the first place. More precisely, the club defeated over 8,000 pipers and drummers from 195 bands! (WOW, amazing!)

However, make no mistake, this sweet victory did not come easy! After their loss in 2015, the group had to re-evaluate their performance.

On a weekly basis, the team would meet up at Sri Dasmesh International School for two hours to practice. They even hired a specialist in the field from Australia to learn new techniques.

“From there, we learned about music, its theory and related matters as well as intensive training for two hours a day, three times a week and conducted our own home-study and sent training videos to tutors.”

“In the end, our sacrifices were rewarded when we emerged champions because it is not easy to defeat other countries, especially Scotland,” said Tripert.

The band (Sri Dasmesh), named after the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, was formed in 1986 by Sukdev Singh, a commercial pilot and director of an international school by the same name, with his brother Harvinder Singh.