About 15 artists from the city-based Asian Folk Theatre (AFT) were among the 500 from 13 countries who regaled the French during their Independence Day celebrations in the month of July. Besides the Punjabi group, it was the National Institute of Folk Dances from West Bengal that represented the nation's rich folk tradition at the Festival of France.

Recalling the days, Bhupinder Babbal, a folk singer who had sung one of the numbers in Bally Sagoo's Aaja nach le, noted, "We have left such an impact on the French that even if we are not called for the next year's festival, there will be a demand for bhangra from them.''

During their 15-day-long stay in the different towns and countryside of Southern France, the troupe, which included Raja Virk, Swaraj Singh and Garib Dass from the AFT, got a chance to interact with folk artists from Ukraine, China, Spain, Hungary and Croatia. "But our Punjabi folk is so rich in its variety that the French really got attracted to our algoza, chimta and tumbi''.