India's best to perform at cultural show

THE best of Indian talent in the arts and cultural world will be showcased at the performing arts schedule in Celebrating India 2001.

And not all of it is classical either, with an exciting contemporary line-up that has demonstrated the wealth of India’s living heritage. With four music concerts, one dance performance and an art show, the festival spans new generation artists and well-established maestros.

Events to look out for include Daksha Sheth’s contemporary dance group. Trained in Kathak, Daksha has recently turned to Indian martial traditions as a foundation for choreographic extension. She has developed a strongly physical and vibrant dance language. The group will have a ticketed performance at the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) at Robertson Quay on Oct 14. For music, there’s Shubha Mudgal who is well-versed in both classical and contemporary music, with her recent hit albums of Ab ke Sawan and Pyar Ke Geet topping the charts for weeks. Some of her numerous awards include the Gold Plaque Award for Special Achievement in Music at the 34th Chicago International Film Festival 1998. Shubha performs in her trademark Thumri (classical) style on Oct 15 also at the SRT.

Indian Ocean, a four-member band, has taken traditional Indian hymns, chants and poetry and given them contemporary treatments, drawing from roots as diverse as ragas and rock, reggae and folk, jazz and pop. Admission is free for their performance on Oct 10 at 7 p.m. at Ngee Aun City’s Civic Plaza.

In a collaborative effort, Dr L Subramaniam, India’s leading violinist who has composed music for movies such as Salaam Bombay and Mississippi Masala, will perform with The Victoria Chorale, a 30-strong choir which garnered two silver medals in the inaugural choir Olympics in Linz, Austria, last year. The performance is on Oct 13, at The Rock auditorium at Suntec City.

Internationally acclaimed flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is known for popularising Indian classical music across the world. He has won the Padmavibhushan award given by the Indian government to outstanding cultural and art performers. He performs on Oct 12 at the SRT.

Concerts by invitation only include Mallika Sarabhai dance ensemble. Trained in Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi, Ms Sarabhai has played the role of Draupadi in Peter Brook’s international production of Mahabrata. She is the co-director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts.

In the area of visual arts, Artfolio Space at Raffles Hotel Arcade will showcase the modernist works by 35 artistes from all over India. Manu Parekh, Arpana Kaur and G A Adivrekar continue to be based in India, while Yeshwant Shirwadkar’s works have been auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1998. Indian artistes who have exhibited before in Singapore include Seema Varma, Niladri Paul and Parvathi Nayar. The exhibition at Artfolio will be open from 11 am to 7 p.m., from Oct 10 to 18.

Meanwhile, on the fashion front, J J Valaya, an Indian couture label, will showcase a small selection of its Fall/Winter 2001 collection on Oct 12, but viewing is by invitation only.

But let’s now get onto the subject we all love - food! Those who want to taste some ‘original’ Indian cuisine from top chefs in India can check out Shangri-La Hotel’s Coffee Garden and Raffles Hotel’s Tiffin Room. Veteran chefs from the famed Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai will whip up a wide range of North Indian cuisine at the Shangri-La.

Participating in this wide-reaching series of arts and culture, people here should be able to have a heightened awareness about India’s vibrant and ever-changing state of the arts.

( Article reproduced from Business Times - 10 October 2001, by Cheah Ui-hoon )