Artline

With his sheer virtuosity and limitless supply of melodies, he won the highest music award of the world, the Grammy Award in 1994 along with Ry Cooder to their World Music Album, A Meeting by the River,establishing him as a star performer, an innovator and a soulful composer. Strongly rooted in tradition, Bhatt is constantly creating and innovating. It is this quest which led him to collaborate with artists from all over the world. He did a historic jugalbandi with the Chinese Erhu player, Jhei Bing Chen, the first ever in the thousands of years of the history of India and China. He has combined with the American Dobro guitar player Jerry Douglas, and the Arabian oudh player Simon Shaheen. Music for relaxation released by Music Today, and Megh Dootam the Sanskrit epi poem has also been composed and recorded for the first time. With so many firsts to his credit, Bhatt has carved a little niche for himself amongst the contemporary musicians.

The chairperson of the Children8217;s Film8217;s Society, the eponymous Jaya Bachan is making her first trip to the City Beautiful. As the central character in Govind Nihalani8217;s film, Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa, based on the novel by Jnanpith awardee Mahasweta Devi, Jaya Bachan, alongwith Govind Nihalani, will participate in an interactive dialogue with the audience the day after the evening screening of the film at Kiran cinema, on August 9 at 6.30. The panel discussion will take place on August 10 at 11.30 a.m. at the auditorium of the Government Museum and Art Gallery.

As one scrolls through the fortnight long programme, one realizes that there is a strong gender presence. The major chunk of performers are women. The talented dancer of the Lucknow gharana will perform on August 2 at 7 pm at Tagore Theatre, city dancer Suchitra Mitra presents a bharatnatyam recital on August 3 at Tagore, August 4 has Sharon Lowen doing Odissi, on August 5, Shubha Mudgal will present a classical vocal recital. Shubha who topped popularity charts of Indipop with Ali Tere Angana is yet another artist who is constantly innovating. Delhi based dancer Ketaki Narayan will bring the curtain down on the Nritya, sangeet, vadya utsav.

Three women artists all known for the strength of their work, bring three completely different plays to town. While Maya Krishna Rao will work with actors from the city, on the themes of partition,8217; from August 1 to 10 at the Tagore Theatre hall, the improvisation will be put up, at the Government Museum and Art Gallery on August 11. On August 13, Maya will present her latest production, Come to me Mr Sharma. Mallika Sarabhai, very representative of the fiery artist8217;s own oeuvre, is all about the pervading atmosphere of violence. 8220;V for..8221; with its compact cast, Sarabhai briskly enacts myriad roles, skilfully slips into the Vidushak8217;s role thereby commenting on global violence. It will be performed on August 12 at Tagore Theatre.

The festivities will come to a close with Anuradha Kapur8217;s latest production, Sundari, which centres around the story of the life of a female impersonator Jaishankar Sundari with all the gender complexities. The production is also the collaborative work of two celebrated artists, Bupen Khaker, and Nilima Sheikh. Bhupen who was personally known to the actor, has created the most imaginative sets appropriate to the play. Sundari is all about the preparation of Jaishankar of transforming himself into a woman before going on to the stage.

Two well travelled exhibitions are also coming to the city for the first time. From empire to emporium, khadi and the robes of Independence curated by Emma Tarlao and designed by Sumant Jaikrishan will open at the Government Museum and Art Gallery on August 7 at 6.30 p.m. and will be open until September 15, and on the August 8, From goddess to pin up icons of femininity in Indian calendar art, curated by Patricia Oberoi will be open again till the 15th September.

The latter presents the sociologist8217;s eye focusing in particular on the representation of women. 8220;It is a feminist gesture because it seeks not only to present but also to critically interrogate, the imagery that these calendars offer. In this interrogation, the distinctive history of the medium as a product of the anglo-India colonial encounter, its present location in an economy of increasingly globalized images where traditions also seeking to reassert itself, its cognitive, aesthetic and stylistic interrelationship with other contemporary media cinema, TV, photography, advertising, billboards, cutouts, pageants, electioneering, iconography, comic books, pop music, and video culture, etc, and its distinctive mode of production and distribution are all factors relevant to interpreting the message that this medium ultimately purveys, the images of Indian womanhood that it projects8221;, writes Patricia Uberoi in her introduction to the show.

The show is being jointly organised by the Chandigarh Administration, North Zone Cultural Centre, Chandigarh Sangeet Academy and The Chandigarh Lalit kala academy.