june 2010 programmes


 wednesday 2 and thursday 3 June
3 to 7 pm. 100 Things to do with Genda Phool ...A workshop for children
Conducted by Red Earth and The Genda Phool Project  Team

    Suggested age group: 8-18

 

The workshop will introduce children to the magical world of genda phool, the eternal and universal marigold flower. The children will connect with the environment, beauty, celebration, art and music all through the medium of Genda Phool.

The children will learn to do several things with genda phool over the course of the workshop:


. Growing and planting genda phool
. Making garlands from genda phool
. Playing with genda phool
. Singing the genda phool
. Dancing to the tune of genda phool
. Genda games
. Painting with genda phool, making your own organic colours
. Dried flower crafts -- cards, potpourri
. Making gulaal from genda phool
. Rangolis -- floor decoration with genda phool
. Floating flower arrangements with genda phool


Contribution: Rs. 1000/- per child
(Includes material, refreshments and other workshop costs. Payable in
advance)

Maximum no. of children: 12-15
Maybe accompanied by parents / attendants (optional).

For registration and details contact
Himanshu Verma / 41764054 / himanshu@redearthindia.com                                  www.thegendaphoolproject.com  

 

Dastak Announces 
A workshop for aspiring Dastangos at The Attic

friday 4th June 10am – 5pm
saturday 5th June 10am to 4.30 pm
sunday 6th June 12.30 – 5 pm
 
Mahmood Farooqui’s attempts at reviving this lost art of Urdu story telling have completed five years this month. He is now looking to invite more people to take the story forward.  

Only those interested in pursuing the art of Dastangoi and those who have a working knowledge of Urdu and of Theatre should attend.  

Please write a mail to mahmood.farooqui@gmail.com and state your background and reasons for attending the workshop in order to register. Please also visit the blog www.dastangoi.blogspot.com to learn more about this lost Art of Urdu Storytelling and its revival.

A Note on the Workshop:

The workshop is NOT going to conduct general theatre exercises of voice, improvisation and movement. It is going to concentrate on the history and nature of the form and how best to perform the traditional stories in today's context.  

Participants are expected to devote themselves to learning and performing the stories which are currently in the repertoire of the Dastangoi performances. The workshop will be conducted free of cost to the participants.

The workshop is supported by the INDIA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, BANGALORE.

 

saturday 5 june
6.30 pm “Soul of Ghazal” a performance by Ishu Sharma  

The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets (shers) and a refrain with each line sharing the same meter. It can be understood as a poetic expression of the pain of loss or separation or the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form originated in the 6th century pre Islamic Arabic verse and remains the principal poetic form of Indo-Perso-Arabic civilization.

Ghazals were written by the Persian mystics and poets Rumi, Hafez and Fuzuli. The form came to India in the 12th century under the influence of the Sultanate courts and Sufi mystics and flowered in the Persian and Urdu poetry of Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal. Through the influence of Goethe, Friedrich Ruckert and August von Platen they also became popular in 19th century Germany. The ghazal is just a poetic form, an ode and exists in many languages including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Kashmiri, Kurdish, and Pashtu.

The ghazal form in India has reached new heights with the poetry of the great ‘shairs’ (poets) Mir Taqi Mir, Ghalib, and Faiz Ahmad Faiz being set to brilliant musical compositions often based on ‘Ragas’ and sung by some of the most famous ghazal singers of India and Pakistan. The music embellishes the words and brings alive the themes of illicit, unattainable love, separation and the passion of the unrequited lover. 

 nahii.n ki mujhko qayaamat kaa etiqaad nahii.n
shab-e-firaaq se roz-e-jazaa ziyaad nahii.n 

It is not that I do not have faith in (the pains of) the day of judgment
But the night of separation is not less than the day of judgment. 

                                                                                                   Mirza Ghalib

 

This evening’s programme is as much a tribute to the ‘shairs’ who wrote the great couplets that comprise the Ghazal as to those singers who brought the words alive through their music.  

Ishu Sharma has been singing the Ghazal for two decades now along with other forms – Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan and Folk. She credits her mother for introducing her to music and her success to her family for their support. She started her formal training in music when she was seven years old and became a disciple of Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty and later in Ghazal of Ustad Zamir Ahmed Khan of the Delhi Gharana. She was inspired by the famous ghazal singers Begum Akhtar and Farida Khanum and through her singing has paid homage to the great poets Mirza Ghalib, Zouq and Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

She is an approved artist of All India Radio and has received many awards for her achievements in music. She has also traveled all over India and performed at various festivals around the country.  

 

saturday 12th june
1 – 3 pm Food Meditation # 7 

The 7th in the series of Food Meditation takes place on 12 June from 1 to 3 pm. The idea is the same. How to eat? What to eat?

Participants will be served simple, wholesome, nourishing, food. There will be no talking while eating. Questions and discussion afterwards.  

Rotis will be made from hand pounded wheat, Vegetables cooked in pure mustard oil retaining the essential simplicity of  what was called ‘desi khaanaa’  

The highlight of the meal is ‘Jau’ (Oats) and ‘kacchee ghani’ (mustard oil). Some useful information is as below: 

•        Oats
1.       Oats generally have been cultivated for over 5000 years. The benefits of oats come from the fact that they are a good source of soluble and insoluble fiber. Not the kinds of oats generally available in the market which are sugar coated, but the original plain flakes or aataa.

2.       In their unprocessed form oats cut down the risks of heart disease and are very useful for diabetics. They slow down the digestion of starch avoiding the sharp rise in the sugar level in the blood after meals.  

3.       Oats are a very good source of vitamins E, zinc, selenium, cooper, iron, manganese, magnesium and proteins.   

4.       In the Indian tradition Oats are a ‘cooling’ food and appropriate dor this weather. 

•        Mustard oil (cold pressed kacchee ghani):  

Has alow Saturated fat content amongst edible oils and causes less clogging of the arteries, reducing the risk of heart attack. It also contains Omega3 and Omega 6 fatty acids crucial for health and metabolism.   

This mustard oil comes from one of our young farmer friend, Bharat’s village, in Baghpat.  

The menu will also include Black Rice and Pudina Chaachh, the former being rich in fiber and iron and the latter is a popular summer health drink. 

Some special herbs and spices used in these meals will be on display and available for sale.

Participation is by registration on payment only. Telephone The Attic 23746050 or email mina@theatticdelhi.org and anaam@aol.in  Charges Students Rs 25. Others Rs 100.
Only 15 participants. No walk-ins please.

 

saturday 12th june
6.30 pm ‘Swaranjali’ sarod recital by Pt. Mukesh Sharma 

  ‘Swar’, in Indian music is a musical note. ‘Anjali’ is an offering.  Mukesh Sharma offers us this evening his music as a ‘sur ki sadhana’ a worship of music.

To him music is meaningless unless accompanied by devotion. This devotion is to the music and the musical note itself which is considered to have divinity and includes not only the playing but also the act of listening to music.  

The sarod is a stringed musical instrument and along with the sitar, the most popular in Hindustani classical music. It is known for its deep, weighty, introspective sound (contrast with the sweet, overtone-rich texture of the sitar) with sympathetic strings that give it a resonant, reverberant quality. It is a fretless instrument able to produce the continuous slides between notes ‘meend’ (glissandi), which are very important to Indian music. The Sarod is believed to have descended from the Afghan ‘rabab’          

Mukesh Sharma is one of the leading younger exponents of the Sarod. His purity of style, uniqueness of imagination and his brilliant technique in which he blends the elements of ‘Gayaki’ (vocal) rendering and "Layakari" (Instrumental rhythmic patterns) make his recitals musically very exciting.  

His father Late Rasik Bihari Lal was an eminent Sarod Artist. Mukesh had his initial training from late Pt.Suprabhat Paul, late Dr. Ramaballabh Mishra and Pt.Birju Maharaj. Later he came under the guidance of the renowned Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. Mukesh was the winner of the UP Sangeet Natak Academy Competition for 2 years, the All India Radio Music Competition, the All India Inter University Competition and the ‘Sur-Mani’ title at the Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan at Bombay.  

He is an "A" Grade artist of the All India Radio Doodarshan Kendra and had a Senior Fellowship from The Ministry of Culture from 1995 to 1997. His biography is published in "Asian/American Who is who" and "Biography Today". He has performed in many prestigious concerts in India and in many European countries as well as in Mauritius, Reunion Island, Singapore, Bangladesh and the Gulf Emirates. His published recordings include "India Calling", "Raga Miyan Malhar" and "The Call of Horizons" and have been released in France, Germany and Holland. He has been teaching classical instrumental music for the last 25 years in India and abroad.