Potpourri of the Arts

A beautiful celebration of music, dance, theatre, cinema and art organised by the India International Centre (IIC) is all set to enthral the capital’s culturati. The five-day extravaganza “IIC Experience: A Festival Of The Arts” starts today.

Audiences can enjoy a wide array of entertainment on the festival’s fringes — from performances by a 30-piece orchestra from Germany to a tribute concert to mark the birth centenary of M.S. Subbulakshmi to ‘Ghazab Teri Adaa’, a comic musical theatre that marks the centenary of World War I, directed by Waman Kendre, director of the National School of Drama (NSD) and an exhibition on the history and contribution of the Asiatic Society to the knowledge and study of human civilization in Asia since 1784 titled ‘Time Past and Time Present: Treasures of Human Knowledge at the Asiatic Society, Kolkata’ among several other interesting line-ups.

A special tribute will also be paid to artisans and craftsmen working with clay through an exhibition of terracotta objects that will include live demonstrations at Gandhi-King Memorial Plaza while the Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex will celebrate the life and works of artist K.G. Subramanyan.

The five-day extravaganza which has grown to become a highlight on the cultural calendar, will focus on Bengal this year, informs Premola Ghose, chief at Programme Division, IIC. “The festival will open with a presentation of ‘Chaturvidh: Four Dances in the Odishi Marga’, presented by Odishi Vision and Movement Centre, Kolkata, and choreographed by Sharmila Biswas,” she adds.

Open to all The festival is open to all. “Except for the food festivals mentioned in the program, we are eager and excited to see general public come and visit us. We would love to host everyone especially the younger lot to come and soak in the varied festivities spread across our institution. There are no tickets or passes required to come and enjoy. And lastly, if anyone wants to view the interesting array of cinema that we have put up, they just need to come and collect passes prior to the show. Due to a limited number of seats, entry passes will be issued for each film half-an-hour before the screenings on a first-come-first-served basis,” says Ghosh.

Compact festivities Talking about the 13th edition and looking back at the previous editions, she reveals, “When we first started to organise this festival, it used to be an elaborate seven-day affair, but this year we have brought it down to five jam-packed days. Our aim has always been to start our annual festival as soon as Durga Puja culminates and wrap it up before Diwali. But slowly we had started to notice that by the time the festival wrapped up, Diwali was fairly near, leaving no time for participants, organisers and visitors for Diwali preparations.”

Watch out for “The exhibitions will be held both indoors and outdoors,” Ghosh quips, adding, “And some of the key highlights will include a morning concert that will surely conjure an atmosphere of beauty, grace and peace with a tribute to mark the birth centenary of the legendary artist, M.S. Subbulakshmi titled ‘Born to Sing: A Shy Girl from Madurai’. Another interesting thing to watch out for is a unique crossover between performance and film in the form of a very special performance featuring live soundtrack (exactly how it used to happen in the olden days) by Marcello Allulli (saxophone); Giovanni Ceccarelli (piano) and Matteo Fraboni (drums) during the screening of a silent Italian film made in 1916, Cenere directed by Febo Mari. The performance will be an apotheosis of musical expression. Concurrently, there will be two film festivals celebrating six decades of Spanish cinema along with ‘A Date with Shakespeare: A Festival of Films’ featuring six Shakespeare adaptations,” she adds.