Melange 2010

I quite enjoyed Melange 2010, which saw six musicians- Nishat Khan on sitar, Trilok Gurtu on percussion, Larry Coryell on guitar, Lily Haydon on violin, Frank Martin on keyboard, Itai Disreali on bass guitar.
Nishat Khan served as the focal point as he was centre stage. As the distinctive India instument player too, he stood out.
Trilok Gurtu used South American instruments among others to conjure up sounds of a storm.
Lily Haydon managed to make the violin sound more angry than mournful.
I liked the fact that the musicians got sounds out of their instruments which I had not heard from these instruments earlier.

Dilli Ka Shayarana Andaaz

Truly a magical evening. The dramatised readings from a new novel had us riveted. An Urdu translation of The Last Mughal followed. It sounded much better than the original English version. 1852 Delhi was not much different from the Delhi we know and still love today. Sweltering summers, hookah wallahs who emerge in the evening..." Hum Dilli wale chatpate khane ke liye hi to yahan rehte hein."
Agreed.
Ghazals in a melodious voice followed- Yeh na thi hamari kismat by Ghalib, followed by Zafar, Daag et al.
I promptly bought the novel and am waiting for the Hindustani translation of The Last Mughal to be on sale.

Baarish

Went for the play reading The Strange Case of Billy Biswas. The strength of the book lay in it's descriptions, which highlighted the lure of the jungle. From a dramatci perspective, it slowed down the action.

I liked The Blue Umbrella- the umbrella was indeed very beautiful. The tale was engaging too, not merely for children.

The muppets at the Monsoon Festival were also riveting.

I also enjoyed An Inconvenient Truth- although there were too many images of Al Gore for my liking. The screening was in a smaller room than the auditorium where The Blue Umbrella was shown, the people were less and so too hopefully were the carbon emissions:)

Check your carbon footprint on climatecrisis.net.

The music program in the evening was also very refreshing- with Suchet's shamanic drum and other previously unseen, unheard and unknown instruments.

Kartik Baul's music was lilting in parts.

We rounded off the evening with wine on the house, courtesy the American centre:)

Western classical

The music program at IHC yesterday was very refreshing for the soul. Also a refresher with French and Italian guessing. Didn't have the same impact in English:)Worth the long ride.

TMS

The third edition of The Medicine Show was less rousing than the previous ones. The usual acts could not leverage the elemnt of surprise- the singers & the dancers...even the theatre practioners decided to sing this time.

The wedding band was a suprise touch--the sight of them solemnly playing Muqabla had many of us cracking up.

The staged stand up comedy act did have a twist in its tail...but that was it's only merit.

It may be tough to put up a good show month after month--perhaps a bimonthly would generate more crowds & quality acts.

The venue, too, was not apt...one is tired of sitting on carpets, floors and what have yous for a view of the performances.

Sax on toast

Attended a very refreshing concert- piano & saxophone by two Canandian women on Canada Day at the IIC yesterday. Pink Panther as an encore was delightful:)

O.M.O.

Feel so proud & independent to have my own place- master of all I survey--although I have broken several banks to get & set up my place:)
Enjoyed the first edition of The Medicine Show at TLR more than the second one- although this was a welcome celebration after completing the bulk of my shifting. I liked I f$%#ing love you--didn't know the two could sing too:)

Zila Khan

Jogging again. Hear a peacock call today. Apples and oranges now form breakfast. The Zila Khan performance was good. I like Sufi songs. Her voice is very flexible. Sounds of Isha was also very good. They had some unusual instruments.