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Saudha presents violinist Kala Ramnath showcasing Frida Kahlo works at Royal Albert Hall

With new light on Frida Kahlo works, Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music, brings at Royal Albert Hall a unqiue musical and poetic colaboration…Rahul Laud reports

On Wednesday 13 July 2022 at 7.30pm a reinterpretation of Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo’s melancholic universe of art will be brought to new shade of light through breath-taking presentation of Indian classical music at the Royal Albert Hall .

Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music, (www.saudha.org) will present an art-initiative live in partnership with Royal Albert Hall.  

Directed by poet Ahmed Kaysher, this visceral presentation, will feature the world’s finest Hindustani classical violinist Vidushi Kala Ramnath joining from USA, leading Tabla maestro Pt Sanju Sahai, the finest British-Bengali singer of this generation Shapla Salique, an acclaimed spoken-word artist Shree Ganguly,  an award-winning filmmaker Makbul Chowdhury (digital content) and poet Shamim Shahan is on the back-stage management. 

The director Ahmed Kaysher said “This is a landmark and absolutely unique fusion of two different art forms. Indian classical music, with its absolute versatility, never attempted to explore and interpret the intensity of human emotions of other subtle art forms like painting, specially Frida’s works that have an ocean of dramatic and transcendental elements, which off-course, what Indian classical music keenly delves into. “

Kaysher said ” As a firm believer of exploring different arts through interpretation, re-interpretation, construction, de-construction and reconstruction – the horizon that Jack Derrida introduced to arts and literature, Saudha, has been re-interpreting different arts of the globe with other art forms for last 13 years e.g. Bach’s Goldberg variation through Raag Chayanat; Eliot’s Waste Land in the light of Nazrul’s Bidrohi ( As part of the centenary celebration of the Waste land); intensifying the meaning and the mood of Indian classical music with the presentation of haunting verses of poetry from Lorca, Neruda, Cavafy, Tagore, Rumi etc, as well as rendering visual interpretation through dance and other visual arts.”   

He continued “These historic fusions of arts and music have been staged nationwide and at prestigious venues like Southbank centre, Royal Albert Hall, the House of Commons, Edinburgh Festival etc, and we managed to create a fresh flow of new audiences and followers in the last 13 years. I am also working on transcending the subtlety of Indian classical music through mingling this with Javanese classical set of Gamelan and off-course, medieval music of India called Vaishnav through early European music e.g. Troubadour. We are planning to do a world tour next year with these two unique art-initiatives.”

Hindustani violinist Vidushi Kala Ramnath said “It’s an immense privilege to contribute to this amazing concert. It’s always a pleasure working for Saudha, a leading Indian classical and global music promoter in the UK and to be back at the Royal Albert Hall after a good few years.”      

The door opens at 7pm and the concert starts at 7.30pm at the Elgar Room of the Royal Albert Hall.

Link for info: 

Saudha – Frida Kahlo Through Indian Classical Music | Royal Albert Hall — Royal Albert Hall

ALSO READ: Saudha Hosts a Hub for Artist Communities to Protest Against War

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Arts & Culture Lite Blogs UK News

A galaxy of artists perform against violence in the world

Nearly five hours filled with performances of music, dance, spoken-words and films by artists from a diverse cultural heritage showed their anger, frustration against the ongoing violence and expressed their solidarity with the people of Ukraine, writes Prof. Geetha Upadhyaya

Prof. Geetha Upadhyaya

Curated by Ahmed Kaysher, the Director of Saudha, a series of haunting performances by a galaxy of 52 artists was presented at the Rich Mix theatre, East London.  Kaysher said, “The event actually showcased the impact of the violence and war on artists’ imaginations and their responses against the current invasion of Russia in Ukraine as well as all forms of violence happening all around the world. 

Nearly five hours filled with performances of music, dance, spoken-words and films by artists from a diverse cultural heritage showed their anger, frustration against the ongoing violence and expressed their solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Poet and playwright John Farndon, who has been translating Ukrainian literature for many years, said ” This is simply a horror that no-one can just ignore. What can we writers do now against this invasion? The painful answer is not much. And this helplessness is even more depressing.” 

A leading South Asian singer Gouri Chowdhury said “Could anyone have imagined a shameless aggression like this in 21 century? These atrocities almost became a TV show now. Ukraine is burning but it should have burnt the hearts of the global community, and the world should do more to stop this..”

Poet and theatre-activist Amy Neilson Smith, read her poem of powerful verses ” Our hearts stop, Thoughts of leaking breasts, torn tectonic plates, as fresh eggs are cracked, cooked & served on Putin’s cold plate.” .

Poet and fictionist Mona Dash ended her beautiful poem with hope – “By now, we know enough, to know, we must stop war!  May the sunflowers bloom, the nightingales sing soon in Ukraine.”

Writer and composer Peter Culshaw who has written quite often about Ukraine for Guardian, Songlines, Odessa Review said, “Ukraine is a special place between a backward looking tired Europe and Russia run by an autocratic psychopath. The invasion was unprovoked as an imperialist fever dream. Ukraine a democratic, free, culturally rich country and had to be stamped on but will surely prevail.  

“It was an incredible event with a true international mix of a wide variety of performances against war” that’s how Anastasiya Belovoba described the event.

BBC slum champion poet David Lee Morgan said, “The Ukrainian people are historically fighting back against a criminal and cowardly Russian invasion”.  

Art & culture is the only thing that can spread peace everywhere! Saudha’s work & collectiveness are essential, inspiring & using art to conquer war mentality.”

For further information on the work of Saudha pleaae contact :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/saudha/

On Kaysher

07828190551

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Arts & Culture Lite Blogs UK News

Saudha Hosts a Hub for Artist Communities to Protest Against War

Saudha Society of Poetry and Music is hosting a unique initiative to protest the war, the rise of fascism, violence and brutality, writes Prof. Geetha Upadhyaya

Prof. Geetha Upadhyaya

Saudha Society of Poetry and Music, a leading organisation of global arts and music here in the UK, in partnership with a global literary platform La Ninfa Eco, is hosting a unique initiative to protest the war, the rise of fascism, violence and brutality through Arts, Music, Dance, Spoken Word and other art forms.

A series of events in London, Oxford, Leeds, Birmingham, Edinburgh and other cities begins at Rich Mix, London on Sunday 24 April 2022 at 5pm when 44 artists from different cultural heritages will present their exquisite creative work of insightful and analytic presentations, well-known musicians, poets, writers, filmmakers, theatre-practitioners, academics, painters and dancers.

Saudha’s Director and Curator of this event, poet Ahmed Kaysher said, ‘The event showcases the impact that violence leaves in an artists’ imaginations. This is actually artists’ responses to the current war between Russia and Ukraine and all forms of violence in the world.

To register for free, please follow this link: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/verses-and-voices-against-violence-and-war-tickets-304028797317

www.saudha.org 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/saudha/

On Kaysher

07828190551

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India News Lite Blogs London News

Saudha’s Jibanananda Festival returns to East London on 20 February

The festival is bringing renowned academics, poets, writers and performers together to promote the time-winning literature of a great modernist poet in Indian subcontinent at post-Tagorian time, writes Prof. Geetha Upadhyaya

Prof. Geetha Upadhyaya

Jibanananda Festival that celebrates the moving works of a major Bengali poet of 20th Century in India Jibanananda Das is returning to the Rich Mix in East London for the third year on Sunday 20 February at 5pm.

Hosted by a leading institute of South Asian arts – Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music – the festival is bringing renowned academics, poets, writers and performers together to promote the time-winning literature of a great modernist poet in Indian subcontinent at post-Tagorian time (Rabindranath Tagore, the first Nobel laureate from the East).

The galaxy of speakers include award-winning poet Prof Oz Harwick from Leeds Trinity University, Professor of Asian history in Exter University Nandini Chatterjee, writer and Jibanananda researcher Dr Shahaduzzaman, fictionist Dr Noor Zaheer, poet and playwright John Farndon and British-Argentine poet Gaby Sambucceti.

They will explore the relevance of Jibananda’s works in the 21st Century from different dimensions and, in addition, will offer a comparative study on his poetry with contemporary poets of other languages of the globe.

ALSO READ: Saudha celebrates centenary of Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ and Kazi Nazrul’s ‘The Rebel’

The festival will also stage a unique playlet called Bonolota Sen – A search for beauty. Directed by Ahmed Kaysher, featuring many

Critically acclaimed spoken-word artists Poppy Shahnaz, Soma Das, Manash Chowdhury, Tanjina Nur-E Siddique and Shamsuzzoha will recite from Jibanananda’s poetry, while classical dancers Monidipa Seal and Sharmishtha Pandit will render a haunting visual interpretation of these poems through dance.

In addition, the festival also features music presentations based on Jibanananda’s poetry by a talented singer Amith Dey.

An award-winning photographer Pablo Khaled and Nishat Afza are presenting a visual interpretation of a popular poem by Jibanananda Das, ‘Bonolota Sen’ through a selection of poetic photography.

The director and the founder of Saudha Ahmed Kaysher has been running this festival for the last three years with new contents each time to highlight the essential oeuvre of one of the deprived and ignored voices of world literature in the 20th Century and the response is now tremendous.

This year, with so many intellectual talks, re-interpretation and new performances, the festival will take a new turn.

The Rich Mix, the Gronthee and RadhaRaman Society are collaborating with this festival as partners.

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Events India News

Saudha celebrates the life and music of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan

Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music, one of the top-notch platforms for Indian classical and global music in the West is hosting a grand celebration of the life and music of India’s one of the all time greatest maestros Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. The session will be streaming live on Friday 2 April at 3pm (UK) through Saudha’s facebook and youtube channel.

This unique celebration will feature talk on Bade Ghulam Ali’s music and performances as tribute to his music. Many living legends of Indian subcontinental music will join this virtual celebration and this includes Ghazal king Ustad Ghulam Ali from Pakistan, Tabla Maestro and torch-bearer of Benaras Gharana of Tabla tradition Pt Kumar Bose from India, the grandson of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ustad Raza Ali Khan from Pakistan, Indian slide instrumentalist Pt Narasimhan Ravikiran, Violin maestro Vidushi Kala Ramnath, Tabla maestros Pt Tanmoy Bose, Pt Shubhankar Banerjee, Pt Abhijit Banerjee, Sarod maestro Dr Pt Rajeeb Chakraborty, acclaimed vocalists Pt Shantanu Bhattacharyya, Vidushi Sanhita Nandi, Pt Chiranjeeb Chakraborty, , vocalist Pt Sriram Parsuram, Sitarist Sri Ramprapanna Bhattacharya, vocalists Minakshi Majumdar, Koyel Bhattacharya, Sarodist Sri Subhasis Banerjee and co-founder of Kala Sangam Professor Dr Geetha Upadhyaya OBE .

Also Read – Saudha and Gronthee UK celebrate International Women’s Day 

Sohini Roychowdhury Dasgupta, an acclaimed bharatnatyam exponent will render a visual interpretation of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali’s music through dance.

The director of Saudha, poet T M Ahemd Kaysher said, “this celebration on 119th birthday of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali is an opportunity for all music lovers to explore the life and the music of one of the greatest vocalists of the world of the 20th century through analytic discussion by other living maestros. Saudha will endeavour to continue with bringing life and music of other legends and pioneer of Indian classical music like Tansen, Amir Khasru, Ustad Alauddin Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Pt Onkarnath Thakur, Ustad Bismilla Khan and so on.”

Kaysher continued, “Saudha will soon introduce poetry-theatre for art-loving audiences in the West, an experiential production that combines music, theatre and poetry in live venues soon after the Covid is over.”

Also Read – A refreshing Weekend of soulful music, songs, and poetry

Founded by Indian classical vocalist Srimati Chandra Chakraborty and Bengali poet as well as fiction writer T M Ahmed Kaysher, Saudha became widely-known for its experimental hypnotic presentation of Indian classical music and its seamless amalgamation with world-poetry, dance and other global music.

Saudha has been hosting Bangla Music Festival, Ghazal Thumri and Kheyal Festival, Festival of devotion, Festival of Joy and happiness every year in addition to its experimental year-long events all around the country for the last ten years. Saudha’s events were staged at Edinburgh Festival, SouthBank Centre, Queen Mary University, City University of London, Rich Mix, Carriageworks Theatre, Seven Arts Centre in Leeds, Mac theatre in Birmingham, Nehru Centre, Keats House, Poplar Union and many other art venues of London and other cities.

Facebook page that event is streaming live from: https://www.facebook.com/Saudha-Ghazal-Thumri-Kheyal-Festival-UK-241389246293753

The event page: SaudhaTalk & Tribute: Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan – The Tansen | Facebook