The next two weeks are going to be extra special, thanks to the Bengaluru International Arts Festival (BIAF) that will bring the city alive with outdoor arts, culture and entertainment. Dr Veena Murthy and Dr Suma Sudhindra promise high dosage of music, dance and theatre at this cultural extravaganza spread across various venues.
Inviting everyone with a cultural bent of mind to celebrate harmony through the arts and explaining what’s different this year, Dr Suma Sudhindra, director of the Bengaluru International Arts Festival says, “This year BIAF is special as we have 15 artistes who are from Singapore rendering Bharathanatyam to a theme titled Anjasa. We also have a popular Brazilian pianist named Pedro playing Brazilian music along with a fusion of Carnatic Violin duet. More than 250 artistes are participating from five countries and seven states across India.”
The duo has been working tirelessly over the years in making classical arts that may be ancient, yet inherent to our culture, accessible to everyone.
“We are making a lot of effort to bring rare forms of dance and music to art lovers and people of Bengaluru. Our city audience is always welcoming of fresh and novel productions by Bengaluru’s well-known dancers. Various folk forms that will be performed are the highlights of this year’s festival. We should take pride in an event of this scale that focuses on well-curated productions and folk arts. And of course, entertainment free of cost. We want everyone to be a part of this international fare, while celebrating harmony through arts held over nine days at eight venues from September 9 to 25,” says Dr Veena Murthy.
It’s a wonderful platform for artistes from within the country and outside, to interact, collaborate and perform together. Danseuse Madhu Nataraj, who is performing a solo on September 24 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall shares, “I’m performance a piece called Nirvaya (dissolving in the divine), which is a blend of mixed media with photo art, film, the poetry of the 12th century women mystics and kathak coming together to create a mosaic imagery. The music is by Pravin D Rao, photo art by Ramya Reddy and film by Bhushan Bagadia.”
Artistes from Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Brazil, Nepal, Odissa, Telangana, Rajasthan and Nepal will be coming down with a line-up of Hindustani music, Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Qawwali and more. Dr M Lalitha and M Nandini, violinists known as the LN Sisters from Tamil Nadu are performing a fusion on September 17 at Phoenix Market City.
“It’s going to be a fusion concert of the LN Sisters with Pedro Silva from Brazil on the keys and Maynard Grant from Chennai on the drums. Indian, Brazilian and jazz elements will come together at this four piece quartet called Brazilian Spice,” says Lalitha.
Rama Vaidyanathan, Bharatanatyam exponent will take the stage on September 23 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, blending south Indian dance form with north Indian music. Other artistes that will be performing include flautist Nathalie Ramírez from Mexico, Sushravya, Lasyollasa, Divya Ravi, Nathalie, Kadari Gopalnath and Namrata Sudhindra who will be taking a yoga workshop at Cubbon Park on September 18. Our city is all set to be glorious once again!
Various BIAF events will be held on September 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at seven venues.
