The Kala Ghoda Art Festival has always been on my priority list whenever it happens...but somehow, this time, I was not able to spend as much time over there as I would have normally done :-(. Yeah - no excuses!!!! But have been keeping pretty occupied. No - its not about work, but somehow my weekends have been even busier then the weekdays. I found myself wanting for some 'me' time. Have not been able to do a lot of things since the last few weeks and that has left me a bit restless. But, but, but....don't want to start a cribbing session here.
Went to the Kala Ghoda festival last sunday. Landed directly at Cross Maidan. That was a 'musical' evening. The performance by 'Band, Baaja, Bachhe' stole my heart :-). The kids belonged to the Salaam Bombay Foundation and gave an impressive performance. It was the first performance. There was not much of a crowd then. So lesser encouragement. Sometimes, I wonder, why such 'special' performances are slotted with the popular category of performance. Since its a 'not for profit' Art festival, these performances where it could actually make an impact to the lives of these children, should have been highlighted. But I guess - the organizers would have thought about that aspect.
The other "Star" performers of the evening were "The Other People", "Raaga Boys" and "Susheela Raman". I quite like the music the "The Other People" play but somehow I felt, there was an audience mismatch. They were really good... but the audience was I guess more towards the hindi - bollywood music types!!!
The Raaga Boys is a Pakistani Boy band and belonged to the 'Patiala' Gharana. Out of the 3 brothers who were the main lead, only one of them could sing properly. Felt there were too many people on the stage at the time of their performance. And well - they advertised their lineage a lot of famous uncles and cousins!!!!! And last but not the least, there was a performance by Susheela Raman. I think, I would have definitely liked it, provided I understood the language. She was singing in Tamil!!!! And she kept on singing in Tamil!!!....
Some Pictures I clicked....
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| The Other People |
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| An exhibit |
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| Raaga Boys |
I would have loved to see more of Kala Ghoda, but paucity of time kept me away from it. It was by sheer coincidence that I met a fellow blogger Purvesh over there.
Kala Ghoda Art Festival has played an important role in what makes Bombay "tick". I thoroughly enjoy what all it offers to the Mumbaikars as well as the artists. I hope it continues forever and does not have to deal with the string pulling as a lot of other festivals go through!!!!
It was a pleasure meeting you! by chance. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the kala ghoda fest to the fullest this time. Did two workshops, one street photography and the other was travel writing. Also, spent time there with friends and cousins. And of course, met you! :)