Daijiworld Media Network-Goa
Panaji, Nov 14: This December, the sunshine State of Goa has much more to offer than the customary music festivals taking over the beaches. Spread over a 1.8 km stretch along river Mandovi in Panaji, the Serendipity Arts Festival will transform the waterfront along the river into a hub of cultural activity.
From December 16 to 23, theatrical performances, design interventions, restoration projects and public art initiatives will transform the various venues into spaces where visitors can take their Goa holiday a notch higher.
Here’s a list of top 10 experiences you must not miss!
1. A never-seen-before theatrical production done in a circus format
Everything you’ve ever known about a theatrical performance of Shakespeare’s work is likely to change after you’ve witnessed Talātum. A spectacular show that comprises the entire gamut of circus, magic, illusion techniques, gypsy art, puppetry, martial arts, new media, dance, music and theatre, Talatum is an extraordinary project that blends the modern and the traditional through a new oral and visual language. The play will reinterpret Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, by adapting it to an Indian context and using circus and other subaltern forms of performance, all set in a circus tent. Premiering at Serendipity Arts Festival, Talātum is directed by renowned theatre-person Abhilash Pillai.
2. A collaborative performance of dance and live music
Sandhi, by Sanjeev Bhargava is set to enthral audiences with four commissioned productions that will be a confluence of dance and live music. This includes performances by Sudha Raghuraman, Amrita Lahiri, Ayona Bhaduri and Bhuvanesh Komkali, Eshani Agarwal, Ujwal Nagar, Meenakshi Srinivasan, K. Hari Prasad. This collaborative work provides an opportunity for interdisciplinary synergy where literature and music within dance are emphasized.
3. Enjoy music in motion as you cruise down the mandovi river with a concert on board
Shubha Mudgal, a curator at the Serendipity Arts Festival will give guests an opportunity of a lifetime to experience a concert where artists and audience will sail down the river Mandovi listening to a concert of classical music. Making the boat the venue for the concert!
4. Karavaan- The Gypsy Trail’: feat, Spanish flamenco musicians with Rajasthani manganiars
Curated by Ranjit Barot, this performance will fuse these individually popular and extremely rigorous art forms into a beautiful cohesive ballet where Spanish Flamenco artists (Guitar and percussion) will be met in spirit and skill by the Manganiyars of Rajasthan (Khartaal & Vocals), infusing the performance with their own unique voice. This will be a musical exploration of that ancient link between these two traditions, designed around the theme of a people in search of new lands and the breaking of all boundaries, between people and cultures. This promises to be an irresistible confluence of cultures, with a world class Western keyboard artist providing the melodic landscape.
5. A stunning big band orchestral performance
With stunning mesmerizing 10 piece Sunshine Orchestra from the A.R.Rahman Foundation with young musical protégés from the underprivileged sections of society as its centerpiece, this will showcase the brightest talent from the current Indian mainstream music scene such as Jonita Gandhi, Vijay Prakash, along with an unusual selection of instrumentalists.
Designed as an exploration in bringing together Indian ethnic styles in vocals and instrumentation with the western influences of jazz, funk and contemporary. Myriad cultures will collide to make one joyous sound! Think saxophone meets hindustani vocals and the piano and acoustic bass exchange notes with the South Indian Veena. This production will also feature Goa’s own leading percussionist, Bondo, as a respectful nod to the local talent.
6. Be a script master and witness a dramatized reading
The Script Lab curated by Lilette Dubey and Anuradha Kapur is an intensive four-day residency programme under the guidance of Mahesh Dattani where 15 aspiring writers will come together. The residency will culminate in a dramatised reading.
7. Watch international street artists take over Goan lanes
Open Site by Riyas Komu invites street artists to experiment with the city as their canvas. Watch the colour and imagination unfold as they dissolve boundaries between nations, states and more importantly between people and art.
8. Let out the artisan in you
Budding artists can register to learn a craft from a master artisan in a series of interactive hands-on sessions. These include the Sanjhi workshop with Mohan Verma and the Terracotta workshop with Dinesh Mohan Lal.
9. Go back to the 1900’s with Rohit Bal and Shubha Mudgal
Indian couturier Rohit Bal and well-known classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal will come together to present ‘Living Traditions’. Held in an open-air theatre in Panaji, this project will reinterpret Hindustani classical music through the archives. Esteemed musicians will, through their plush costumes and riveting performances, provide a window into the opulent, bygone era of the early 1900s.
10. Trace Goan history with Wendell Rodricks
In a pioneering curatorial presentation, Wendell Rodricks brings to the Serendipity Arts Festival ten objects related to Goan wear that are not mere museum objects. Each has a story to recount. A history about Goan mythology, Gods, people, customs, traditions, festivals and folklore. In a setting inspired from stencil walls of religious sanctums, palatial manors and homes, the lacy effect of the Goan stencil sets the ambience of Ten Histories: Goan Costume.