Emily Visser
20 August 2007
This year's Arts Alive festival in Johannesburg includes a nine-week long festival titled Shared Histories - Celebrating India in South Africa, which aims to bring Indian art, culture and cuisine to South African audiences.
The festival, which runs from 23 August until 31 October, features programmes on Indian music, theatre, dance, film, arts, craft, literature and food.
Indian consul-general Navdeep Suri said the festival aimed to bring a kaleidoscope of contemporary Indian culture to mainstream South African audiences.
The event starts with a literature festival at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand on 23 August at 5.30pm, featuring leading Indian prose writer and journalist Amitav Ghosh, author of books like The Calcutta Chromosome and The Glass Palace.
The rest of the literary festival takes place at Wits University's Wiser offices and at Exclusive Books in Hyde Park until 28 August.
Seven Indian writers and translators, among them Ghosh, Vikas Swarup and Imraan Coovadia, will be in conversation with their South African counterparts, including Liz McGregor, Gerrit Olivier and Mahatma Gandhi's granddaughter, Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie.
Discussions will touch on a variety of topics including sex and sexuality, consumerism and popular fiction, among others.
Music and dance
Mrigaya, a popular world music band that mixes classical Indian music with blues and jazz, will perform at the Bassline and Museum Africa in Newtown on 1 September and at the Jazz on the Lake concert at Zoo Lake on 2 September. The band's last performance will be in Lenasia on 8 September.
Mrigaya is also scheduled to perform in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Grammy Award winner Vikku Vinayakram, one of India's finest ghatam (a large clay pot percussion instrument) players, will also perform at the Bassline on 28 September.
The festival also brings French contemporary dancer and choreographer Gilles Chuyen, who has worked on dance, theatre and fashion projects in India for the past 10 years, to share his experience with local dancers.
He has worked extensively with various Indian dances like Chhau Mayurbhanj (a martial dance from Orissa), Bharata natyam and Kathak and while in France, he trained in folk, modern jazz, ballet and contemporary dance.
Chuyen also works closely with the Bollywood industry for dance shows and advertisement campaigns.
He will hold dance workshops from 20 to 30 August in collaboration with local community dance schools in Lenaisa and will also perform on 23 and 31 August and on 2 September at various venues.
Jewellery and craft
The Threads in Time exhibition at the Museum Africa in Newtown should also not be missed, as it features textiles, crafts and jewellery illustrating India's opulent
history.
There will also be block printing, weaving and bangle making demonstrations by weavers and craftsmen.
World-renowned Indian food will be featured at a food festival at Le Canard Restaurant, where chefs from India will prepare Kashmiri, Tamil and other regional food. The food festival lasts a week, from 30 August to 7 September.
Other entertainment includes a film festival with 20 award-winning films and documentary films on Indian culture and history.
For more programme information, visit the Arts Alive website or the Shared Histories website.
Source: City of Johannesburg
