Photograph artist Dayanita Singh typically credit tabla maestro Zakir Hussain as her mentor. She was nonetheless a scholar on the Nationwide Institute of Design when she first encountered him. Travelling with him and his friends by means of the ’80s led to her first e-book, a commencement undertaking, in 1986. Through the years, she photographed him innumerable occasions, as he grew to become an intrinsic a part of her life and artwork. Now months after he handed away in December 2024, Singh is paying him a tribute in Birmingham.
“Zakir Hussain Maquette” is without doubt one of the a number of highlights of the Serendipity Arts Pageant Mini Version that’s on in Birmingham until Might 26. The outreach is a part of the multidisciplinary pageant’s tenth anniversary celebrations. Increasing its international outreach, over the subsequent few months, it’s going to journey to 10 cities, together with Dubai. Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Basis, states, “As we mark the tenth milestone version of Serendipity Arts Pageant, we see this not simply as a second to rejoice, however as a chance to evolve. This version is a means of wanting again at a decade of constructing one among South Asia’s largest multidisciplinary arts festivals whereas taking it ahead on this planet, to new areas and audiences… Whereas deciding on worldwide areas, we had been figuring out cities the place vibrant communities, dynamic public tradition, and thriving inventive ecosystems intersect.”
Birmingham and Dubai, Rajgarhia notes, grew to become “pure decisions”. “Birmingham has a wealthy creative legacy with iconic cultural venues and a major historical past within the performing arts. Added to this can be a massive South Asian diaspora… Later this yr, we plan to journey with a slice of the Pageant to Dubai. In the previous few years, the burgeoning arts scene within the UAE has attracted artwork collectors, patrons, native guests, worldwide vacationers and galleries, making it a significant selection for us to have a presence there.”
Being held at Birmingham Metropolis College, the pageant additionally includes its college students, who’re collaborating within the workshops and interesting with curators and artists. On the coronary heart of the Mini Version’s programme is “Thumri within the Chamber”, exploring the layered fantastic thing about the semi-classical Hindustani vocal kind that embodies poetic storytelling, improvisation and emotional depth.
The musical line-up additionally consists of Portuguese-Goan music by Zubin Balaporia and Nadia Rebelo, and ghazals and Bollywood classics by Priyanka Barve and Sarang Kulkarni. A documentary directed by Sumantra Ghosal on Zakir Hussain’s musical journey can be screened together with a curated choice of movies on Indian music by Dharmesh Rajput.
Being held at Birmingham Metropolis College, the pageant additionally includes its college students (PR Handout)
Additionally on show can be ‘Everlasting Echoes’, archival pictures of Indian musical devices from the gathering of Sunil Kant Munjal, curated by Helen Acharya, “highlighting the craftsmanship and cultural legacy of Indian music”. Rajgarhia states, “The curation for Birmingham was very context-driven. In Goa, we now have the luxurious of time and scale with 10 days, 20-plus venues and over 150 initiatives; we’re in a position to construct a very immersive expertise that spills into town. In distinction, the Mini Version in Birmingham is a extra focussed, four-day format, and so the method needed to be exact and layered. We curated initiatives that replicate the values of SAF — interdisciplinary, experimentation, and accessibility, but in addition ones that would resonate deeply with native and diasporic audiences.”
Whereas Goa will proceed to be the flagship version, the tenth anniversary yr may even see choose programming in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai. “We wish to discover how the variations in every metropolis, its character, various folks, creative collaborations, and eclectic socio-cultural influences form our pageant. Moderately than merely touring with the identical set of occasions, every metropolis can have totally different programmes, a few of which have been showcased prior to now. They’re curated within the context of the placement. Some core initiatives could journey from one metropolis to a different, particularly these that may adapt throughout codecs. However every version may even embody region-specific collaborations and programming. The objective isn’t uniformity, however cultural resonance,” provides Rajgarhia.