About
When is the last time you spent an eclectic evening at a funky artist’s studio fusing Asian Pop Art, Indian classical music, Farzi inspired gourmet food and Persian signature cocktails?
Indian cultural evenings in London usually take place in far away impersonal auditoriums. People get dressed up, have a quick snack and make a considerable effort to travel afar… only to disperse and take the tube back after the performance. There is little opportunity to get to know each other. And no time to eat properly!
Bridge India is taking the initiative to fuse together Art, Music and conversation by curating memorable soirees. Our objective is to cross pollinate different genres of expression and British + Indian culture through interpersonal conversations set within a fluid dinner party context. Foremost, the evening should be fun!
Our first Bridge India soiree is in collaboration with Pop Artist Ketna Patel at her fantastically colourful home and studio in Stanmore. Inspired by many years of famous soirees held at her Singapore studio, these evenings hosting poets, musicians, writers, film screenings etc have generated many long lasting friendships & collaborations across time zones and geography.
In the future, we hope to host writers, artists, architects and more with the objective of synthesising culture, academia and commerce into a holistic exploration of the modern British-Indian identity.
What to expect
6:00pm: Arrivals and Persian cocktails + starters
7:00pm: Welcome from our host Ketna Patel
7.10 pm: Introductory address from Rt Hon Keith Vaz
7.20 pm: Kashmiri writer in residence Farah Bashir recaps the strand of Persian / Farzi / Sufi poetry and culture that has weaved itself into the fabric identity of present day India
7:30 pm: Sarod Concert Part 1
8.15pm: Vegetarian Persian inspired gourmet buffet dinner by Sarada Wong (Shakti Kitchen) and Christine Wong (Rojak London)
9 pm: Address by Tara Douglas; Founding member of the Adivasi Arts Trust, an organisation that promotes awareness of Indian tribal culture, and works with the tribes involving them in digital media projects to make their arts more widely accessible.
9.15 pm: Sarod Concert Part 2
10 pm: Persian Desserts, coffee/mint tea and liquers served next to the log fire
Having lived in Kenya, U.K, Singapore and India, she has been widely acclaimed for converting her Global insights into a compelling visual vocabulary that has injected a fresh counter expression to the predominantly western dominated narrative of world Art. Using different cultures and historical events, she juxtaposes mythological characters, Gods, Political icons and the common man on the same canvas. There is a fresh romance between the old and the new, breaking through stringent cultural, political, and class boundaries that have dominated the world for centuries.
Ketna describes herself as being deeply tri-cultural; grounded in an evolving human identity beyond the rapidly evaporating boundaries of culture, nationality and geography. She believes that for most artists, there is no divide between their ‘private’ life and their ‘professional’ output. All realisations and insights gleaned from inter-personal relationships, travels, media etc can be transmuted into a heightened awareness / expression of where human society is at today, and possibly where it may be heading towards …
About Abhishek Borkar
This soiree will feature the young and very talented Sarod maverick Abhishek Borkar from Pune, India. Abhishek is rapidly gaining recognition as one of India’s finest young sarod players. Born to Pt. Shekhar Borkar, Abhishek was fortunate to have the legendary sarod player as a doting father and his first teacher. Starting out early under the aegis of his father practising the musical styles of the Maihar Senia Gharana, Abhishek has come a long way.
Like his father Abhishek has been able to carve out a niche for himself getting respect, adulation and innumerable awards in the process. Abhishek also draws his inspiration from Ustad Allauddin Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pt. Nikhil Banerjee highly skilled exponents of hindustani classical music. Having trained equally well in western music, Abhishek is able to perform soothing fusion music combining Indian and western elements.
He is a performing member of the band named ‘Brahma Naad’ and has travelled the length and breadth of the country and places abroad as a member or solo artist. His father Pandit Shekhar Borkar is a renowned maestro of the instrument who also invented the surtarang (‘wave of notes’), a combination of sarod and veena. Equally adept at playing the guitar coupled with his knowledge of western music and instrumentation has led Abhishek into the field of Modern Classical fusion.
About Saberi Misra
Along with Abhishek will be his beautiful wife Saberi Misra. The daughter of Pt. Rajkumar Misra and Smt. Chandrima Misra, renowned musicians and gurus themselves, Saberi has been exposed to tabla and vocal music respectively, all her life, performing, training and moulding young minds herself. She has always believed in the importance of the intertwined relationship between music and dance, and has dedicated her life to achieving excellence in these art forms. Saberi is known not only for her skills as a serious classical dancer but also as an outspoken individual, something severely lacking in the Indian Arts fraternity!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgcpKsDuDWE