My interest in ‘Indian’ music goes back to the sixties when the pop groups such as The Beatles and Rolling Stones introduced me to the music of the sub continent through artists such as Ravi Shankar. Having lived in Handsworth for the last twenty years and Birmingham for around forty with its vibrant ‘Asian’ community I’ve slowly become more educated to the vast wealth and variety of music that this community has introduced to the people of the UK and Birmingham. SAMPAD who are have this year been celebrating their 20th anniversary are an organization that have played a vital role in this educating process by regionally, nationally and internationally promoting the appreciation and practice of South Asian art forms, be they British Asian or originating from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Since earlier in the year they have been presenting free Saturday lunch time concerts once a month under the banner Mid-day Mantra. This month the event hosted Dr Jyotsna Srikanth a violinist based in London who has played at major world wide festivals including WOMAD and who has just released her latest album ‘Fusion Dreams’. The Symphony Hall setting seemed perfect for the concert where she was accompanied by instrumentalist playing mridangam, morching, tabla and keyboard. The artist lined up for Saturday 11 December is Utsav Lal the ‘raga pianist’. To find out more about Sampad and hear Dr Jyotsna Srikanth check out these links.
www.youtube.com/indyworldmusic
CREATIVE LEAP TREE ART IN HANDSWORTH PARK
Closer to home, this month also saw Creative Leap ‘Paint the Park’, the park being Handsworth! Creative Leap is a professional development programme for new and emerging Birmingham based artists providing funding for artists thereby enabling them to turn their creative ideas into reality. The scheme was aimed at individuals who want to break into working in the arts sector or who are at an early stage of their career as an artist and have had limited opportunities to produce and showcase work. Taz Lovejoy was one of 15 artists selected for the programme run in partnership by Sampad, Ulfah Arts, and The Drum and supported by Birmingham City Council and Burton Cultural Partnership.
After a series of workshops with artist Taz Lovejoy, a local youth group from Lozells Methodist Church and Worth Unlimited painted a coppice of silver birch trees by the main entrance on Holly Road. I have only seen pictures of the work so far the grand opening for the public being this Sunday 28 November between 12 noon and 2pm, where you can see the finished installation and meet the artist and the young people involved. I must admit although it sounds fun and looks colourful I did have some worries about toxic paint killing trees etc. However I have been assured that all the paints used are eco-friendly and will degrade naturally over time but whether this might encourage tagging on trees by ‘artists’ less scrupulous in their choice of materials …well I hope not. Check out Taz’s blog where the picture is from and see what you think or see you there on Sunday.
Story: Andrew Burchell
Pictures: Susanna Bearfoot
Great view of the new library in Birmingham also!