Third year of festival taking place at local venues
A three day festival of classical and semi-classical Indian music and poetry is being held in Merton Arts Space and Raynes Park Library.
Staged by Saudha, Society of Poetry and Indian Music, the Ghazal, Thumri and Kheyal Festival is returning to Merton for the third year.
Highlights of the festival will include a solo vocal performance by Mehboob Nadeem and a Carnatic violin recital by Balu Raghuraman, supported by Aditya Venugopal, in Merton Arts Space in Compton Road, at the back of Wimbledon Library, tomorrow (March 17) at 7.30pm.
On Saturday at 7pm, Hindustani classical and semi-classical vocalist Chandra Chakraborty will be performing in Merton Arts Space, where there will also be a performance by jazz music group Iyatra and a solo cello recital by Anup Kumar Biswas, an Indian cello maestro who is also well-known for Western classical music.
The final day of the festival, on Sunday, will be held in Raynes Park Library Hall in Approach Road, Raynes Park, where there will be a talk about the challenges of promoting Indian classical music to western audiences starting at 6.30pm.
Festival director Ahmed Kaysher said: “This is a unique festival of world-class performances by the exuberant, magical and enrapturing genres of Pan-Indian classical music by the best of Britain. We’ve developed experiential ways of presenting Indian classical music by intertwining it with the haunting verses of world poetry to appeal to audiences from across the globe.”
Merton Council’s Cabinet Member for Community and Culture, Councillor Nick Draper, said: “We are delighted to welcome this popular international festival back to Merton for the third year. There is a fantastic line-up of globally-renowned performers and we hope to see new audiences enjoying their first taste of Indian classical music.”
For more information about the festival and to book tickets, visit: www.saudha.org.
March 16, 2017