NEW DELHI:
Three evenings of Kathakar 2019 starting on Friday will unravel the mystique and charm of traditional ways of storytelling from across the globe, taking motley audiences down 17 sessions resounding with old-world cultures.
When curtains rise on October 11 for Australian Aborigine Elders Larry Walsh and Ron Murray to tell the ancient tales of the indigenous people, India’s only such festival will kick-start its 12th edition. Being organised by cultural forum Nivesh at the capital’s Sunder Nursery, Kathakar seeks to revive storytelling as a standalone art-form through dramatic performances.
With HHACH (Himalayan Hub for Art, Culture and Heritage), Babaji Music and Aga Khan Trust for Culture as partners, the October 11-13 event brings to stage India’s rare art forms as well as native tales, alongside those from Poland, Sweden, Romania, Mongolia, Lithuania and the United Kingdom besides Australia.
All the evening sessions at the 16th-century heritage park complex adjacent to the magnificent Humayun’s tomb are open to the public. There are morning sessions, as well, being held in a string of Delhi schools. Through them, the organisers intend to enable children (of above eight years) to listen to entertaining stories of a range of genres.
Friday evening will also see actor Manoj Bajpayee in conversation with musician Mohit Chauhan, the patron of the festival. The duo at the segment, titled ‘Kissey Kahani Aur Adakaari’, will formally inaugurate the event at 7.30 pm.
The other highlights of Kathakar 2019 are theatre artist Danish Hussain’s self-directed adaptation of ‘Qissebazi: A Multilingual Storytelling Orbit’; Kerala’s traditional Tholpavakoothu shadow theatre based on Tamil epic Kamba Ramayana; Buddhist chanting by Grammy Awardee Monks of Sherabling in Himachal Pradesh; Australia’s aborigine storyteller Uncle Larry Walsh’ recount of indigenous tales and Imtiaz Ali’s stories about his experiences as a filmmaker; and UK-based Emily Hennessey’s performance based on Indian folktales of Kali and the Mahabharata.
The festival was launched in 2010 under the aegis of UNESCO as part of Ghummakkad Narain, a travelling literature festival in memory of ardent reader Thakur Vishva Narain Singh, the first Braille editor in India. The credit for reviving story-telling in India largely goes to sibling sisters Prarthana, Rachna and Shaguna Gahilote, who have played a stellar role in giving it a standalone art form through dramatic performances and travelling festivals.
Following is the schedule of Kathakar 2019:
Friday, 11th October 2019
6:00 pm – Buddhist Chanting by Monks of Sherabling (Grammy Awardees, India)
6:20 pm – Aborigine folktales by Uncle Larry Walsh and Ron Murray (Australia)
7:00 pm – Kali – stories from ancient India by Emily Parish (UK)
7.45 pm – Light Bearer: Slavic myths by Emilia Raiter (Poland)
8:30 pm – Kissey Kahani aur Adakaari: Mohit Chauhan in conversation with Manoj Bajpayee (India)
Saturday, 12th October 2019
5.30 pm – Traditional Polish Ballads by Emilia Raiter (Poland)
6.00 pm – Stories around the fire by Uncle Larry Walsh and Ron Murray (Australia)
6:30 pm – Tales of Misers by Shaguna Gahilote (India)
7.00 pm – Polish Tales by Jerzy Szufa (Poland)
7.30 pm – Fire: A state of matter by Vergine Gulbenkian (UK)
8:00 pm – Storytellers in Conversation with Amrita Tripathi (India)
8:30 pm – Ramayana by Tholpavakoothu Kerala Shadow Puppetry (India)
Sunday, 13th October 2019
5:00 pm – Polish folktales by Jerzy Szufa (Poland)
5.30 pm – Folktales from Europe by Vergine Gulbenkian (UK)
6:00 pm – Qissebazi: Haryanvi folktales by Rashmi Mann & Ruchita Tahiliani (India)
6:45 pm – Tales from Mahabharat by Emily Hennessey (UK)
7:30 pm – Qissebazi by Danish Husain (India)
8:30 pm – Kissey, Kahani aur Cinema with Imtiaz Ali (India)
