Tunes of friendship Love is a friendship set to music. — Joseph Campbell Time for music lovers to fasten their belts and get ready for the one event they can call their very own. Yes, it’s time for the fourth edition of the Friends Music Festival. The two-day festival is very special as it covers various popular genres of music and attracts audiences with a wide spectrum of interests. Calcuttans join in hordes, with families and friends, often spanning three generations, who enjoy the music being dished out. Within a short span, the fest has already got a devoted band of fans who await eagerly for the annual event. This year’s festival has a line-up of legends from different genres of music. The fest begins this evening with Rabindrasangeet recitals by Shivaji Chatterjee and Arundhati Holme Chowdhury, followed by Purna Das Baul’s folk songs. The evening draws to an end with a classical vocal recital by Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. Sunday (December 5) is earmarked for the hip-hop-happening crowd. The programme will begin with Amit Kumar dishing out his Bollywood hits. After his performance, the stage will be taken over by Ayub Bachchu & LRB, the internationally acclaimed band from Bangladesh. Stalls selling musical instruments among other things will add to the festival flavour. No city fest can be complete without food. A variety of food stalls will be present. Event: Friends Music Festival When: December 4 & 5; 5.30 pm Where: Nazrul Mancha

ART

Till January 8 (except Sundays & public holidays) at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Towers (2nd floor), 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, 2485 8717/8509; 3 pm - 7 pm (Mondays) & 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesdays - Saturdays): Ganesh Pyne: His Mahabharata. Till December 6 at Window on the River, Floatel, 9/10 Calcutta Jetty, Strand Road; 3 pm - 9 pm: Celebrations of Life — a solo exhibition of paintings by Subrata Gangopadhyay. Till December 7 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Journey & Beyond — an exhibition of sculptures by Uma Roychowdhury.

DRAMA FEST

Till December 5: Vodafone’s Odeon 2010, in association with t2. Today at Star Theatre, 7 pm: Gora (Bengali; Dir: Sekhar Samaddar) by Aabhash. December 5 at Star Theatre, 7 pm: Raja (Bengali; Dir: Abhijit Sen) by Natyam. Till December 5: Sayak 37th anniversary celebrations. Today at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Daibaddha. Tomorrow at Girish Mancha, 6.30 pm: Jnan Briksher Phal. Both the Sayak productions are directed by Meghnad Bhattacharya.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 4 at Tollygunge Club; 6 pm: Banyan Tree Events presents Ruhaniyat, the all-India sufi music festival. Jikr-Jari - Hafiza Begum Chaudhury & group (Assam); Sufinana Kalam & Mystic Songs - Abdul Rashid Hafiz & group (Kashmir); Sufi Kalam - Mamme Khan, Ajitaram & group (Rajasthan); Baul Songs - Parvathy Baul (West Bengal); and Sufi Qawwali - Warsi Brothers & group (Hyderabad). December 4 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 6.30 pm: Western songs and instrumentals by Rajiv Doss. December 5 at Saastha Samooham, 42 Lake Avenue; 9.15 am: Saastha Preethi - Bhajan by Bhaktanjali Bhajan Mandali, Chennai, led by Ramesh Bhagavathar & party. December 5 at Calcutta School of Music, Sandre Hall; 6.30 pm: A Hindusthani classical vocal concert, in association with SRA, featuring Omkar Dadarkar. All are welcome.

BOOKs

Till December 12 at Crossword: Penguin Book Festival. A flat 20 per cent discount on the bestselling Penguin titles. An additional five per cent off for Crossword members.

IN MEMORIAM

December 4 at Rabindra Sadan, 4.30 pm & December 5 at Padatik, 10.30 am: A homage to renowned actor and theatre personality Shyamanand Jalan. Organised by Anamika Kala Sangam and Padatik. Today: Release of Shyamanand Jalan: A Pictorial Tribute by Madhuchhanda Chatterjee; Remembering Shyamanand - Rajinder Nath, Samik Bandyopadhyay, Pratibha Agrawal & others; Homage by Padatik. Tomorrow: Seminar: Kolkata Hindi Theatre and Shyamanand Jalan. Screening of excerpts from Jalan’s works.

TALK / SEMINAR

December 4 & 5 at Satyajit Ray Auditorium, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 10 am onwards: International seminar on Contemporary Urdu Literature: Creation, Discussion, Concern. Hosted on the occasion of a three-day silver jubilee celebration of Urdu magazine Mahnama Insha. December 4 at Max Mueller Bhava; 1 pm - 4.30 pm: A symposium on Comparing Museum Histories Dresden and Kolkata. December 4 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Tyagarupananda will speak on Swamiji’s Bhakti Yoga. December 4 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6 pm: Samani Charitra Prajna will speak in English on How to Live Happy. December 4 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, 8 Shakespeare Sarani; 6.15 pm: Anirban Ganguly will speak on Crisis of Identity and Culture. December 4 at Vivekananda Hall, Ramakrishna Mission Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House and Cultural Centre, 3 Gour Mohan Mukherjee Street; 6.30 pm: Amiya Kumar Majumdar Memorial Lecture: Swami Sarvapriyananda will speak on God in Everything — Swami Vivekananda & Vedanta.

EXHIBITION

Till December 5 at Moksha, P203 Lake Terrace Extension: Drop in for Only Tussur, an exhibition of designer saris. Till December 18 (except Sundays) at Weavers Studio, 5/1 Anil Moitra Road, 24408926; 9.30 am - 6.30 pm: An exhibition of old & rare embroideries & sale of contemporary reproductions in saris, sets, tunics, stoles.

QUIZ

December 4 at All India Women’s Congress Association, Lake Town; 3.30 pm: The Open General Quiz for four-member teams. QMs Sofiul Alam (9433021877) and Pradipto Chattopadhyay (9830005241). December 5 at Starmark Terrace, 3 Lord Sinha Road: Starmark Lit Quiz 2010, an open quiz for three-member teams. Quiz Masters: Jayashree Mohanka and Shouvik Guha. On spot registration: 4 pm - 4.30 pm. Prelims: 4.30 pm - 5.30 pm. Finals: 6 pm - 8 pm. For more details, contact Suranjana (9903985097).All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244