Fusion of taal and tantra The first Portuguese encounter with India was on May 20, 1498, when Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut (Kozhikode). Since then, the Portuguese influence on ecclesiastical and to an extent, social life of the country, specially in Kerala, has been noteworthy. One such creative soul, Enzo Mayo, was intuitively drawn to Hindustani and Carnatic classical music long before he was aware of his Indo-Portuguese lineage. The mellifluous strains of L. Subramaniam, Balachander, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar and their ilk seeped in through his entire being, providing him with tranquillity and igniting his creativity. The rhythmic notes of sacred music inspired him to paint exuberantly. And then, in 1998, he discovered the intrinsic beauty of Indian classical dance when he watched Lila Armoudom and Paulic Sabine perform. He offered to collaborate with them in their production, Natya Yoga, followed by their next production, Thousand Petals. For this, Enzo Mayo painted seven canvases based on the ancient tantric motif of the Chakras. Mesmerised by the ancient Indian iconography, his next project was again with Lila in 2005, and this time it was based on sringara rasa. Mayo changed his medium and worked on video mode for this project that was set to music by O.S. Arun. In June last year, Mayo was invited by ICCR, and this time he began exploring and interpreting shringara/ kama-tantra in a series where he mixed digigraphy with touch painting. His works display a fusion of both Indian and European art styles. An exhibition of his works will be inaugurated this evening at 5 pm by Dr Bharati Ray, vice-president, ICCR. Event: Shringara Kamatantra — An exhibition of paintings by Jean-Claude Mayo and Paulic Sabine from Reunion Island When: Till January 31; 11 am - 7 pm Where: Nandalal Bose Gallery, 3rd floor, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9 Ho Chi Minh Sarani

art

Till January 24 (except holidays) at CIMA Gallery; 3 pm - 7 pm (Monday) 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesday to Saturday): Review, an exhibition of artworks that aspires to redefine our perception and understanding of art of the 20th century. Participating artists: Abir Karmakar, Alok Bal, Debraj Goswami, Farhad Hussain, Jogen Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Mithu Sen, Paresh Maity, Partha Pratim Deb, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Samit Das, Santosh More, Sumitro Basak and Swarna Chitrakar. January 19 at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 5.30 pm: Inauguration of Transit Patachitra Art Exhibition, a collaborative workshop and exhibition between Transit from Europe and patachitra artists from West Bengal. The show continues till January 21 between 5.30 pm and 7 pm. January 19 at Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum; 5.30 pm: Inauguration of the 7th All India Art Exhibition 2008-09, organised by Manab Jamin. The exhibition continues till January 22, 12 noon - 8 pm. Till January 20 at Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, #24866735; Monday: 3 pm - 7 pm; Tuesday - Saturday: 11 am - 7 pm: Subliminal Images — Works by Gauri, Satya Dheer Singh and Gourishankar Soni. Till January 22 at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road, #24484925; 11 am - 8 pm: Balaka Bhattacharjee’s exhibition of paintings, ...sidesteps — a personal piece as well as a narrative on the emotional state of a city. Till January 22 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents Small Things — an exhibition of paintings by Nisreen Moochhala. Till January 24 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of paintings by Sajal Kanti Mitra. Till January 24 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘A’ Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Subhash Pal. Till January 24 at Galerie Karma, P-505 Keyatola Road, #24636731/32: The Winter of 2009, works by leading artists of Bengal. Till January 26 at Artists Circle, 46 Circus Avenue, #2283 3176; 2 pm - 7 pm: Bhorer Swapno, a group show by talented young artists Amlan Dutta, Arunangshu Roy, Arpita Das, Bappa Halder, Bidyut Ghosh, Biplab Sarkar, Chaitali Chanda, Chandan Sengupta, Debasish Sarkar, Mohini Biswas, Nilkanto Mondol, Tapan Kr Das, Samir Paul, Samir Hutait, Sushanto Das and Sudipta Jana.

DRAMA

Till January 20: To mark the completion of its 33 years, Rangakarmee presents Natya Mahotsav 2009 featuring five plays, directed by five extremely talented directors. Today at Sisir Mancha, 7 pm: Shree Ganesh Mahima (Story: Mahasweta Devi), directed by Partha Bandyopadhyay. January 19 - 24 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Durgadas Natyotsav 2009, organised by Durgadas Smriti Sangha. Today: Inaugural function at 6 pm, to be followed by the play, A Maya Kajal, produced by Ekush Shatak and directed by Adhir Bose. January 19 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Purbabhash Gosthi presents Chenar Majhe Achena. Drama & direction: Jahar Choudhury. January 22 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Sayak presents its latest production, Dournama. Drama: Indrasis Lahiri. Direction: Meghnad Bhattacharya. January 23 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Rang Roop will stage its latest production, Jal Chhabi. Direction: Seema Mukhopadhyay. January 23 at Madhusudan Mancha, 6.30 pm; January 26 at Academy of Fine Arts, 3 pm: Ajnatobass — Nandikar’s latest production, directed by Sumanta Gangopadhyay. Story: Sukanta Gangopadhyay. The cast includes Sohini Sengupta, Sumana Mukherjee, Swatilekha Sengupta, Sumanta Gangopadhyay, Swajan Srijan Mukherjee and Rudraprasad Sengupta. Directorial adviser: Rudraprasad Sengupta. January 24 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Gandhar presents Kachher Manush, with Debsankar Halder and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Direction: Filmmaker Gautam Haldar. January 24 at Syhampark; 6.30 pm: Nandikar presents two plays for children: Indian Idol (Drama & direction: Debsankar Halder) and Satyi Rajputra (Story: Sunil Gangopadhyay; Direction: Sohini Sengupta). January 25 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.45 pm: Rang Roop will stage Byaram Biram, directed by Seema Mukhopadhyay. January 23 at Tollygunge Club; 7.30 pm: Stagecraft presents Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest. Direction: Rohit Pombra.

PERFORMING ARTS

January 20 at Jadavpur University; 6 pm: In collaboration with Santal, EZCC will present Monsoon Night Dream – a folk presentation directed by Jean-Frederic Chevallier. January 22 (7 pm onwards) & January 23 - 25 (8.30 pm onwards) at Nazrul Mancha; night-long: The Dover Lane Music Conference hosts its 57 annual conference. January 25 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 11 am - 12.30 pm: Vision of Forever — an Odissi dance production by internationally-acclaimed dancer and choreographer from Malaysia, Ramli Ibrahim, and his dance company, Sutra.

EXHIBITION

January 19 - 31 at Cottage Emporium, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road: Cottage hosts an exhibition of shawls procured from all over India. Till January 19 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, IB 201 Salt Lake; 11 am - 7 pm: EZCC is holding Katum Kutum, an exhibition of artefacts and decorative pieces made out of wood and roots of trees. Till January 22 at 57/9 Ballygunge Circular Road; 10.30 am - 7 pm: Soumya’s Creation offers smartly-styled children’s clothing in cotton and jersey for the age group 2 yrs to 14 yrs.

TALK

January 19 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Arunatmananda will speak on Mayer Katha. January 19 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Chidrupananda will speak in Bengali on Yuganayak Vivekananda. January 19 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Dr Bhupendra Nath Sil will speak on Bharat Premik Swami Abhedananda.

SEMINAR

January 19 at the Humayun Kabir Hall of the Asiatic Society; 1 pm: A seminar on The Life and Works of Professor D.D. Kosambi on the occasion of his birth centenary. Participants include Prof. B.D. Chattopadhyay, Prof. Karunasindhu Das, Prof. M.K. Pal and Dr Balai Chaki. Prof. Biswanath Banerjee, president, The Asiatic Society, will preside.

QUIZ

January 24 at Natunpukur Association, Barasat; 2.30 pm onwards: Natunpukur Association and Quiz Maniacs Society of Barasat host an open-to-all quiz for two-member teams. For details, call Subal Pal (98361 70906).

COMPETITION

January 23 at Starmark, South City Mall; 3.30 pm: India Post, in association with Starmark, is organising a letter writing competition for school children in the age groups 10 yrs to 12 yrs, 13 yrs to 14 yrs, and 15 yrs to 16 yrs. Attractive prizes for winners. For details call 99039 85097.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

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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