A lyrical odyssey The Royal Calcutta Racecourse, RCTC offers a unique setting for musical concerts with its natural gallery seating overlooking the city skyline and the lovely green polo grounds right at its centre. To mark the running of the Calcutta Derby on January 8, the RCTC along with 100 Pipers, presents a concert, Moksh ? The Raga Route, from Jazz to Tribal Beats, basically a journey through international jazz, Indian classical music, tribal and rural drumming. The repertoire includes serious jazz to foot-tapping earth drumming including the drumstick, ocean drums, udu and cyclops, native American buffalo drums to dhamsa and dhak. It is an odyssey traversed from tabla via a host of other musical instruments. The show brings together the multi-faceted talents of rural and tribal drummers who will be sharing the stage with international performers including Tanmoy Bose (top left; Taaltantra), Jonas Hellborg (top right; bass guitar), Pt. S. Shekhar (mridangam) and Debasish Bhattacharya (slide guitar). Event: A concert, Moksh - The Raga Route, from Jazz to Tribal Beats When: Today at 7 pm Where: Members Stands, Calcutta Racecourse, RCTC

art

Till January 7 at Victoria Memorial Hall; 10 am - 4 pm: The French Embassy in India, the French Association, Calcutta and the Victoria Memorial present the exhibition, enkibilalinindia. Till January 8 at Proscenium?s Art Centre, 46 AJC Bose Road; 4 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Adin Bhattacharya, Krishna Seal, Kaushik Gupta, Rajrappay Ray, Sambhunath Bera and Utpal Naskar.

DRAMA

January 7 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Shohan presents Utpal Dutt?s Megh. Dir: Anish Ghosh. January 7 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Satyaasatya, produced by Gandhar and directed by Shyamal Chakraborty. January 7 at Padatik Little Theatre-II, 6/7 AJC Bose Road; 6.30 pm: Padatik and Brainchild Theatre present Thaneer Thaneer, a play in Hind directed by Kunal Padhi. January 7 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Sayak presents Daibaddha. Dir: Meghnad Bhattacharya. January 7 & 8 at Proscenium?s Art Centre, 46 AJC Bose Road; 6.30 pm: Bikhartey Rishtey, one-act play in Hindi, an adaptation of Ugene O?Neil?s Home Coming. Dir: Ashok Churiwal.

PERFORMING ARTS

January 5 - 9 at Rabindra Sadan: 19th annual classical music conference hosted by Paschimbanga Rajya Sangeet Academy along with Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre and Sangeet Natak Akademi. Today at 5 pm: Chhanda Bichitra (taal vadya) conducted by Samar Saha; Sohanlal Sharma (sitar) with Tanmoy basu (tabla); and Shipra Basu (khayal) with Sanjoy Mukherjee (tabla) and Ramesh Misra (harmonium). Till January 8 at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, 3 Regent Park: Aspiration 2006, a celebration of dance, music and various aspects of culture. Today at 4.30 pm: Dance programme. Direction: Kalavati Devi. Tomorrow at 11 am: Baul songs by Satyananda Das Baul; at 6.30 pm: Vocal recital by Shruti Sadolikar with Tarak Saha (tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharyya (harmonium). January 6 at Santosh Mitra Square, Sealdah; 6.30 pm: Sobar Aanondey Shastriyo Sangeet, an evening of classical music organised by Maddho Kolkata Sangeet Sammelan. January 7 & 8 at Shaktigarh/Nabanagar, Jadavpore; 6.30 pm onwards: Baul Fakir Utsav. Felicitation of Sanatan Das Baul. Performances by Gour Kshyapa, Satyananda Das, Kartick Das, Mansur Fakir and party, Khaibar Fakir and party. January 8 at Uttam Mancha; 10.30 am onwards: Deesha, a day-long Odissi dance and music festival of Srijan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissa Nrityabasa, featuring leading disciples of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, the first presentation of the annual Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Prativa Samman for the best solo Odissi dancer between 16 years and 18 years, and marking the commencement of operations of Srijan?s Calcutta Chapter. January 10 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Bhavna presents an evening of Tagore songs by Manisha Murali Nair and Manoj Murali Nair.

TELEFILM FESTIVAL

January 7 & 8 at Nandan II: TARA Muzik presents TARA Weekend telefilm Festival. Today: Dadi (2 pm), Niloferer Diary (3.30 pm), Amra Ebong (5.15 pm) and Chhuti (7 pm). Tomorrow: Asampta (2 pm), Premer Golpo (4 pm) and Ashray (6.30 pm)

EXHIBITIon

Till January 7 at 8/2 Loudon Street: Earthy Myths exhibits handcrafted sarees created by using elements of batik, tie dye and embroideries. Till January 12 at Finesse, 11/1B New Road, Alipore; 11 am - 7.30 pm: Tussar silk sarees in bright prints and weaves using ghicha, katiya and monga from Bengal, Bihar and Assam. By Sujata Sarawgi. Till January 8 at Sasha, 27 Mirza Ghalib Street; 10 am - 7 pm; Sunday (10 am - 1 pm): Sasha Farm Weekends, an exhibition of basic kitchen necessities and alternative organic farm products.

TALK

Till January 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 5 pm - 8.30 pm: Sampurna Ramayan by Swami Advaitananda of Chinmaya Mission. January 7 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Tyagarupananda will speak on Gitar Vani. January 7 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Samiran Chandra Chakraborty will speak in Bengali on Veda Parikrama. January 7 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19A & B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak on Yog O Tahar Abhyas.

READING

January 8 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 11 am: Professor P. Lal reads Sanjaya?s report to Dhritarastra of Drona?s death and Dhritarastra?s inconsolable grief and guilt at not having prevented Drona?s installation as the Kaurava general, in the 310th weekly Sunday session of his sloka-by-sloka English transcreation of Vyasa?s complete Mahabharata.

PLAY-READING

January 8 at The Crystal room, Calcutta Club; 7.30 pm: A dramatized play-reading by Barun Chanda, Mithu Chakraborty and Shilpi Hembrom. Playwright: Tom Flannery. Direction: Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee.

FESTIVAL

Till January 12 at Sri Thyagaraja Hall; 6 pm - 9 pm (weekdays); 4 pm - 9 pm (Saturday/Sunday): Thyagabrahma Aradhana.

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