Strum softly for you tread on my soul... “If you’re looking for youth, you’re looking for longevity, just take a dose of rock 'n' roll. It keeps you going. Just like the caffeine in your coffee. Rock 'n' roll is good for the soul, for the well being, for the psyche, for your everything. I love it. I can’t even picture being without rock 'n' roll...” — Hank Ballard. Indians writing in English have readers all over the world. Indian filmmakers making films in English language get international audiences. Indian artists receive global recognition. But when it comes to Indian musicians making music in English, frowns appear, subjective criticism is so vehement, it could almost be mistaken for poetry. Yet many of these hypercritics can be seen energetically wagging their heads to rock, folk, country, hip-hop, or whatever music which has originated in the Occident. Despite this strong bias, there are still musicians trying to do their original English music and one man has the courage of his convictions to take a deep plunge into not just the unknown, but to do the unheard of, and he is Bertie da Silva. His lyrics, deep and thoughtful, perfectly complement the painstaking arrangements of the music, and this time Bertie plays The Dark Hand with Willie Walters on bass, Sooman on guitar, Suraj Pradhan on drums and Anindya Paul on backing vocals. Hosted by t2. Event: Rock ’n’ roll jam session When: Today; 9.30 pm onwards Where: Someplace Else

ART

Till January 9 (except Sundays and public holidays) at CIMA Gallery; 3 pm - 7 pm (Mondays) & 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays): In Search of a Context, an exhibition about the relation of art to its setting of time, place, social and historical moorings. Artworks include paintings, sculptures, drawings, collage, films and video. Featuring works of Manas Acharya, Samir Aich, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Sumitro Basak, Rameshwar Broota, Shreyasi Chatterjee, Swarna Chitrakar, Jogen Chowdhury, Sougata Das, Partha Pratim Deb, Meera Devidayal, Early Bengal School, Anita Gopal, Subodh Gupta, Anup Mondal, Binode Behari Mukherjee, Ravinder G. Reddy, Satyajit Roy, Kingshuk Sarkar, Shakila, Shuvaprasanna, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Arpita Singh, J. Swaminathan, Rabindranath Tagore, Manish Waghdare, Ancient South Indian Sculpture, and Cinematic Installation by Rituparno Ghosh and Mainak Bhaumik. December 18 at Lalit Kala Akademi, 361 Keyatala Lane; 6 pm: Inauguration of Artist in Residency, bronze casting camp, and an interactive session between Nagji Bhai Patel and Amit Mukhopadhyay. Till December 19 at Gallery K2, Supra Court, 35 Lansdowne Terrace, #2465 1444; 11 am - 7 pm: My World in Colours (Part 2) — an exhibition of recent works by Atri Sen. Till December 19 at Gallery Kolkata, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, Duckback House, #2287 3377/88; 11 am - 7 pm: Mother and Child — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures conceptualised by Sunil Das. Till December 20 at Taj Bengal, Promenade Lounge; 10 am - 11 pm: Recent works by Kuntal Dutta. The artist will be painting live from 3 pm to 6 pm. Till December 20 at Sanskriti Art Gallery, 5C Alipore Park Road: An exhibition of sculptures by Debabrata De.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 18 at Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, near Salt Lake City Centre; 5 pm: Amrita Sangeet Shishayatan presents Ananta Anandadhara, a programme based on Tagore songs and poems. Direction: Runu Dutta. Participants: Students of Rabigeetika (East) and Amrita. December 18 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, 8 Shakespeare Sarani; 5 pm: Ahana’s annual programme features vocal and instrumental music, dance and recitation along with an art exhibition by the students. December 18 at 94 Ballygunge Place, #2461 3145; 6.30 pm: Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts presents Parampara — an evening with Pandit Monoj Shankar (sitar) of the Maihar gharana. Tabla accompaniment: Mainak Banerjee. Well-known musicians Esha Bandyopadhyay and Partha Bose would be anchoring the event. December 18 at Gyan Manch; 6.30 pm: Kalakriti Sanskriti Fellowship Committee, Rhythmosaic and Pradip Centre for Autism will present Canvas — a performance by autistic children, Kathak and classical jazz dancers; conceived and choreographed by Mitul Sengupta. December 18 at Calcutta School of Music; 6.30 pm: Ajoy Ray presents Jazz with the Gypsy Connection for the Jazz Listeners’ Forum. December 18 at Plush, The Astor Hotel; 9 pm: Plush celebrates its first anniversary with a performance by international music maestro DJ Aaron James (from New York). December 18 at Soho (club rules apply); 9 pm: Electronic music from Germany Modeselektor featuring the DJ-and-live act-duo Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary. Organised by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan.

DRAMA

Till December 20 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Kolkata Comedy Carnival hosts a festival of comedy plays. Today: Samstab’s Bhoot Nath. Direction: Dwijen Bandyopadhyay. Till December 25 at Academy of Fine Arts: Nandikar’s 26th National Theatre Festival. Today at 6.30 pm: Jis Lahore Nahi Wekhya Wo Janmeya Hai Nahi (Hindi). Produced by Naya Theatre, Bhopal and directed by Habib Tanvir. December 18 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Howrah Dakshinayan presents Hawa Badal. Drama & direction: Kunal Mukhopadhyay. December 18 - 20 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Academy Theatre presents Panchiser Utsav (The Festival of 25) as part of the year-long celebration to mark the completion of its 25 years. Today: Gramophoner Manchagaan: A presentation of the grand narrative of theatre songs recorded on gramophone discs of 78 rpm or 33 rpm or 45 rpm along with the reproduction of the performances by today’s artistes. Participants: Devajit Bandyopadhyay and Riddhi Bandyopadhyay (singers) and Subir Mitra.

TALK / SEMINAR

December 18 & 19 at Institute of Historical Studies, 8/1 Loudon Street; 10.30 am: Seminar on the birth centenary of Ashapurna Devi. December 18 at Ramakrishna Mission Insti- tute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Chidrupananda will speak in Bengali on Yuganayak Vivekananda. December 18 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 6 pm: Prof. Arup Ranjan Pradhan will speak on Devi Bhagavat. December 18 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Raj Krishna Street; 7 pm: Dr Sasanka Bhusan Bandyopadhyay will speak in Bengali on Kena Upanishad.

PHOTO EXHIBITION

Till December 20 at Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, 19A Gurusaday Road; 10 am - 5 pm: British Council and Birla Industrial and Technological Museum present Hard Rain, a project by eminent British photographer, author and environmental campaigner Mark Edwards. Till January 13 (except Sunday) at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2461 3145; 10 am - 7 pm: Return to Eden — an exhibition of photography by Prabir Purkayastha. Curated by Ina Puri.

WORKSHOP

December 18 - 20 at Minerva Theatre; 12 noon - 4 pm: Minerva Natya Sanskriti Charcha Kendra organises a drama workshop for students (12 yrs to 16 yrs), to be conducted by Emily Nixon, Ryerson University, Canada along with Amitabha Roy, Ashok Mukhopadhyay and Meghnad Bhattacharya.

REUNION

December 20 at Asutosh College, main building, 3rd floor; 1 pm: The third reunion of the department of English, Asutosh College.

EXHIBITION

December 18 - 21 at Gaganendra Pradarshashala; 3 pm - 8 pm: Exhibition of different facets of performing arts through paintings, drawings, cartoons and illustrations in original format of rare artworks used for publicity, posters, calenders, book-covers and other promotional purposes. All these leftover unsung artistry will remind the masterstrokes of the brush and colour rangg from the unapplauded patuas to painters of prominence like Nandalal Bose, Asit Halder and Satyajit Ray. Inauguration by Ranen Ayan Dutta. Till December 24 at 218 AJC Bose Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Bombaim showcases an eclectic collection of dresses, clutch bags, jewellery and home accessories. Till December 31 at Halo Heritage, 26 Ritchie Road; 11.30 am - 8 pm: Soumya’s Creation presents an exhibition of its new range of durries and home accessories. Till December 18 at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 10 am - 7 pm: Kamala (outlet of Crafts Council of India) presents crafts and textiles that have been sourced directly from Santiniketan artisans.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