Blog

SANDHYA BOSE TALKS ABOUT BEING A PARRAMASALA VOLUNTEER

As an artist liaison person I had the most rewarding and delightful experience at Parramasala last year! It was a week of rewarding work with a lot of fun! The whole experience was an extremely positive one. It was an exceptionally well organised event with the minutest details thought about. The organiser’s ability to deal with multicultural and diverse artists and volunteer groups is worth emulating by all event organisers. In a very short time the entire group, total strangers to each other, were working as one, with sole goal of a successful Parramasala. The high quality acts selected were an absolute treat! I would never have seen a 'Tap - Kathak' performance or a 'Guru of Chai ' were it not for Parramasala. The Rajasthani artists I was looking after were very impressed with the treatment they got at each event and the friendliness of Australian public in general. The respect awarded to each artist big or small was refreshing.

Sandhya Bose, Artist Liaison for the Manganyar, Langa and Teratali artists from Rajasthan, Parramasala 2010 - 17 October 2011

MARC LING  TALKS ABOUT WHY WESTPAC SUPPORTS PARRAMASALA

It's great to see Parramasala back in Parramatta again this year and with an expanded schedule of events. I'm particularly looking forward to David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir at St John's Cathedral.. this should be a good show as will many of the other events. The festival again has something for everyone this year with workshops being a big feature. Once again Westpac staff are volunteering to help out with the festival. We love being able to support events such as this. Part of our Bank's vision is to help our communities to prosper and grow and one way to do this is help events such as Parramasala be successful. We have a very diversified team in Westpac and we really enjoy being able to support events such as Parramasala. 

Marc Ling, Bank Manager Parramatta, Westpac, 11 October 2011

RAVI KAMBHOJ TALKS ABOUT THE SOUTH ASIAN FILM IN FOCUS PROGRAM

I see film as the single most effective medium for improving communication and cooperation between people and countries. The idea behind the South Asian Film in Focus program at Parramasala is not just to connect filmgoers; it also represents a connecting point between Australian and South Asian filmmakers.

The program shows a slice of the richness of contemporary filmmaking from South Asia and also from the South Asian Diaspora - the latter including filmmakers from places as diverse as Canada, Brazil, New Zealand and the USA. Most of these are having their Australian premiere screenings at Parramasala. To put the icing on the cake, we are showing a rare ‘Satyajit Ray Retrospective’ on Saturday 5th November. You can immerse yourself in three exceptional films by this acknowledged genius, still considered as one of the best filmmakers in the history of cinema.

The program runs from Monday 31st October to Saturday 5th November at the Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres. We kick off with the Australian premiere screening of the Indian thriller, Anurag Kashyap's 'That Girl In Yellow Boots'.

“..by far his boldest film and if I may say so, his best effort so far. Powerful and captivating”, Tarun Adarsh, film critic – Bollywood Hungama – after the world premiere in August in Mumbai.

The opening night is followed by a party In the Riverside Theatre Courtyard with DJ Lux Ratnamohan.

A free forum on ‘Displacement’ will be held on Saturday 5 November at 6pm. The panel comprises people from the film and art fraternity who’ve made the journey from their homeland to another country. They will share their experiences and the difficulties they faced during this transitional period. The forum is chaired by Sydney’s well-known writer, educator and filmmaker Paula Abood. The panel comprises of Ana Tiwary (filmmaker), Roanna Gonsalves (award winning writer), Shakthi Sivanathan (director of Sydney’s Curiousworks) and Anand Naidoo (filmmaker of ‘Curry Munchers’).

This will be a great opportunity to see many exceptional films from one of the world’s most dynamic regions. See you there.

Ravi Kambhoj, Curator, South Asian Film in Focus, Parramasala, 4 October 2011

DAVID HYKES TALKS ABOUT HARMONIC CHANT

I'm very excited to be bringing back our Harmonic Chant lineage practices and Harmonic Presence work to Australia! When we first brought our "vertical songline" work to Australia in the 1980s, we were very touched by the deep response of listeners all over the country. This experience is one we've had all over the world - of deeply immersive shared moments of listening to the music that's truly in all of us, and especially comes to life in sacred space - inside and out. I once conducted one of my Harmonic Meetings, which we do with the public at the end of every concert, during a Peace Rally in New York's Central Park, with 800,000 people! (It was a good first attempt at so-called "global chant,", but it's been very hard getting the group together for more rehearsals! :-). When I began working with the harmonics of sound and consciousness in 1971 (I was 18), I understood that harmonics make the music of the spheres, but the greatest joy is in sharing them in so many different spheres of life on earth! As harmonics are the DNA of all music, it's been also very joyful to share our music and learn from other contemplative and sacred sound traditions. Our studies and collaborations with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and my Dharma teachers, including filmmaker Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche (I did the original music for his film "Travellers and Magicians"), our Indian music guru Smt. Sheila Dhar, Sufi masters and musicians, and Native Americans from my hometown of Taos, New Mexico, in the USA, among many others, have been deeply inspiring and enriching. In that regard, I'm so delighted I was able to facilitate the coming of our dear musical friends from India, Dr. Madan Gopal Singh, Dhruv Sangari and Chaar Yaar to this year's festival! We met at the International Festival of Sacred Art in Delhi last year, where we performed, and had what I can only call a "love at first sound" musical experience. Quite spontaneously, we have performed in Delhi, around New York, France - and now at Parramasala! I'm also delighted for the 3 occasions, besides the concerts, when I can share the overall "Harmonic Vision" (Wednesday, Nov. 2), sharing the music, the Harmonic Visions --visual art made by the human voice, and show how the many traditional masters and musicians have helped us develop this 'world music of the spheres' and found applications in healing, medicine, and contemplative practice. Then on the weekend, I'll share the Harmonic Presence practices and teachings - how mind, music, meditation and the medicine of deep harmonization work together to bring harmony to life.

David Hykes, Harmonic Presence Foundation, 30 September 2011 -  www.harmonicpresence.org

FIONA DAVIES TALKS ABOUT THE EXHIBITION, PATTERN-SHIP

As a curator I am interested in looking at how people make their way in the world. How they navigate a path that allows them to express who they are as shaped by the wider events of the world and by their own cultural political and economic conditions. This is particularly appropriate in times of massive external change, economic or political or natural. All of the artists selected for Pattern-Ship have been successful in developing their own ways to navigate these times. These ways all rely heavily on textile traditions of layering pattern and texture. This exhibition will start a conversation across cultures about the broader context in which these works now sit and the context from which they came. The external changes experienced by the two artist collectives from Kuchchh have been obvious and obviously life changing. Earthquakes that have changed the paths of rivers, massive disruptive and afirming economic growth, cultural dislocation from changing concepts of land ownership and settlement and centrally partition, frame the background of this district of India. The two collectives work in the everyday. Their artworks show that process. As a viewer we look, experience and bring our background to that interaction. When you take something from the everyday, even from a day as special as a wedding and something as special as a wedding veil, and take the time to see that object, it is possible to realise connections between cultures that operate in ways beyond those of formal diplomacy or economic globalisation and beyond the obviously life changing external changes we all experience. 

Fiona Davies, Curator of Pattern-Ship to be shown at Parramatta Artists Studio, 23 September 2011

SHAHEEN MURAD TALKS ABOUT BAUL SHILPI FROM BANGLADESH

Baul Shilpi is one of the world's few touring ensembles of Baul singers and musicians from Bangladesh. Each of the free outdoor performances by Baul Shilpi at Parramasala will be 90 minutes of song with spirited dance, accompanied by music played on traditional instruments. In Bangladesh, Baul Shilpi also often performs for several hours straight, including the ‘pala’ which usually begins around 10pm at night and continues until dawn with a series of songs sent back and forth from the men and women performers. Baul folk culture is ancient and its origins are not yet certain, but it is a fascinating amalgamation of many faiths and beliefs – with hindu, muslim, sufism and buddhist influences, amongst others. Baul singers and musicians mostly live in Bengal and Bangladesh (which used to be East Bengal before partition). Baul Shilpi, with singer/songwriter Akkas Dewan, has performed many times in Asia and in Europe, where the group has a particularly strong following in Sweden. They will perform a series of six free concerts on the Outdoor Stage at Town Hall Square, Parramatta, from 1 to 6 November.

Shaheen Murad, Promoter of Baul Shilpi, 16 September 2011

SHAKTHI SIVANATHAN FROM CURIOUSWORKS TALKS ABOUT THE OTHER JOURNEY

Have you ever been out and about, listening to music, when a song comes on that just fits perfectly with where you are, at that particular moment? As if that song, that place and that time were all in sync? No one else will ever know - just you and your headphones. The Other Journey is inspired by such moments. It has music; it has visuals; it has site. But in the end, it's none of those things. The Other Journey is actually an arts adventure: an intimate experience we've made for a specific time and place. Walking around Parramatta, you probably know Church St, Riverside Theatres, the heritage buildings. But only the locals know the spots under the bridge and along Parramatta River. You can spot a bloke there fishing during the day; young couples nervously holding hands late at night; a contemplative old lady staring into the water at dusk.

It's a special spot, down on the riverbank. Somehow close enough to the noise of the street to still be part of the city, but somehow hidden away enough to be in your own place. The perfect place to listen to a tune, or hear someone else's story. We feel privileged that for a week, we can overlay the space with art made just for it - sculptures in the sky, film in the water, jasmine in the soil. The Other Journey is a story of travelling half way across the world with nothing but dignity and resolve. Our hope is that as you step away from the hustle of Church St for an hour, you'll be able to escape the scorn and pity that is usually thrown upon these stories as well. Instead, as you come down to the riverbank, board the boat and step off into the water, you'll be able to step inside the most intimate thoughts of people who rarely get to tell you their story from their own perspective. A story that is of this time and of this place. Made just for you.

Shakthi Sivanathan, CuriousWorks, 14 September 2011

PHILIP ROLFE TALKS ABOUT DAVID HYKES

I first heard David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir at a concert in Sydney’s St Andrew’s Cathedral as part of a new music festival called New Directions. It was one of those exceptional experiences which left a deep and positive impression. Overtone singing or harmonics, is a rich vocal music practised differently in several parts of the world, including the Himalayas. The impact of this, my first experience of such music resonant of Buddhist and Gregorian chant, was profound. It was one of those concerts that left me reeling and immediately thinking how it would be great to be able to get more people to listen. Well, that first experience was 23 years ago and, even though it’s ‘a long time coming’, I feel proud to be able to present this amazing group again, this time at St John’s Cathedral in Parramatta, one of Australia’s oldest neo-gothic churches. The perfect concert for the perfect setting.

Philip Rolfe, Director Parramasala, 5 September 2011