Monsoon festival backed by late rains

Now, there are more ways to enjoy the monsoon than just getting wet in the rains. Red Earth – a private art and culture organisation has organised a bunch of interesting monsoon themed programmes to enthrall the lovers of this season.

Aptly titled The Monsoon Festival, they opened it with a Monsoon mela recently and will now be hosting walks, art exhibitions, poetry recitals and music shows all based on the season.

The Monsoon Festival has already celebrated six editi­o­ns in the Capital and is a well established cultural fest. Himanshu Verma, director, Red Earth says, “Monsoon is not just a season but a complex cultural being, bringing alive the fertility of the Indian mind – in art expressions ranging from visual art to poetry, music to drama; live culture including festivals, food and other celebratory elements and the richness of human emotional response.

“In today’s fast-paced times, though, all these have got lost somewhere. So we thought of putting them all together in The Monsoon Festival. Fortunately, it has been hugely appreciated and we have been reviving it every monsoon.”

Their Monsoon Mela at the Alliance Française recently, which showcased funky bags, shoes, clothes, accessories, home decorations etc. by young designers, was an indication of the things to come. From today onwards, they are also exhibiting a number of paintings by artist Om Prakash titled ‘The Monsoon Chapter 7.’

“The Monsoon Chapter has been a part of the fest since its very inception. The paintings explore a range of themes connected with the venerated season: abstract, landscape and nature, flora and fauna, the human element, divinity, monsoon objects and the city, thus enabling an enjoyment of the finer nuances of the season in varied artistic styles,” says Himanshu.

On August 4, Saturday, they will also be conducting a ‘Barsaati Walk’ to take participants around the Barsaatis - small one room compartments on roof-tops, of Delhi. “Barsaatis being open to the elements of nature are a unique intellectual-cultural-romantic space. Many writers, poets and artists were born here and their beauty is realized only by staying here for a while.”

Next, they will be holding their innovative ‘Subz-Neel Bhraman: The Blue-Green Walk’ on August 5, exploring the legacy of the monsoon colours in the City. Starting with Subz Burj- the 16th century blue tiled tomb in Nizamuddin, the walk will move to Sunder Nursery- Delhi’s house of green and wind up at Nila Gumbad at the Humayun Tomb.

On August 6, they will be holding Baarish: An evening of multi-lingual poetry, song and story recitation by eminent writers and singers like Akhlaq Ahan, Harpreet Singh, Jean-Phillipe Bottin and Neelabh Ashk. ‘Digital Malhaar’- a site specific installation (music, sound and space) by Ameet Singh will follow and the fest will conclude with ‘Krishna Janmashtmi Sewa’- a music concert by Shri Chandraprakash on August 8.