Kalaa Utsavam targets younger and more diverse audience with edgier programme
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Pop star Armaan Malik is one of the headline acts for Kalaa Utsavam - Indian Festival of Arts.
PHOTO: ESPLANADE - THEATRES ON THE BAY
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SINGAPORE – Kalaa Utsavam – Indian Festival of Arts has an edgier vibe in 2023, with original commissions and more pop-friendly music programming.
Tickets for the festival, which is on from Nov 17 to 26 and organised by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, go on sale from Tuesday.
Now into its 22nd edition, the festival is looking to the future.
Producer V.M. Sai Akileshwar says: “We’re looking at longevity, sustainability and including the youth, so there’s some element of ownership.”
The younger programming team at the helm is also looking to expand audience reach. According to the Esplanade, the proportion of ticket holders aged 18 to 24 years has grown by four times from 2019 to 2022.
Among the Esplanade’s slate of cultural festivals, which includes Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts and Pesta Raya – Malay Festival of Arts, Kalaa Utsavam draws the highest rate of crossover audiences, with 36 per cent coming from non-Indian communities.
This is thanks in part to the theatre offerings, which often include English-language fare, and its popular children’s programme.
A star attraction for 2023 embodying contemporary crossover appeal is celebrated dancer and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas, who is presenting a solo work, Forbidden.
Celebrated dancer and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas is presenting a solo work, Forbidden, at Kalaa Utsavam – Indian Festival of Arts.
PHOTO: VON FOX PROMOTIONS
The piece, which tackles the fears and taboos associated with female sexual desire, is a co-commission by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, London’s famed Sadler’s Wells dance group and Mumbai’s National Centre For The Performing Arts.
The theatre programme offers some familiar names.
Comedian Kumar stars in The Great Indian Mix – Kumar Spills The Tea, which is on at the Esplanade Theatre on Nov 24.
This Esplanade commission, scripted by actress-playwright Sharul Channa with contributions from Vadi PVSS and Jaya Rathakrishnan, will nail down the nuances of the Indian community, from Singaporean to expatriate, and skewer the cultural differences spanning north to south India.
Cultural differences also come in for examination in A Fistful Of Rupees from a playwright theatre fans will recognise.
India-born, Singapore-educated Shiv Tandan, whose 2011 coming-of-age story The Good, The Bad And The Sholay earned three The Straits Times Life Theatre Awards nominations, is back with his theatre group Stone Paper Stories.
A Fistful Of Rupees tackles with absurdist humour the story of Raghav, who has to deal with the culture shock of bustling Mumbai after living in quiet, orderly Singapore.
India-born, Singapore-educated Shiv Tandan returns to Singapore with A Fistful Of Rupees, a comedy about the culture shock of an Indian returning to Mumbai after a long stint abroad.
PHOTO: ESPLANADE – THEATRES ON THE BAY
Singapore troupe Agam Theatre Lab rounds out the programme with Twin Murder In The Green Mansion, a Tamil-language adaptation of The Play That Goes Wrong, a 2012 work by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields.
This knockabout comedy centres on the Chutney Drama Society’s opening night performance of Pachae Bungalaa, Rettae Kolaedaa, in which everything that can go wrong does.
Singapore company Agam Theatre Lab will present an adaptation of The Play That Goes Wrong.
PHOTO: ESPLANADE – THEATRES ON THE BAY
Young music fans will appreciate the genre-friendly, social media-savvy names for 2023’s line-up.
The biggest name is pop star Armaan Malik, who will perform his hit songs from films and his original music on Nov 18. The 28-year-old Mumbai-born singer has racked up more than 10 billion streams for his songs in a dozen different languages.
Carnatic and Hindustani music will meet in Taraana & Carnatic 2.0 – A Double Bill, which gives traditional Indian music forms a new spin.
Carnatic 2.0 is led by Mahesh Raghvan, a classically trained musician who has drawn a YouTube following for his fusion Carnatic music and Carnatic makeovers of English hits.
The band will be joined by Taraana, an ensemble comprising violin-playing sisters Ragini and Nandini Shankar, who similarly combine Indian classical music with contemporary influences.
Another crossover act is When Chai Met Toast, an indie-folk band from Kerala which offer sweet, jangly guitar melodies with English lyrics in classic singer-songwriter style.
Book it/Kalaa Utsavam – Indian Festival Of Arts
Where: Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, 1 Esplanade Drive str.sg/iTSZ
When: Nov 17 to 26, various timings
Admission: Free and ticketed, from $35
Info:
Correction note: An earlier version of this article described V.M. Sai Akileshwar as a programmer. He is a producer. This has been corrected. We are sorry for the error.
