Bhakti in Music: The North and South Perspectives

Vidya Shah, well-known vocalist, writer and researcher on music will be in conversation with Subhadra Desai and Sudha Raghuraman

Welcome Address: Shri Suresh K. Goel, former Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations

Introductory Remarks: Shri Prabhat Kumar, President, IC Centre for Governance

Keynote Address: Shri Arun Maira, former Member, Planning Commission

(Collaboration: IC Centre for Governance)
 

Author, Sahitya Akademi Awardee, Ajeet Cour and celebrated artist, Arpana Caur in conversation with Sujata Prasad and Oroon Das 

(Collaboration: Ahad Anhad)

The Morality of India’s Constitution: The Path Still to be Traversed 

Panelists: Dr. Syeda Hameed, social and women's rights activist, educationist, writer and a former member of the Planning Commission of India; Prof. Ashis Nandy, public intellectual, political psychologist and social theorist; Dr. Neera Chandoke, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi and former Professor of Political Science, University of Delhi; Shri Kapil Sibal, MP, former Union Minister and senior Advocate; and Shri Ashok Vajpeyi, poet, essayist, literary-cultural critic, cultural and arts administrator

Chair: Shri Harsh Mander

First discussion in a new series organised in collaboration with Centre for Equity Studies

Postponed

Dreams of a Healthy India: Democratic Healthcare in Post-Covid Times

Edited by Ritu Priya and Syeda Hameed (Vintage Books: 2023)
 

What’s American about American Music?

Illustrated presentation by Sharon Lowen

What comes to mind as the music of North America? Rock and Roll, Gershwin, Broadway, Gospel, John Cage, Indigenous, Pueblo, and Inuit tribal music, jazz, swing? How about the folk and popular music in the ethnic style of the Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, Hispanic, and Jewish communities, among others. The talk presents a kaleidoscopic aural journey and a multi-cultural country’s musical heritage

Chair: Sunit Tandon, well known theatre and film personality, and Director, India Habitat Centre

Sharon Lowen has bridged cultures performing, writing, teaching Odissi, Manipuri, Chhau, Western Ballet and Modern Dance; and cross-cultural education internationally and in India over 50 years and via her NGO, Manasa-Art Without Frontiers

Rajkamal Chowdhry ki Kavita

Panel discussion with Gopeshwar Singh; Deo Shankar Naveen; and Amitabh Ray

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

 Art collector, patron, philanthropist and the founder of Sanskriti Pratishthan, O.P Jain
 and designer, scenographer, multi-faceted artiste and Sanskriti Awardee, Sumant Jayakrishnan 
—in conversation with Sujata Prasad and Oroon Das

Third programme in a new series of monthly conversations staged in collaboration with Ahad Anhad

In the Body of a Woman: Essays on Law, Gender and Society

By Aaliya Waziri (Simon & Schuster IN; 2023)

Speakers: Ms. Shruti Katiyar, Advocate, Delhi High Court (moderator); Ms. Malvika Trivedi, Senior Advocate, Delhi High Court ; Ms. Warisha Farasat, Advocate, Delhi High Court ; Ms. Aaliya Waziri, Advocate, Delhi High Court & Author of the Book 


 

The Extraordinary Life and Times of Harry Belafonte

Presentation by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
 
Born in New York to underprivileged parents with origins in the Caribbean islands of the West Indies, Harry Belafonte was one the world’s most popular and influential singers, activists, and actors. He passed away on 25 April at the age of 96. Some of his most popular songs, including “Jamaica Farewell” and “Banana Boat Song,” have been performed and adapted across the globe from the 1950s onwards. He not only performed in the calypso genre but also sang blues, folk, and gospel songs. Belafonte considered actor and singer Paul Robeson his mentor and was a close confidante of Martin Luther King. He was an outspoken critic of US Presidents George W Bush and Donald Trump, and even described the former as the biggest terrorist on the planet.
 
Moderator: N. Madhavan, music lover and veteran journalist
 
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is a music lover and an independent journalist, author, publisher, documentary film maker and teacher