Press Release:
- Popular Shillong Chamber Choir to open the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival
- Top classical musicians to start your Festival days include Padmini Rao and DevashishDey
- Music influenced by Sufi qawwal to hip-hop brings top bands including Bombay Bassment, Kabir Café, Raghu Dixit, Beth Orton & Sam AmidonAga Khan All Stars and Inna Modja to evening music stage
Jaipur, 16 January: As a whirlwind of literary figures prepare to descend on the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, an eclectic mix of music artists are set to perform morning and night at the five day literary extravaganza. The music performances will take place at two locations, the Front Lawns at Diggi Palace in the morning and the Music Stage at Hotel Clarks Amer in the evening, as part of the world’s largest free literature festival this month, January 19-23, 2017.
FRONT LAWNS at DIGGI PALACE, 09:00 – 09:45, 19-23 January 2017 (Free with General Registration)
Opening the festival on January 19istheShillong Chamber Choir, marking the start of five days of festivities at Diggi Palace. The choir shot to prominence when they won reality TV show India’s Got Talent in 2010, the same year picking up three gold medals at the 6th World Choir Games. Their wide range of repertoire from western classical favourites, to rock hits and Khasi folk music and opera has seen them perform across India including for U.S. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama during their state visit to India.
Following the Choir’s appearance, Master drummer of Rajasthan, Nathoo Lal Solanki will perform at the inauguration ceremony to open the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017.
The second day January 20, will kick off with a performance by Swanand Kirikire and Ankur Tiwari.
SwanandKirkire is a lyricist, actor, playback singer, scriptwriter and assistant director for Hindi television, films and theatre. He has written songs for more than 50 films and is a two-time winner of the National Film Award for Best Lyrics. He received his first National Film Award in 2007 for the song ‘Bande Me Tha Dum…VandeMataram’ from the film LageRahoMunna Bhai, and the second in 2009 for ‘BehtiHawaa Sa ThaWoh…’ from 3 Idiots. ‘Piyu Bole’ featured in the 2005 movie Parineeta was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Lyrics while Barfi’s ‘Aashiyam’ and ‘Manjaa’ from Kay Po Chhewere awarded IFFA and Life OK Screen awards.
AnkurTewari is a storyteller. He has spent the better part of his life discovering different mediums to share his tales. His songs are simple and evocative; they come from an honest, and at times vulnerable space, making them easy to form an instant connection with.Tewari plays with his band The Ghalat Family. He is also a well known Bollywood lyricist and composer and is at the helm of the band’s sound.
On the morning on January 21, festival goers can enjoy a performance of Padmini Rao, an accomplished exponent of the KiranaGharana form of North Indian classical music. One of the most senior of Padma Bhushan Dr.Prabha’s disciples, she trained in sitar from Pramila Dagar. Discovering her first love was for vocal music, she also studied under the guidance of the late Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Khan Dagar, the renowned scholar, dhrupad and rudra veena maestro.
On the morning of January 22, the fourth day of ZEE JLF, acclaimed vocalist Devashish Dey will awaken the crowds and set the tone for the day ahead. A classical singer who specialises in thumri, dadra, tappa, chaiti and kazri styles and sings bhajans too, Dey has performed widely across India and the UK and released many albums.
On the last day of the Festival, January 23, East Meets Middle East kicks off a lively day of literature celebration. East Meets Middle East is a musical collective spanning continents and celebrating the rich traditions of the Middle East and South Asia. Subrata Bhattacharya (tabla) and AbhisekLahiri (sarod) collaborate with Ronnie Malley (oud) and George Lawler (percussion) to create a cross-cultural palette of improvisations and original compositions. The group transcends boundaries as they move through raga and maqam, tala and iga, music and rhythms found in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival Music Programme Day-by-Day
Tickets available on the Jaipur Literature Festival website &also available for pick up at Diggi Palace at the Registration Desk from January 15th onwards and at Clarks Amer from 10 AM onwards on the Festival days (19th – 22nd January)
Thursday 19 January, 2017
09:00 – 09:45 – Front Lawns, Diggi Palace
The Shillong Choir (FREE with Generalregistration)
Friday 20 January, 2017
09:00 – 09:45 – Front Lawns, Diggi Palace
Swanand Kirkire and AnkurTewari
Saturday 21 January, 2017
09:00 – 09:45 – Front Lawns, Diggi Palace
Padmini Rao (FREE with GeneralRegistration)
Sunday 22 January, 2017
09:00 – 09:45 – Front Lawns, Diggi Palace
Devashish Dey (FREE with General Registration)
Monday 23 January, 2017
09:00 – 09:45 – Front Lawns, Diggi Palace
East Meets Middle East (FREE with General Registration)
~~ ENDS ~~
NOTES TO MEDIA PERSONS
Information on Registration for the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival can be found here:
http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/registration/
For media enquiries on the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Edelman India:
Nitisha.Prabhakar@edelman.com / Amrita.Sarna@edelman.com
For Jaipur media coordination on the Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Spark PR:
Jagdeep Singh (M: 09829065787) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in)
Kamal Kant (M: 09571836810) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in)
About the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017
Described as the ‘greatest literary show on Earth’, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is the world’s largest free event of its kind.
The past decade has seen the Festival host 1300 speakers and welcome nearly 1.2 million book lovers.
Celebrating writers from across the globe, past speakers have ranged from Nobel Laureates and Man Booker Prize winners to debut writers including Amish Tripathi, Chimamanda NgoziAdichie, Eleanor Catton, Hanif Kureishi, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Ian McEwan, J.M. Coetzee, Mohammed Hanif, Oprah Winfrey, OrhanPamuk, Pico Iyer, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry, Thomas Piketty, Vikram Seth and Wole Soyinka along with renowned Indian language writers such as Girish Karnad, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Uday Prakash as well as the late Mahasweta Devi and U.R. Ananthamurthy.
Writers and Festival Directors NamitaGokhale and William Dalrymple invite speakers to take part in the five-day programme set against the backdrop of Rajasthan’s stunning cultural heritage and the Diggi Palace in the state capital Jaipur.
Equity and democracy run through the Festival’s veins, placing some of the world’s greatest minds, humanitarians, historians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers from all walks of life together on stage. This free and egalitarian access to these renowned thinkers and writers is a powerful statement in a country where access to such individuals remains the privilege of a few. The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival provides a potentially life-changing opportunity for audiences from Rajasthan, across India and the world to learn from and exchange ideas with contemporary literary stalwarts.
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is a flagship event of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities globally, and is produced by Sanjoy K. Roy.
In 2014, ZEE JLF spread its wings beyond the borders of India with an annual event in May in London. In 2015, it headed across the pond to Boulder, Colorado where it hosts a similar event every September.
Website: www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org
About Teamwork Arts
For over 25 years, Teamwork Arts has taken India to the world and brought the world to India.
In countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, Teamwork produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities.
Teamwork Arts produces one of the world’s largest free literary gatherings, the annual ZEEJaipur Literature Festival, the Ishara International Puppet Festival in New Delhi, the annual Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) and Festival, international festivals Shared History in South Africa, Eye on India in the United States of America, India by the Bay in Hong Kong, Confluence- Festival of India in Australia, and many more.
Website: www.teamworkarts.com