ANHAD 2023
Sat 12 Aug, 3pm - 10pm
Hounslow Town Centre will be transformed as it celebrates South Asian outdoor contemporary arts as part of Bell Square 2023.
ANHAD is an exciting outdoor multi-arts festival of exceptional, cutting-edge contemporary work by South Asian artists based in the UK. The festival is programmed and directed by Hounslow-based Mira Kaushik, OBE, in partnership with Bell Square London.
The festival will bring a uniquely colourful and vibrant celebration of contemporary South Asian outdoor arts – including performance, dance, music, family shows and much more. It aims to give a platform for UK South Asian creativity across all arts. The ambition is for ANHAD to become an annual event based in Hounslow and to be the premier UK event for shining a spotlight on contemporary South Asian creativity to the wider world.
Artists performing include:
My Tiger Janu by Chila Kumari Singh Burman - Chila Kumari Singh Burman combines her Indian roots with popular culture to create mixed media works, blending art, autobiography and activism. Chila Kumari Singh Burman is celebrated for her radical feminist practice which examines representation, gender and cultural identity. She works across a wide range of mediums including printmaking, drawing, painting, installation and film.
Ancestral Voices - The Inheritance of Love with Shephali Frost Ensemble” Shephali Frost is an internationally known poet & singer, collaborating with British artists to combine multi-lingual South Asian poetry from the 13th to mid-20th century (in Urdu, Hindi, Farsi from ancient Iran & Punjabi) with western classical music, modern English poetry & contemporary Jazz. This exciting and unique Indo-British fusion music ensemble will be presented by Shephali and her collaborators Shanti Jayasinha on Cello, Trevor Taylor on Percussion & Drums & Martin Hathaway on Saxophone.”
Gaṅgā by Jataneel Banerjee Gaṅgā - a chamber opera in Sanskrit: a saga of heartbreak, promises and love. Gaṅgā is a powerful, yet helpless, celestial river goddess, whose womb becomes the medium to fulfil the higher purpose of gods and men. Cursed and doomed to be born as mortals, the eight Vasus choose Gaṅgā to be their mother. She promises to release all but one from the curse: the last must live on earth. Gaṅgā chooses her beloved Shantanu, mighty king of Hastinapur, to be the father. But, to keep her promise to the Vasus, she must also break his heart.
DJ Indian Man - Representing freedom of expression in music and culture, Indian Man has broken away from limiting traditions, sending him on his journey to share his eclectic, east meets west sound with the masses. Spinning anything from Bhangra classics to garage filled grooves, his unique combination of mother-tongue-twisting lyrics, traditional Punjabi sounds, bass-filled jams and hip-hop drops will make it irresistible for you not to join him on his journey.
You With U by Ashani Ghosh, Mithun Gill and Tulani Kayani Skeef - a performance exploring the concept of social conditioning through the lens of ever changing beauty standards.
Bells, Beats and Banter by Srishti – Nina Rajarani Dance Creations Artistic Director of Srishti, Nina Rajarani MBE is an award-winning choreographer of classical Indian dance with 30 years’ experience as a dance-maker. Rajarani’s new fast-paced outdoor piece of four dancers and three musicians, Bells, Beats and Banter is the choreographic equivalent of speed dating, with exciting dynamics and coquettish cross rhythms that reveal all the fun and freedom of youth. The show has a light-hearted feel, with an emphasis on entertaining audiences.
Mughal Miniatures: Animal Paradise by Sonia Sabri Company - Mughal Miniatures is a vibrant and upbeat outdoor performance event for all the family, which celebrates and takes inspiration from the exquisite traditional art of Indian and Persian miniature painting creating colourful mini worlds of dance, music and puppetry. A series of pop-up, living pictures evoke scenes of Indian princely courts and lush gardens, and the glory of the Mughal period with a contemporary twist, undercutting expectations and delighting and surprising passers-by.
A mixed bill of solo and group dance performances by Sujata Banerjee Dance Company with additional performances by: Ashwini Kalsekar and Saloni Saraf (Khatak), Nandita Shankerdass (Ballet), Mithun Gill, Divya Ravi (Bharatanatyam) and Jessica Andrade (Trapeze), and large walking puppets direct from India.
The festival will be inaugurated by Hounslow’s eminent resident filmmaker and journalist, Yavar Abbas accompanied by Noor Zahir, Monisha Baradwaj and Ashwini Kalsekar and compered by Ambika Kucheria and Suhani Dhanki at 3.00 pm on Saturday, 12 August followed by performances in Bell Square, and then throughout the day there will be shows on Bell Square, the square outside Holy Trinity Church on the High Street, and performances that will interact with audiences along the High Street. The festival will finish at 10pm.
The festival is supported by Hounslow Council as part of the Borough’s Summer of Culture.