Even prior to the volcanic ash in the sky, there was definitely a change in the air. In Chaucer's day, it was the time for pilgrimages, in our time it is the end of one tax year seamlessly connecting across shorter nights and longer days. I've started a new brand of pilgrimage: Licence to Tell, Stand up Storytelling in pubs across London. In keeping with the April Fools' day tradition of Roman times when a vassal or slave, treated as a minority, could have a staged rage about his master, my band of merry storytellers tell tales of Heroes and Tricksters from around the world. It's not all pints of lager and packets of crisps — the tellers enrapture new audiences with tales of triumph waged against pompous pillars of society. As skylight fades, the audience start talking amongst themselves about the reference to the recession, election strategies, political and moral high grounds, and how Tricksters really represent the audacious heroism of the Everyperson. Everyperson is the taxpayer bailing out the bank/ers, governments, and the holier than cow politicians. Everyperson is the nameless minority, constantly fed with lies and bombast of a better tomorrow. The audience suddenly look around, and with elections ahead, Heroes and Tricksters give them a wake up call, the way parables bring about change.
Minority is a masterful term that categorises vast groups of people who are nameless. It actually means those who are the majority in number but are not socially significant because they are not celebrities. The great unintentional crime is that they don't stand out because they don't speak up and end in a heap of silence, powerless in the wake of change determined by the few who are categorised as the majority. The quality of minority is singularly well expressed in Christopher Isherwood's concept of The Single Man, and Tom Ford captures screenplay: “when you are a minority, you are invisible”.
Silence and greed
This invisibility of the unnamed majority who are minoritised has also created the eruption of greed and because of that silence, there is no fear of what greed can do, that resulted in the financial crisis. The rage at the swift erosion and imperceptible recovery because Everyperson is in shellshock. This theme emerges in a brilliant and must-see play by David Hare in his recent “The Power of Yes”, at the National theatre, directed by Angus Jackson. Strongly recommended. It constructs the building blocks of how we are all in this mess of a debt, but more about how there is an ethical issue we are all responsible in ignoring — greed. How the vast majority of us have allowed minoritisation of our lives to let bankers and politicians make us pay for their lies about the black hole of debt in unknown billions. Is the solution the fear of greed? Only Theatre can reveal the illusion of individual and collective responsibility, and the truth behind it — masterfully.
There is another side to the power of minority; the determination of Diaspora. The Darbar Festival is one such that creates edges and terrific artistic encounters. Kulbir Natt and Sandeep Virdhee are British based Directors of a classical Indian music festival. But this one is with a difference. While the flow of Indian musicians is programmed, a special focus is on the ones who will be the greats of tomorrow. Any art is worth its craft, but primarily in the curator's selection.
Giving a platform for the shock of the new is at the heart of Darbar — making a breakthrough at the Kings Place — a new music venue close to King's Cross. This is an entirely commercial venue with a western music tradition. But Kulbir with his inventive genius knew that gatekeepers of such world class venues needed more than just talent to open their door to programming a festival with the not so famous. It's not easy — but Kulbir got Sky Arts TV interested, and 13 filmed concerts later — the Kings Place could see talent, profile, and Commerce in complete harmony. This is quite a shift in the politics of programming from venues that receive subsidy.
Darbar launched its fifth festival with Encounter — a composition for female vocalists of Indian and Western classical traditions by British contemporary music composer Param Vir, with Veena Sahasrabudhe and Patricia Rozario. The confidence in taking audiences across time lines of two distinctive traditions, and then having them create a tapestry of interwoven notes struck a chord with how global imagination works — each of us secure in our homes migrating through cyberspace into the grids of homes and hearts of other continents.
The artists of the diaspora in England, like Sukhwinder Singh on Tabla accompanying Sunil Kant Gupta's Bansuri created waves with his virtuosity combining humour while interacting with the audience. This did not take away Sunil Kant's freshness and gravitas of playing; Sukhwinder was welcoming an artist from India to his British audience. A consistent strand of Diaspora musicians sharing a legacy of tradition needs special mention. Programming and inviting artists from India, fund raising, accommodation, marketing, publicity and box office, is only the tip of the iceberg that determines the resilience and passion of Darbar's Directors. And then, the nerve wracking anticipation of visas being granted by the British High Commission in India for artist entry into Britain. The Carnatic vocalists Ranjani and Gayatri could not perform due to visa restriction on one of the sisters. Jyotsana Srikanth, British Diaspora violinist stepped in to give the audiences their eagerly awaited Carnatic concert with absolute knock-your-socks-off shakti, with egoless professionalism mesmerising us with her rendering of Thyagaraja. Here was the rising wave of the Diaspora, the minoritised among the Minority. Darbar had wanted to come clear of being yet another Asian promoter of music offering high culture, but instead established itself as a force to reckon with among musicians from India, and placing the Diaspora musicians as a continuum in the legacy of Indian classical music.
Celebrating the arts
A neat crossover from King's Cross in the north of London, to the South Bank Centre that sits snugly between the Thames and Waterloo, consists of vast halls — Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Haywards Gallery among others. It was designed as a labyrinth of vast public spaces so that art was to be enjoyed by Everyperson. Alchemy is a festival that was a brainchild of Artistic Director Jude Kelly. The festival's focus was on the ingredients of high art, traditional, contemporary, participatory, and diaspora that alchemises into a celebration of the arts in the here and now. Independently interested and informed about Indian politics and entrepreneurship, Jude was well supported by her team and Artist in Residence, Gauri Sharma Tripathi. There were stunning spaces for alchemical improvisations between work and music, and witnessing collaborations in the making. Kuljit Bhamra, diaspora composer and musician, with his team curated the South Hall Story — a moving archive of migration and vocalising immigrant solidarity. Alchemy was also a partnership of diverse organisations ranging from British based-diaspora artists, to artists from new India, and importantly the work they are making together.
Artistic dialogues
The British Council's Connecting Cultures programme between UK and India had a platform and artistic partnerships between Jeet Thayil (poet) and an Opera, Tanika Gupta (playwright UK) and Q Theatre (Mumbai), Astad Deboo and Vayu Naidu. Adam Pushkin, British Council Director in Mumbai, is aiming at more artistic collaborations and access to wider audiences across the countries. Maybe visas need to be something negotiated well in advance?
The intergenerational debate that Jude Kelly chaired looked at the amazing spread of the South Bank Centre's work — youth projects with SE1 United, Poets and Dancers in Residence. An interesting issue of mutual respect was the TATA Jagriti 9,000 mile train journey that takes 400 young people in India across the length and breath of the country, enabling encounters that are create new possibilities. ‘ Respect' is old fashioned and yet gang parlance, I'm all for it when it brings in a change of attitude, and it is hoped that a journey like that one is inspired across Britain to encounter difference and appreciate it.
While the South Bank Centre hosted a festival of what Minorities have poured into the cauldron of what makes Britain multicultural, a few steps away in the National Theatre, there was David Hare's The Power of Yes. This was making a salient point about the minoritisation of the human spirit. It's a time in Britain when times are tough, but we are bursting through the glass ceiling and finding prisms of freedom to shape the future keeping in balance all the ingredients that make an individual sane and a society whole.
Dr. Vayu Naidu is a storyteller and theatre person based in London. She is also a writer of children's books and adult fiction. www.vayunaiducompany.org.uk Email: Vayu.naidu@vayunaiducompany.org.uk
