2-week festival celebrating Indian fine arts to take place at Esplanade

A two-week festival celebrating Indian fine arts will take place at the Esplanade from Apr 20 to May 1. 

Called the Festival of the Arts, it is organised by the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. 

The theme for this year’s festival, its 19th edition, is Kalpana, a sanskrit word meaning imagination and fantasy.

Musical productions like HOME and Kathambam as well as dance performances like Jaya Ram will be featured. 

HOME follows the journey of award-winning Carnatic vocalist based in Singapore and Chennai, Sushma Soma, as she reflects on her relationship with nature, environment, wildlife and consumer choices. 

The musical will be held on April 22, 3pm to 7.30pm, at the Esplanade Recital Studio and tickets are priced at $35.

Kathambam, a multi-genre and multi-ethnic musical concert, draws inspiration from ancient poetry, Indian classical music, folk music, Western elements, oriental music and various languages.

Ticket to Kathamabam, which will take place on Apr 23, 7.30pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall, costs between $40 and $60. 

Jaya Ram, an original Odissi production by Sutra Foundation in collaboration with Guru Gajendra Kumar Panda, will bring to the stage the myth of Lord Rama, hero of the epic Ramayana.  

Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artists and musicians play out a story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes, body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set out in ancient Sanskrit literature.

While maintaining the format of traditional Odissi presentations, Jaya Ram will infuse influences of indigenous folk genres in both music and movement. 

The performance will take place at the Esplanade Theatre at 7.30pm on Apr 28. Tickets are priced at $45 to $70 for standard seating.