From July 5 – 15 the Indian Summer Festival Spreads Out Across Vancouver
We were lucky enough to stop in for the opening of the Indian Summer Festival this week, and yesterday, the first ever outdoor space PAUSE opened, located at Vanier Park. PAUSE will host 15+ fascinating, family-friendly and unique free events July 6-15.
The opening included dishes from Vancouver’s top culinary artists, international musicians and the Roundhouse transformed like I’d never seen it before. This year Vij’s, Blue Water Cafe, Cedar Feast House, Jamjar, Cacao, Tayybeh, ARC at the Fairmont Waterfront dished out culinary treats!
July 7 head o Main Street, to The Imperial, for the speakers series 5x15m and an evening of music with rising stars from all over the world Confluence. The festival also partnered with the World Sanskrit Conference this year to present three distinct events including the 1000 year old Kutiyattam dance theatre Living Legends, and there’s two wonderful films through the partnership with VIFF.
You can check out master flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia as he takes residence at the magnificent Orpheum Theatre and finish with a gorgeous finale on Sunday, July 15 at the Ismaili Centre in Burnaby with Songs for Scheherazade, featuring compositions by Mohamed Assani and one of the world’s only all-female orchestras.
Indian Summer Festival Events include:
- Launch of PAUSE, Indian Summer Festival’s first-ever outdoor programming hub at Vanier Park (July 6-15) – Housing a festival within the festival, PAUSE features free events every day, including Gratitude Song, Mythical Vancouver, PAUSE in the Park and Tiffin Talks — featuring all-star performances, talks and dialogues, food, family-friendly activities, workshops, and visual art, featuring a wide range of local and international artists.
- 5×15 (July 7) – The festival plays host for the fifth year running to this ever-popular global speaker series, featuring five eclectic artists who will speak for fifteen minutes, unscripted, on a topic they are deeply passionate about. This year’s all-star lineup at The Imperial Vancouver includes Jarrett Martineau, Co-Founder of contemporary indigenous music record label, Revolutions Per Minute, and prize-winning CanLit luminary, Charlotte Gill.
- Confluence (July 7) – An inspiring evening of word and music at The Imperial, bringing together Indigenous and South Asian artists such as Emmy and Juno Award-nominated music producer Adham Shaikh, interdisciplinary artist Rup Sidhu, Anishinaabe singer-songwriter Ansley Simpson, and one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation, writer and musician Leanne Simpson.
- Living Legends – a rare performance of Sanskrit theatre, performed by the Nepathya troupe (July 9) at the Chan Centre – The first time that Kutiyattam, India’s oldest surviving form of Sanskrit theatre, will be performed in Canada. This ancient art-form has remained unaltered for hundreds of years and has been declared by UNESCO as a ‘masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.’
- The Poetry of Amazement – Citra Kavra (July 12) – Hot on the heels of the July 6th premiere of the TV series adaptation of his book Sacred Games (Netflix’ first original series from India), critically acclaimed author Vikram Chandra presents a contemporary exploration of Citra Kavya, making dazzling connections between modern-day algorithms and this ancient Indian tradition of writing poetry in visual patterns.
- Yoga: To Mortify or Cultivate the Body? (July 12) – British Indologist, Sanskrit scholar and Mahant Sir James Mallinson translated Sanskrit yoga texts, epic tales and poetry to explore how the physical yoga practice has evolved from body mortification to modern-day body glorification.
- Hariprasad Chaurasia in Concert (July 14) – Presented by Nature’s Path. Undisputed maestro of the flute, Hariprasad Chaurasia, makes a rare visit to Vancouver. A living legend, he is counted among the last of the great masters of the North Indian Bamboo flute, and is best known for popularizing Indian Classical Music all over the world. He has created music with icons such as John McLaughlin and The Beatles’ George Harrison, and on July 14, is joined by French flautist, Jean-Christophe Bonnafous and classical tabla virtuoso, Subhankar Banerjee at The Orpheum Theatre.
- Songs for Scheherazade (July 15) – a spectacular outdoor performance in the stunning formal gardens of the Ismaili Centre from celebrated sitar player Mohamed Assani and one of the world’s only professional all-female orchestras, the Allegra Chamber Orchestra.
