Friday,
May 14, 2004 12:11
Kolkata
carnival |
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| The
Carnival parade |
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A
group of carnival artists on the Isle of Wight travelled to India
to take Carnival back to its roots.
Raz Hussain and Jo Palmer followed the carnival team all the way to
Kolkata for a special Roots documentary. |
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Staging
a full scale carnival featuring over 1,000 dancers, drummers and other
musicians is a daunting prospect at the best of times. But doing it
half way around the world?!
The idea for the Kolkata carnival came from Ali Pretty, artistic director
of carnival arts organisation Kinetika. She held a series of 'Making
of Mass' workshops with local artists on the Isle of Wight. They are
also part of the spectacular Ryde
Carnival held on the Island each year.
Ali decided to take things on a global scale and along with seven
artists, took international carnival to Kolkata (Calcutta) on India's
east coast.
Their breathtaking procession entitled 'Din Shuru' was the first spectacle
of its kind ever staged in India.
Listen to From
Cowes to Calcutta - presented by Jo Palmer
(56k)
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| Action
from the carnival |
Din Shuru
(Bengali for 'day break') is a fusion of Bollywood and Trinidad carnival
processions which tells the the story of the Indian migration from
Kolkata for Trinidad in the 1800s.
It's the inspiration for a lot of the Trinidad-style carnivals seen
in the UK at events like the Notting Hill Carnival each summer.
The Isle of Wight artists worked morning noon and night with local
school children, choreographers, dancers, costume makers, and artists
for three extremely hectic weeks to get the show on the road.
Over 1,000 adults and children - Bengali's, Brits and even the American
High Commissioner's wife, made up the procession. Together they exploded
on to the streets of Kolkata and brought the bustling city to a standstill.
 See
the sights and colour of the Kolkata
carnival
- click through the photo gallery.
As the splendour of the procession went by with its amazing height,
movement and colour, the children in the procession wore grins from
ear to ear as they danced, jumped, hopped and grooved for three full
hours. The complete carnival circuit finished outside the famous Queen
Victoria Memorial building.
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| Carnival
participants |
Meanwhile,
hundreds of thousand of locals lined the streets and watched the fabulous
spectacle open mouthed.
They struggled to resist the urge to dance to the fusion of Soca,
Chutney Bhangra, RnB and traditional Bengali music expertly mixed
and delivered by huge sound systems transported on four flat bed trucks
in true carnival style!
We followed the Isle of Wight artists day and night, to document their
amazing journey, interviewing residents of Kolkata who felt it was
an amazing project and loved having such a beautiful spectacle in
their city.
Such was the success of the project since returning to the UK, Kinetika
has set up a Carnival in Kolkata Trust to make it an annual event
in India.
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