Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Ashish Raje

Note that difference

Singer Rahul Deshpande and Ustad Zakir Hussain look in different directions despite wearing similar outfits at a film teaser launch at Nariman Point on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

Mumbai jam for British band

A four-piece band from London, Alexis Kings has created waves in the United Kingdom and internationally with songs spread across genres. The outfit comprising vocalist Brendan Aherne, Sam Privett on the guitar, bassist Kalyan Rogers and drummer Fabio Bocca will now be heading to Mumbai for their debut India tour.

With influences such as The Rolling Stones and Oasis, all their releases have garnered over a million Spotify streams. The gig will take place at Andheri's Hard Rock Cafe. The tour kickstarts in Bangalore and moves to Gurgaon and Hyderabad.

Lanka bound

Luna Festival happens to be one of the first music events in Sri Lanka that includes on-site camping and live gigs over two nights and two days.

Held at Thottakadu, Kalpitiya, the line-up this year includes around 40 artistes, of which three - Aarifah Rebello, Tajdar Junaid and The Many Roots Ensemble - are from Mumbai.

"This one's a festival that keeps things underground and close to nature. It's also supposed to be a really nice spot, and we are looking forward to listening to the acts from Sri Lanka. This is the first time that we are travelling abroad as a band, and that's a big thing for us in itself," Subid Khan, front man of The Many Roots Ensemble, told this diarist.

New beginnings from Bangalore

In a social media post, well-known playwright and director Abhishek Majumdar announced that he would be stepping down from his position as artistic director of the Bangalore-based Bhasha Centre for Performing Arts, leaving actor-director Vivek Madan in-charge. When this diarist reached out to him he shared that Bhasha Centre is in a wonderful new space and will be changing focus from making plays to being more of a pedagogical and curative institution.

"I am delighted that Vivek Madan will be heading it as an executive director. I will be part of the pedagogical work myself but artistically move on to directing, teaching and writing outside of a company to other groups, festivals and contexts in different languages, both in India and abroad. I am delighted at what lies ahead for the company and for myself. It's been a privilege to be an artistic director of Indian Ensemble and Bhasha Centre but it's time now for me to take on working in spaces where I have not been," he said, adding that he will soon be hosting a direction workshop with Mumbai-based Rangshila Theatre.

Log in to a protest

As images of the Delhi riots continue to flood TV screens and social media platforms, some of us can't help feeling all riled up, where we are keen to help or take a stand, but are unable to do so for various reasons, including lack of information on rallies. This helplessness is what prompted Youth Ki Awaaz founder Anshul Tewari to kickstart hindumuslimunity.com - a one-stop database of protests across India.

You can log onto the website and either list protests you want to organise, or look up the list of the ones near you. "...Anyone who wants to can organise peace rallies across the city and we can list them all in one place so anyone who wants can join.#DelhiViolence," Tewari tweeted on Monday. His tweet received a flurry of positive responses where many thanked him for putting power in the hands of people, quite literally.

Brand new pageturners

This year will see the launch of a new publishing imprint, emerged in collaboration between Simon & Schuster (S&S) India and indie publishing house Yoda Press. Two titles can be expected soon: a graphic novel on Shahid Bhagat Singh's life and a translation of the Hindi novel Bhairavi by Shivani.

The idea of the collaboration goes back a couple of years.

"We love the sensitivity and energy that drives Yoda's list and the idea was to harness our collective strengths and publish books that we both believe in," Himanjali Sankar, editorial director of S&S India, told this diarist, adding, "Yoda has prior experience in publishing graphic fiction and we loved the idea of a biography on Bhagat Singh, so it made perfect sense to make this book the first title in our joint imprint."

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