ROUND-UP

Ashibagee Eshei staged in Oslo

Oslo, last week, woke up to the grandeur of Ratan Thiyam and his famed theatre group. The entire troupe of the Chorus Repertory Theatre led by Ratan Thiyam himself staged ‘Ashibagee Eshei’ (Song of the Dead) at the international Ibsen festival 2010 last Wednesday and Thursday. With the staging of the play, Thiyam has once again done the entire Northeast and country proud as ‘Ashibagee Eshei’ was the only play to have been invited from India.

‘Ashibagee Eshei’ had been first performed at the Delhi Ibsen Festival in 2008. Following the staging of this play, the praises are yet to stop pouring in; with even The New York Times waking up to the maestro’s achievement.. The Chorus Repertory Theatre is today acknowledged throughout the world for the successful blending of Eastern and Western art forms. When contacted, Thiyam’s answer to the praise was a simple “Ibsen wrote an unlimited play”.

Girish Pradhan and the Chronicles in Guwahati

At a time when classic rock is slowly disappeared from the country’s music scene, a new star has arrived in the form of Girish Pradhan and the Chronicles. Within a very short span of time, Girish and his troupe from Gangtok has caught the fancy of rock lovers of the country, primarily on the strength of Girish’s vocal prowess and terrific chemistry between the band members, besides their skill of course. Girish had earlier performed at the Suncan International festival earlier this year and done the country proud by winning the first runners-up position. The band will be performing in the city on Sunday as part of the Rockarolla Pub Rock fest at Blues lounge. A few other bands from the city and the Northeast are also slated to perform the same day.

Film on groom kidnapping to be released soon

Antardwand, the much-hyped film on groom kidnapping, is finally up for release soon. The film has been in the news for bagging the award for Best Social Issues in the 55th National Filmfare Awards. The film also has a strong Assamese connection in the form of Kalpana Patowary who had sung the much acclaimed mujra number, Kaate na jawani hai o mora raja. Talking about the film, she said, “I am more for the voiceless girl deeply entrenched in a male dominated feudalistic society where she has nothing else to fall back on.”