Mela & Symposium: What's On

There are three separate elements every day to enjoy: Mela, Symposium and Ālaap.

The schedule for the Mela and Symposium elements is below. The Ālaap - a series of one-on-one conversations between artists, curators and arts leaders - flows continually through the weekend.

Note: We’re bringing you this festival live from Birmingham, Pakistan and Bangladesh so if there are any connectivity issues, we ask that you’re patient and generous with us as we keep everything on track. The information below is correct at the time of publishing (18 March) but is subject to change – please log into the Mela & Symposium platform for the most up-to-date programme details.

 

Saturday 19 March
Mela schedule

10am: Welcome
We'll start the day with a welcome from our hosts who'll give us an overview of what we have planned

10.15am: Songs of Solitude by Mukhtar Dar 
Covid-19 does not discriminate. Affecting the rich and the poor, its impact on the latter group - the most vulnerable and those unable to access healthcare - bear the heaviest burden. This international online multi-art form collaboration, between Pakistan and Birmingham, will explore and creatively interpret the lived experiences of two families from minority communities, one in Islamabad and the other in Birmingham, who have lost loved ones to the virus during the lockdowns. 

10.40am: Break 

11.35am: Tik Talks - Kotha Kaw by Fateha Begum and Sudip Chakroborthy 
An artistic project by Fateha Begum and Sudip Chakroborthy. Reflecting different artforms and  practitioners' thoughts  on representation, visibility, and acceptance. Ariya Laker, Actor (Language: English), Asad Iqbal, Painter (Language: Bangla with English subtitles)

12pm: Break

12.30pm: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 
এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) is a performance-led participatory artwork created in Thakurgaon, Bangladesh by artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin in collaboration with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and a large ensemble of performers and musicians of the Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala  musical traditions of spiritual theatre, which is performed in open air. In Bangladesh this performance tradition is local to the Northwestern districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and the ranks of both performer and musician are open only to males. Chokra performers specialise in portraying the female characters in the repertoire and are rare. Thus, their presence in performances is highly sought after by the region’s many travelling troupes. 

এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) follows the traditional Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala forms and uses the formal structure and physical gestures to explore the personal experiences of these performers themselves. A new and experimental performative work, tracing their own stories as males who, in the generations before fast internet and social media entertainment, have played a key historical role in keeping the cultural fabric of the region knit together for both males and females of all ages. With the artistic direction of Kamruzzaman Shadhin, এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) we find a new and entirely surprising work of fluid introspection, movement, and smoothly disrupted time that retains its deep relationships with place, with people and with ancient tradition.

Performers: Hemanta Barman, Nazrul Islam (Modhu), Imon Barman, Narayan Barman, Emdadul Islam (Shonali), Dhiren Ray (Tonmoy), Nayan Barman, Shanto Barman, and. Amal Tudu.

Musicians: Ujjal Barman, Dipen Barman, Suresh Barman, Ananda Barman, Sujan Barman, Sudhir Chandra Barman, Koilash Ray, and Nipen.

Artistic Direction: Kamruzzaman Shadhin

Curation: Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Salma Jamal Moushum.

1.15pm: Reetu Sattar, Harano Sur (Lost Tune)
Lost Tune is a work that draws together many performers, each to play three notes of the seven notes of a harmonium, an instrument that has traditionally been tightly integrated into the culture of Bangladesh. The artist uses these sustained droning sounds as a way to explore the violence and social upheaval that has recently affected Bangladesh and also as a wider metaphor for issues of cultural control, Diasporas and partition. The harmonium is in danger of disappearing in Bangladesh due to much stricter interpretations of Islam and also in face of modernity in a rising country where traditions are in struggle to pass from older to newer generation. By playing a sustained note, the players signify a powerful statement that they and their traditions belong and are here to stay. Co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, the presentation is a film made by Reetu Sattar of the performance that took place at the Dhaka Art Summit 2018, which involved a physical structure, 33 musicians and 29 harmoniums with 4 Shehnais.

1.30pm: Idrish (ইদ্রিস), Director: Adam Lewis Jacob
Developed through Lewis Jacob’s research into counter culture movements and drawing on the archives of the Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre. The film weaves a complex tapestry of found materials from VHS to photographs and campaigning materials, deftly animating the aesthetics of historical resistance alongside Idrish’s personal narrative, and collapsing time and space to create an urgent montage of personal/political resistance. This is complemented by Claude Nouk’s sound design which mirrors the visual approach, looping and remixing archival sounds to add propulsive urgency to the film’s narrative.   

2pm: 1978, Director: Hamza Bangash
Pakistan, 1978. Lenny, a rockstar from the Goan-Christian community, is offered the chance to reinvent himself. With Islamic fervor gripping the nation, he must decide if he can change with the times. 

2.30pm - Sonic cartographies/Electric readings
Two collaborative projects between artists in Bangladesh and Birmingham. Diarising the experience of day-to-day life in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic through experimental electronica, phone diary and digital imagery.

3.15pm: Song of Maya 
Recording of a live performance of the new composition Song of Maya, performed in Dhaka by Musical Performers Neel Kamrul (Vocal, Flute, Percussion); Kanak Aditya (Vocal And Suktara); Mamun (Flute); Anando (Dotara); Debasis (Percussion, Vocal); Priom (Dhol).

4pm: Closing comments

4.15pm: Close

 

Saturday 19 March
Symposium schedule

10am: Welcome 
We'll start the day with a welcome from our hosts who'll give us an overview of what we have planned

10.15am: Songs of Solitude by Mukhtar Dar & Arieb Azhar
Covid-19 does not discriminate. Affecting the rich and the poor, its impact on the latter group - the most vulnerable and those unable to access healthcare - bear the heaviest burden. This international online multi-art form collaboration, between Pakistan and Birmingham, will explore and creatively interpret the lived experiences of two families from minority communities, one in Islamabad and the other in Birmingham, who have lost loved ones to the virus during the lockdowns. 

10.40am: Break 

11am: Uncertainty Principle: Artists in Conversation. With Hira Butt, Shehzad Chowdhury, Mukhtar Dar, Mahtab Hussain 
"When pandemic hit us the entire humanity went through a transformation. We all were touched by Covid 19 in some shape and form, directly and indirectly. Some of us meet ourselves for the first time. In the rat race of living life, we were closer than ever with death. Suddenly the norms around us changed and so our realities and our relationships. I feel that we all are under a shadow of collective darkness and are in need to holistic healing". – Hira Butt, Artist

Panellists: Hira Butt, Mukhtar Dar, Shehzad Chowdhury, Mahtab Hussain

12pm: Break

12.30: Artists Make Space with Tayeba Begum Lipi, Mahbubur Rahman and Abdul Shayek 
Moderated by James Tyson. Artists Make Space is a collaboration between the British Council, Tara Theatre (UK) and Britto Arts Trust (BD). The programme was initiated to mark the British Councils presence in Bangladesh and its work in providing a safe space for people to creatively engage and voice their views through a range of artistic mediums. The programme aims to nurture a new generation of Bangladesh and UK artists to connect and co-create new work together. 14 artists - 7 UK and 7 Bangladesh - will be matched to explore and experiment with different artforms and showcase their works digitally and across 3 cities in Bangladesh - Dhaka, Chittagong & Sylhet. In the UK, the resultant works will showcase in 4 cities, London, Birmingham, Leeds & Edinburgh. 

1.15pm: Reetu Sattar, Harano Sur (Lost Tune)
Lost Tune is a work that draws together many performers, each to play three notes of the seven notes of a harmonium, an instrument that has traditionally been tightly integrated into the culture of Bangladesh. The artist uses these sustained droning sounds as a way to explore the violence and social upheaval that has recently affected Bangladesh and also as a wider metaphor for issues of cultural control, Diasporas and partition. The harmonium is in danger of disappearing in Bangladesh due to much stricter interpretations of Islam and also in face of modernity in a rising country where traditions are in struggle to pass from older to newer generation. By playing a sustained note, the players signify a powerful statement that they and their traditions belong and are here to stay. Co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, the presentation is a film made by Reetu Sattar of the performance that took place at the Dhaka Art Summit 2018, which involved a physical structure, 33 musicians and 29 harmoniums with 4 Shehnais.

1.30pm: Critical Formations - Artists En/Counter with Farida Batool, Faisal Hussain and Reetu Sattar 
Moderated by Masuma Halai Khwaja. A panel discussion between artists engaging actively with the public, often through art performances, installations and interventions in public places. Speakers: Faisal Hussain, Reetu Sattar and Farida Batool

2.30pm: Field recordings by Daniyal Ahmed
30 mins, Pakistan

3pm: Music In Dialogue: The Story of Maya – Lecture Performance
In 2019, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group hosted the inaugural Music in Dialogue exchange in partnership with Transforming Narratives. We welcomed musicians from Bangladesh and Pakistan to join us for learning activity with schools from across Birmingham, as well as performances at CBSO Centre and University of Birmingham. We performed Adámek’s Karakuri and improvisations, between BCMG musicians and our guests.  Who would’ve thought Ondřej’s meeting with Bangladeshi multi-instrumentalist Neel Kamrul would form the cornerstone of the composer’s new Sound Investment piece? Often, the most furtive creative moments are born of coincidence.  Adámek’s piece for Neel Kamrul will be a celebration of music as a universal language; a language we all speak and with which we can all communicate. In this lecture performance, we ask how do composer and soloist, seemingly worlds apart, find a common musical language?

4pm: Closing comments

4.15pm: Close

Saturday 19 March
Alaap conversations 

• Khadhija Hussain & Waleed Zafar
• Waleed Zafar & Musurut Dar
• Musurat Dar & Sadia Rahman
• Sadia Rahman & Fateha Begum
• Fateha Begum & Ahsan Bari
• Ahsan Bari & Hira Butt
• Hira Butt & Sana Noor
• Sana Noor & Rezwan Shahriar Sumit
• Shehzad Chowdury & Shama Askari
• Shama Askari & Laila Jamil

Sunday 20 March
Mela schedule

10am: Welcome 
We'll start the day with a welcome from our hosts who'll give us an overview of what we have planned

10.15am: Dear... Kindest by Shehzad Chowdhury and Mahtab Hussain
Dear... Kindest... is the crystallization of Hussain's and Chowdhury's collaborative research. A two channel HD Video Installation marking a turning point for both artists, no longer behind the lens but in front. Performing powerful monologues and working processes to cultural and colonial questions relating to their personal experience of home, belonging, identity, opening up to wider questions around human relationships and collective trauma.

11am: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 2
এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) is a performance-led participatory artwork created in Thakurgaon, Bangladesh by artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin in collaboration with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and a large ensemble of performers and musicians of the Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala  musical traditions of spiritual theatre, which is performed in open air. In Bangladesh this performance tradition is local to the Northwestern districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and the ranks of both performer and musician are open only to males. Chokra performers specialise in portraying the female characters in the repertoire and are rare. Thus, their presence in performances is highly sought after by the region’s many travelling troupes. 

এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) follows the traditional Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala forms and uses the formal structure and physical gestures to explore the personal experiences of these performers themselves. A new and experimental performative work, tracing their own stories as males who, in the generations before fast internet and social media entertainment, have played a key historical role in keeping the cultural fabric of the region knit together for both males and females of all ages. With the artistic direction of Kamruzzaman Shadhin, এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) we find a new and entirely surprising work of fluid introspection, movement, and smoothly disrupted time that retains its deep relationships with place, with people and with ancient tradition.

Performers: Hemanta Barman, Nazrul Islam (Modhu), Imon Barman, Narayan Barman, Emdadul Islam (Shonali), Dhiren Ray (Tonmoy), Nayan Barman, Shanto Barman, and. Amal Tudu.

Musicians: Ujjal Barman, Dipen Barman, Suresh Barman, Ananda Barman, Sujan Barman, Sudhir Chandra Barman, Koilash Ray, and Nipen.

Artistic Direction: Kamruzzaman Shadhin

Curation: Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Salma Jamal Moushum.

11.15am: Dear... Kindest by Shehzad Chowdhury and Mahtab Hussain
Dear... Kindest... is the crystallization of Hussain's and Chowdhury's collaborative research. A two channel HD Video Installation marking a turning point for both artists, no longer behind the lens but in front. Performing powerful monologues and working processes to cultural and colonial questions relating to their personal experience of home, belonging, identity, opening up to wider questions around human relationships and collective trauma.

12pm: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 1
এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) is a performance-led participatory artwork created in Thakurgaon, Bangladesh by artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin in collaboration with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and a large ensemble of performers and musicians of the Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala  musical traditions of spiritual theatre, which is performed in open air. In Bangladesh this performance tradition is local to the Northwestern districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and the ranks of both performer and musician are open only to males. Chokra performers specialise in portraying the female characters in the repertoire and are rare. Thus, their presence in performances is highly sought after by the region’s many travelling troupes. 

এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) follows the traditional Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala forms and uses the formal structure and physical gestures to explore the personal experiences of these performers themselves. A new and experimental performative work, tracing their own stories as males who, in the generations before fast internet and social media entertainment, have played a key historical role in keeping the cultural fabric of the region knit together for both males and females of all ages. With the artistic direction of Kamruzzaman Shadhin, এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) we find a new and entirely surprising work of fluid introspection, movement, and smoothly disrupted time that retains its deep relationships with place, with people and with ancient tradition.

Performers: Hemanta Barman, Nazrul Islam (Modhu), Imon Barman, Narayan Barman, Emdadul Islam (Shonali), Dhiren Ray (Tonmoy), Nayan Barman, Shanto Barman, and. Amal Tudu.

Musicians: Ujjal Barman, Dipen Barman, Suresh Barman, Ananda Barman, Sujan Barman, Sudhir Chandra Barman, Koilash Ray, and Nipen.

Artistic Direction: Kamruzzaman Shadhin

Curation: Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Salma Jamal Moushum.

12.15pm: Tales of a Walk by Half Moon Collective
Tales of a Walk, by Half Moon Collective In 2020, this virtual explored how artists can reach and connect with audiences from distant places without actually being there. Exploring the notion that we are all in the same sphere. Artists: Dr. Shayekh Mohammad Arif (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Makbul Chowdhury (Birmingham, UK), Syed Waseem Haider (Lahore, Pakistan), Nuzhat Tabassum (Dhaka, Bangladesh) and Ajibor Rahman (Gazipur, Bangladesh).

1.30pm: A Sunset in Shadi Kaur with Ustad Noor Bakhsh - Set 1 Field Recordings by Daniyal Ahmed
This is a selection of recordings of Ustad Noor Bakhsh and his group that were done over the course of one sunset in a quiet spot near his village. Ustad Noor Bakhsh, from Balochistan is a maestro of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither). The instrument, once a Japanese children’s toy called the taishōkoto was adopted by Balochi musicians  and made into the refined folk instrument that it is today. Noor Bakhsh plays the electric Benju, getting his sound through a pickup and an old Phillips amp he bought from Karachi two decades ago. He carries forward the legacy of his teachers and inspirations such as Bilawal Belgium and Misri Khan Jamali but his own music elicits influences from various traditions and musical forms far beyond Balochistan. His virtuosic playing is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms like Zemal and Zahirlok  but enriched by his knowledge of Ragas and Talas, which he also renders in his own, experimental style.

His repertoire beyond this set, also includes Persian and Kurdish tunes that have probably floated in his land since before the modern borders of Iran and Pakistan were set up and Balochistan, divided. In one of his recent recording sessions, he even played an Arabic Ghazal on his Benju. Needless to say, he also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan. His Sindhi repertoire is particularly novel in that it reflects a beautiful conversation between the neighboring musical cultures of Sindh and Balochistan. No surprises that Noor Baksh plays several Bollywood songs too, after all, he has soaked the sounds around him like a sponge, including those of all the birds in the mountains and the jungles near his village. An original composition he recorded is completely inspired by the various bird songs he’s heard since his childhood, and he even reproduces those bird songs with his voice.

For listeners unfamiliar with Balochi music, Noor Baksh’s melodic ornamentations will be reminiscent of Ali Farka Toure’s style, and polyrhythmic sixes and eights with so much groovy innovation and improvisation will make the body move in ways very similar to the music of West as well as East Africa. This is unsurprising, given the well documented migrations and seafaring, historical, intimacies between Balochistan and Africa, via the greater Indian Ocean world. It is this world that Noor Bakhsh’s music brings back to life. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed.

2.30pm: Harano Sur (Lost Tune) Reetu Sattar, 2018, 5.1 surround sound, video, colour
Lost Tune is a work that draws together many performers, each to play three notes of the seven notes of a harmonium, an instrument that has traditionally been tightly integrated into the culture of Bangladesh. The artist uses these sustained droning sounds as a way to explore the violence and social upheaval that has recently affected Bangladesh and also as a wider metaphor for issues of cultural control, Diasporas and partition. The harmonium is in danger of disappearing in Bangladesh due to much stricter interpretations of Islam and also in face of modernity in a rising country where traditions are in struggle to pass from older to newer generation. By playing a sustained note, the players signify a powerful statement that they and their traditions belong and are here to stay. Co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, the presentation is a film made by Reetu Sattar of the performance that took place at the Dhaka Art Summit 2018, which involved a physical structure, 33 musicians and 29 harmoniums with 4 Shehnais.

2.45pm: Idrish ইদ্রিস - Director Adam Lewis Jacob
Developed through Lewis Jacob’s research into counter culture movements and drawing on the archives of the Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre. The film weaves a complex tapestry of found materials from VHS to photographs and campaigning materials, deftly animating the aesthetics of historical resistance alongside Idrish’s personal narrative, and collapsing time and space to create an urgent montage of personal/political resistance. This is complemented by Claude Nouk’s sound design which mirrors the visual approach, looping and remixing archival sounds to add propulsive urgency to the film’s narrative.   

Adam Lewis Jacob lives and works in Glasgow and Poole. Filmed in Bangladesh and Birmingham during 2020, Idrish (ইদ্রিস) is an urgent and timely reflection on the anti-deportation movement and anti-racist community action refracted through the story of veteran anti-deportation campaigner Muhammad Idrish.

3.15pm: 1978 - Director Hamza Bangash
Pakistan, 1978. Lenny, a rockstar from the Goan-Christian community, is offered the chance to reinvent himself. With Islamic fervor gripping the nation, he must decide if he can change with the times. Hamza Bangash is an award-winning Canadian-Pakistani writer & director. He is an alumnus of the Director's Lab program at the Canadian Film Centre, as well as the Locarno and Asian Filmmakers Academy. His works have been showcased in film festivals worldwide, including TIFF, Locarno, and BFI London. Bangash is currently in development on his first feature film. The project won the MPA-AFA Award at Busan 2019 and was selected for Berlinale Talent Project Market 2020. The feature film is being supported by Telefilm's 2020 Talent to Watch program & Canada Arts Council.

3.35pm: Janus Tussle: A lecture performance by Omar A Chowdhury
Based on a moving image work which lyrically explores a post-colonial history of museological intrigue with stolen art objects, the death of an ambassador and a protest movement that shut down a proposed exhibition of antiquities exchanged between Bangladesh and the West. Through the issues of ambiguous sources and interviews and imagery from neglected Bangladesh museums the performance complicates the value of cultural exchange. The context of a similar exchange in the present day between the National Museum of Bangladesh and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery frames the narrative.

4pm: Closing comments

4.15pm: Close

Sunday 20 March
Symposium schedule

10am: Welcome 
We'll start the day with a welcome from our hosts who'll give us an overview of what we have planned

10.15am: Janus Tussle: A lecture performance by Omar A Chowdhury
Based on a moving image work which lyrically explores a post-colonial history of museological intrigue with stolen art objects, the death of an ambassador and a protest movement that shut down a proposed exhibition of antiquities exchanged between Bangladesh and the West. Through the issues of ambiguous sources and interviews and imagery from neglected Bangladesh museums the performance complicates the value of cultural exchange. The context of a similar exchange in the present day between the National Museum of Bangladesh and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery frames the narrative.

10.40am: Break

10.50am: Performing, performance and social identity - Artists' Panel Discussion
A conversation on performing, performance and social identity; exploring the frictional spaces between the personal identity that we inhabit and the public identity that we perform. How the form and balance of social interaction and conversation shifts once artistic artefacts such as photography and video are made and put into circulation, for consumption and also for categorisation. Information about the participating artist's will be revealed before the event.

The session will include:

• Introduction
• Project presentation: The Fabric Under My Skin by Saba Khan, Shaheen Ahmed and Tahi Farhin Haque
• Screening: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 2 by Kamruzzaman Shadhin (Choto Balia/Dhaka) and Salma Jamal Moushum
• Open conversation

Artists: Kamruzzaman Shadhin (Choto Balia/Dhaka) and Salma Jamal Moushum (Choto Balia/Dhaka), who have made the wonderful, participatory work এ্যালহাকার কাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) speak with Saba Khan (Lahore), Shaheen K. Ahmed (Birmingham) and Tahia Farhin Haque (Dhaka), who recently initiated the intriguing and emotional The Fabric Under My Skin https://www.mappingmemory.uk 

Facilitating the conversation will be Fiha Gillani (Karachi) and Asavir Nadeem (Lahore) who have been looking at the work of Begum Rokeya (Rokeya Shakhawat Hossain), using her short story Sultana's Dream as a starting point for a new utopian imaginary.

This conversation between artists will be followed by a screening of এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 1

12pm: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 1
এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) is a performance-led participatory artwork created in Thakurgaon, Bangladesh by artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin in collaboration with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and a large ensemble of performers and musicians of the Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala  musical traditions of spiritual theatre, which is performed in open air. In Bangladesh this performance tradition is local to the Northwestern districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and the ranks of both performer and musician are open only to males. Chokra performers specialise in portraying the female characters in the repertoire and are rare. Thus, their presence in performances is highly sought after by the region’s many travelling troupes. 

এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) follows the traditional Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala forms and uses the formal structure and physical gestures to explore the personal experiences of these performers themselves. A new and experimental performative work, tracing their own stories as males who, in the generations before fast internet and social media entertainment, have played a key historical role in keeping the cultural fabric of the region knit together for both males and females of all ages. With the artistic direction of Kamruzzaman Shadhin, এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) we find a new and entirely surprising work of fluid introspection, movement, and smoothly disrupted time that retains its deep relationships with place, with people and with ancient tradition.

Performers: Hemanta Barman, Nazrul Islam (Modhu), Imon Barman, Narayan Barman, Emdadul Islam (Shonali), Dhiren Ray (Tonmoy), Nayan Barman, Shanto Barman, and. Amal Tudu.

Musicians: Ujjal Barman, Dipen Barman, Suresh Barman, Ananda Barman, Sujan Barman, Sudhir Chandra Barman, Koilash Ray, and Nipen.

Artistic Direction: Kamruzzaman Shadhin

Curation: Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Salma Jamal Moushum.

12.15: Break

12.45pm: Reflections: Transforming Narratives
A conversation between the Transforming Narratives team reflecting on the programme over the last four years.

1.30pm: Exhibition walkthrough: Zaibunnisa by Maryam Wahid
This is Maryam Wahid's first major photographic exhibition in her home city of Birmingham. Zaibunnisa, meaning the beauty of women refers to Wahid's mothers birth name prior to emigrating from Pakistan to the UK in 1982 for an arranged marriage. The photographs tell the story of Wahid and her mother's journey to Lahore in 2019, Wahid's first-ever trip to Pakistan and her mothers first visit in twenty years. The artist documented their time spent together during this journey of discovery as her mother reconnected with old friends and family. They spent time exploring her family home, where Wahid reimagined what her life could have been, had she lived there. The artist felt a deep, spiritual connection to the house and particularly to her maternal family whom she never met. The work addresses themes of loss, memory, displacement, identity and migration whilst importantly counterbalancing a celebratory future and the positive married life that the artist's parents made for themselves in Birmingham. Film made by Ben Crawford; Photographs and footage from Maryam Wahid; Additional camerawork by Elijah Phillips; Produced by Midlands Arts Centre (mac) Produced by Midlands Arts Centre (mac)

1.50: Break

2.30pm: A Sunset in Shadi Kaur with Ustad Noor Bakhsh - Set 1 Field Recordings by Daniyal Ahmed
This is a selection of recordings of Ustad Noor Bakhsh and his group that were done over the course of one sunset in a quiet spot near his village. Ustad Noor Bakhsh, from Balochistan is a maestro of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither). The instrument, once a Japanese children’s toy called the taishōkoto was adopted by Balochi musicians  and made into the refined folk instrument that it is today. Noor Bakhsh plays the electric Benju, getting his sound through a pickup and an old Phillips amp he bought from Karachi two decades ago. He carries forward the legacy of his teachers and inspirations such as Bilawal Belgium and Misri Khan Jamali but his own music elicits influences from various traditions and musical forms far beyond Balochistan. His virtuosic playing is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms like Zemal and Zahirlok  but enriched by his knowledge of Ragas and Talas, which he also renders in his own, experimental style.

His repertoire beyond this set, also includes Persian and Kurdish tunes that have probably floated in his land since before the modern borders of Iran and Pakistan were set up and Balochistan, divided. In one of his recent recording sessions, he even played an Arabic Ghazal on his Benju. Needless to say, he also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan. His Sindhi repertoire is particularly novel in that it reflects a beautiful conversation between the neighboring musical cultures of Sindh and Balochistan. No surprises that Noor Baksh plays several Bollywood songs too, after all, he has soaked the sounds around him like a sponge, including those of all the birds in the mountains and the jungles near his village. An original composition he recorded is completely inspired by the various bird songs he’s heard since his childhood, and he even reproduces those bird songs with his voice.

For listeners unfamiliar with Balochi music, Noor Baksh’s melodic ornamentations will be reminiscent of Ali Farka Toure’s style, and polyrhythmic sixes and eights with so much groovy innovation and improvisation will make the body move in ways very similar to the music of West as well as East Africa. This is unsurprising, given the well documented migrations and seafaring, historical, intimacies between Balochistan and Africa, via the greater Indian Ocean world. It is this world that Noor Bakhsh’s music brings back to life. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed.

3pm:  Saahil ki Kahaaniyan: Artists in Conversation with Noorjehan Bilgrami, Kazi Khaleed & Sadia Salim 
Saahil ki Kahaaniyan – Stories from the Coast is a collaborative project by Karachi-based KOEL Gallery and the British Council.

Through artistic engagement, the project aims to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on the coastal areas of Pakistan, particularly its fragile Mangrove Ecosystem, with a view to promoting sustainable coastal development. It also aims to share a meaningful dialogue with local stakeholders including coastal communities, artisans, experts and researchers, highlighting their central role in the relationship between land, coast and climate change. The project has invited grant applications from Pakistan-based artists and arts organisations exploring this theme through a variety of mediums including visual and performing arts, film, music, literature, textiles, ceramics and crafts. Grantees will be selected by a panel of curators and artists working across the fields of arts and ecology from the UK and Pakistan. KOEL Gallery Director, Noorjehan Bilgrami will work with the selected artists to curate a showcase to be displayed in Karachi in August 2022.

Panellists:

Noorjehan Bilgrami: Noorjehan Bilgrami is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and educationist. She is the Principal Curator of the Pakistan Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020. She was also the curator for the Art Project at the new International Airport, Islamabad. Noorjehan is a Founder Member of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS). She was its first Executive Director, and former Chairperson, Board of Governors. Noorjehan pioneered the revival of handloom weaving, hand-block printing and the use of natural dyes through her atelier Koel, which has since spearheaded contemporary craft product design in Pakistan.

Noorjehan was awarded the Japan Foundation Fellowship to research natural indigo in Japan. She was the artist in residence at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and at the Islamic Museum of Art, Design and Culture, Shangrila, Doris Duke Foundation, Hawaii, USA. Her publications include: ‘Sindh Jo Ajrak’ and ‘The Craft Traditions of Pakistan’. Her own art practice is meditative, exploring issues of inner reflection through a vocabulary that is intensely personal while touching upon universal themes.

Kazi Khaleed Ashraf: Kazi Khaleed Ashraf (also Kazi Ashraf) is an architect, urbanist, and architectural historian and critic. He is currently the director-general of Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He graduated B.Arch from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 1983, Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1988 and earned his PhD from the Department of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania in 2002. He is currently writing a book on the Padma river.

Sadia Salim: Sadia Salim studied Design at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), Karachi, and completed Ed.M. in Art and Art Education from Columbia University, New York. She is a recipient of the coveted Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Award and Fulbright Scholarship. She has been part of conferences, residencies and exhibitions in Pakistan as well as internationally. Salim has extensive experience in teaching art and design at the undergraduate level including coordinating the Department of Ceramics at IVS (2005 - 2010). Presently she is Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Art, and also writes on art and craft for newspapers, catalogues and journals. Her current multidisciplinary art practice revolves around the notion of place and personal experiences of place as an impetus to understand, absorb and create, whereby place could be ‘Home’ or an entirely new location. The resulting work based on the narratives arising from everyday experiences often envelope larger social/political/historical concerns.

This panel will be moderated by Birmingham-based emerging curator, Sara Mia who has been a participant of TN's Cultural Leadership Programme and who has received a grant from TN this year to curate the digital exhibition, "Emergency Jaruri  জরুরী", "a digital presentation of artists work from Bangladesh focusing on the complexities of the environmental crisis". Sara's project is on twitter @EmergencyJaruri and on www.jaruri.org

4pm: Closing comments

4.15pm: Close

Sunday 20 March
Alaap conversations

• Ifra Iqbal (BD) & Shafaq Hussain (UK)
• Shafaq Hussain (UK) & Ayreen Khan (BD)
• Ayreen Khan (BD) & Sakshi Kumar (PK)
• Sakhi Kumar (PK) & Piali Ray (UK)
• Piali Ray (UK & Ifra Iqbal (BD)

 

Monday 21 March
Mela schedule

10am: Welcome
We'll start the day with a welcome from our hosts who'll give us an overview of what we have planned

10.15am:  Tik Talks - Kotha Kaw by Fateha Begum and Sudip Chakroborthy 
An artistic project by Fateha Begum and Sudip Chakroborthy. Reflecting different artforms and  practitioners' thoughts  on representation, visibility, and acceptance. Majharul Islam, Graphic Designer (Language: Bangla with subtitles), Shaiek Rana, Actor (Language: English), Abeda Begum, Costume Designer (Language: English), Zuairijah Mou - Writer (Language: Bangla with subtitles)

10.25am: Dear... Kindest by Shehzad Chowdhury and Mahtab Hussain
Dear... Kindest... is the crystallization of Hussain's and Chowdhury's collaborative research. A two channel HD Video Installation marking a turning point for both artists, no longer behind the lens but in front. Performing powerful monologues and working processes to cultural and colonial questions relating to their personal experience of home, belonging, identity, opening up to wider questions around human relationships and collective trauma.

10.40am: Janus Tussle: A lecture performance by Omar A Chowdhury
Based on a moving image work which lyrically explores a post-colonial history of museological intrigue with stolen art objects, the death of an ambassador and a protest movement that shut down a proposed exhibition of antiquities exchanged between Bangladesh and the West. Through the issues of ambiguous sources and interviews and imagery from neglected Bangladesh museums the performance complicates the value of cultural exchange. The context of a similar exchange in the present day between the National Museum of Bangladesh and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery frames the narrative.

11.05am: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 2
এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) is a performance-led participatory artwork created in Thakurgaon, Bangladesh by artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin in collaboration with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and a large ensemble of performers and musicians of the Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala  musical traditions of spiritual theatre, which is performed in open air. In Bangladesh this performance tradition is local to the Northwestern districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and the ranks of both performer and musician are open only to males. Chokra performers specialise in portraying the female characters in the repertoire and are rare. Thus, their presence in performances is highly sought after by the region’s many travelling troupes. 

এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) follows the traditional Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala forms and uses the formal structure and physical gestures to explore the personal experiences of these performers themselves. A new and experimental performative work, tracing their own stories as males who, in the generations before fast internet and social media entertainment, have played a key historical role in keeping the cultural fabric of the region knit together for both males and females of all ages. With the artistic direction of Kamruzzaman Shadhin, এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) we find a new and entirely surprising work of fluid introspection, movement, and smoothly disrupted time that retains its deep relationships with place, with people and with ancient tradition.

Performers: Hemanta Barman, Nazrul Islam (Modhu), Imon Barman, Narayan Barman, Emdadul Islam (Shonali), Dhiren Ray (Tonmoy), Nayan Barman, Shanto Barman, and. Amal Tudu.

Musicians: Ujjal Barman, Dipen Barman, Suresh Barman, Ananda Barman, Sujan Barman, Sudhir Chandra Barman, Koilash Ray, and Nipen.

Artistic Direction: Kamruzzaman Shadhin

Curation: Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Salma Jamal Moushum.

11.21am: Bhati-Scape 2: Narasunda
Narasunda is a small male river, runs by Jungle Bari village, an ancient fort town, at the entrance of Haowr region.  Narasunda as an episode of Bhati-Scape 2 which tries to explore Jungle Bari village of Kishoregonj district of Bangladesh. Recordings of different time of the day, tea stall conversation, interviews, songs, fleeting comments, sounds of different live stocks create a soundscape which flows like Narasunda,  through the daily life of the villagers and Ma’rifa way of living. Jungle Bari is amongst the regions of Bangladesh where the practices of vernacular Islam and different esoteric practices of Bengal are still being practiced amidst the centuries of religious reformation by the state power. Narasunda is the fragmented image of the Bhati region, its people, philosophy, and life. 

Narasunda is an audio episode of Bhati-Scape 2, from Baba Betar.

12pm: Break

12.15pm: Reetu Sattar, Harano Sur (Lost Tune)
Lost Tune is a work that draws together many performers, each to play three notes of the seven notes of a harmonium, an instrument that has traditionally been tightly integrated into the culture of Bangladesh. The artist uses these sustained droning sounds as a way to explore the violence and social upheaval that has recently affected Bangladesh and also as a wider metaphor for issues of cultural control, Diasporas and partition. The harmonium is in danger of disappearing in Bangladesh due to much stricter interpretations of Islam and also in face of modernity in a rising country where traditions are in struggle to pass from older to newer generation. By playing a sustained note, the players signify a powerful statement that they and their traditions belong and are here to stay. Co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, the presentation is a film made by Reetu Sattar of the performance that took place at the Dhaka Art Summit 2018, which involved a physical structure, 33 musicians and 29 harmoniums with 4 Shehnais.

12.30pm: Idrish (ইদ্রিস), Director: Adam Lewis Jacob
Developed through Lewis Jacob’s research into counter culture movements and drawing on the archives of the Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre. The film weaves a complex tapestry of found materials from VHS to photographs and campaigning materials, deftly animating the aesthetics of historical resistance alongside Idrish’s personal narrative, and collapsing time and space to create an urgent montage of personal/political resistance. This is complemented by Claude Nouk’s sound design which mirrors the visual approach, looping and remixing archival sounds to add propulsive urgency to the film’s narrative.   

1pm: 1978, Director: Hamza Bangash
Pakistan, 1978. Lenny, a rockstar from the Goan-Christian community, is offered the chance to reinvent himself. With Islamic fervor gripping the nation, he must decide if he can change with the times. 

1.20pm: Bhati-Scape 2: Mahfill - Field recordings from the Bhati region, Bangladesh 
Doolal Miyah, a devotee of Khwaza Mu'in al-Din Chishti who established the Tariqa (Order), leads a daily ritual in his precinct at Jungle Bari village. Mahfill contains his interview, Sama, Durud and three songs on 12th March 2022. Mahfill is an audio episode of Bhati-Scape 2, from Baba Betar. 

Recording and text by Arfun Ahmed 

Arfun Ahmed (b. 1985), a resident of Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a wanderer, trained in photography from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, with a versatile interest in the media of photography, visual art, literature, and sound. A student activist, illustrator for and contributor to national dailies, a teacher of the History of photography and an independent artist, Arfun believes in personal lived experiences to be his sole source of inspiration. While his creative process is driven by political thought, his expressions remain close to poetry

1.25pm: A Sunset in Shadi Kaur with Ustad Noor Bakhsh - Field Recording by Daniyal Ahmed - Set 1
This is a selection of recordings of Ustad Noor Bakhsh and his group that were done over the course of one sunset in a quiet spot near his village. Ustad Noor Bakhsh, from Balochistan is a maestro of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither). The instrument, once a Japanese children’s toy called the taishōkoto was adopted by Balochi musicians  and made into the refined folk instrument that it is today. Noor Bakhsh plays the electric Benju, getting his sound through a pickup and an old Phillips amp he bought from Karachi two decades ago. He carries forward the legacy of his teachers and inspirations such as Bilawal Belgium and Misri Khan Jamali but his own music elicits influences from various traditions and musical forms far beyond Balochistan. His virtuosic playing is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms like Zemal and Zahirlok  but enriched by his knowledge of Ragas and Talas, which he also renders in his own, experimental style. His repertoire beyond this set, also includes Persian and Kurdish tunes that have probably floated in his land since before the modern borders of Iran and Pakistan were set up and Balochistan, divided. In one of his recent recording sessions, he even played an Arabic Ghazal on his Benju. Needless to say, he also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan. His Sindhi repertoire is particularly novel in that it reflects a beautiful conversation between the neighboring musical cultures of Sindh and Balochistan. No surprises that Noor Baksh plays several Bollywood songs too, after all, he has soaked the sounds around him like a sponge, including those of all the birds in the mountains and the jungles near his village. An original composition he recorded is completely inspired by the various bird songs he’s heard since his childhood, and he even reproduces those bird songs with his voice.

For listeners unfamiliar with Balochi music, Noor Baksh’s melodic ornamentations will be reminiscent of Ali Farka Toure’s style, and polyrhythmic sixes and eights with so much groovy innovation and improvisation will make the body move in ways very similar to the music of West as well as East Africa. This is unsurprising, given the well documented migrations and seafaring, historical, intimacies between Balochistan and Africa, via the greater Indian Ocean world. It is this world that Noor Bakhsh’s music brings back to life. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed

2.50pm The Sound of Fakiri with Bhagat Bhoora Lal - Field Recordings by Daniyal Ahmed - Set 2
This is a collection of field recordings of Bhagat Bhoora Lal, a bhagti, devotional, and folk singer from Sindh, Pakistan. To the world, he is a refined singer with a vast repertoire that spans several regional languages as well as poetic and devotional traditions. To himself, he is just an ordinary Fakir.

These recordings were done at the Purano river near Bhagat’s village in Mirpurkhas. The set begins with Bhagat Bhoora Lal and his son, Ganga Ram, singing a Vai by Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai in Sur Sassui. Next, I accompany Bhagat and his Tambura with my Bansuri, for a Krishan Bhajan called ‘Bansi bajana chor de’ in which Radha implores Krishna to stop playing the flute. Next, Bhagat sings two Mirabai bhajans, one in which she rejects materialism, and the other in which she rejects marriage. This is followed by a Bhainak bhajan that speaks about the transience of life and the set ends with another Vai by Bhittai in Sur Sassui, about Sassui’s state of separation and how she begs to find her way back to Punnhu. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed

2.24pm: ‘Folk’, Fun, and the Experimental - Field Recordings by Daniyal Ahmed - Set 3
The way ‘folk’ music is represented across various mediums today often casts this music and its practitioners in a strange mould. In the process of commodifying tradition, the music is portrayed as fixed and unchanging and its practitioner’s conservative and non-experimental. This set of assorted recordings from Sindh and Balochistan tries to show otherwise.

The set kicks off with Shoukat Ali and Lutf Ali doing a 1 minute interpretation of a contemporary beat. The piece, called ‘Disco Chang’, has Lutf Ali on Chang (mouth-harp), Shoukat Ali on Rajasthani Khartal, and Javed Ali on Bhapang. Next, Shoukat Ali sings a Marwari song called ‘Morira’ with the same unorthodox instrumental set up. The third piece features the master Alghoza player Akbar Khamisu Khan playing Rano, with Shoukat Ali on Khartal. This is the first time they played together, despite knowing each other for years, and the improvisational chemistry between them elucidates the innovation and vitality of their music. Next, Ustad Noor Bakhsh plays a Balochi spin on the Sindhi Koyhari before we move on to an instrumental rendition of the Balochi song ‘Hatali Lal Go Jinakah Kitien’ with Jamadar Gohram on Suroz and Dushembe on Damboora. The set closes with the Sindhi hit number Ho Jamalo, with an extended Alaap on Alghoza by Akbar Khamiso Khan, Dholak by Irfan Soomar, and neighborhood kids dancing on the pavement in the back. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed

3.50pm: Break                                             

4pm: An update from Culture Central and Transforming Narratives
We draw the Mela & Symposium to a close, with some words on the future from Culture Central and Transforming Narratives.

4.25pm: Close

Monday 21 March
Symposium schedule

10am: Welcome
We'll start the day with a welcome from our hosts who'll give us an overview of what we have planned

10.15am: Race, Representation and Women
A panel discussion hosted by Midlands Arts Centre (mac), exploring themes from Maryam Wahid’s exhibition Zaibunnisa to mark International Women’s Day. This all-female panel includes a variety of arts professionals to discuss intersectional ideas about race and representation from a female perspective. Chaired by Nicola Shipley, Director, GRAIN Projects. Speakers: Maryam Wahid, artist; Farrah Chaudhry, writer; Dr. Deniz Sözen, University of Birmingham; Deborah Kermode, Artistic Director, mac.

12.30pm: এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) 2
এ্যালহাকার কাথা - Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) is a performance-led participatory artwork created in Thakurgaon, Bangladesh by artist Kamruzzaman Shadhin in collaboration with Gidree Bawlee Foundation of Arts and a large ensemble of performers and musicians of the Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala  musical traditions of spiritual theatre, which is performed in open air. In Bangladesh this performance tradition is local to the Northwestern districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and the ranks of both performer and musician are open only to males. Chokra performers specialise in portraying the female characters in the repertoire and are rare. Thus, their presence in performances is highly sought after by the region’s many travelling troupes. 

এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) follows the traditional Dhamer Gaan and Bishohori Pala forms and uses the formal structure and physical gestures to explore the personal experiences of these performers themselves. A new and experimental performative work, tracing their own stories as males who, in the generations before fast internet and social media entertainment, have played a key historical role in keeping the cultural fabric of the region knit together for both males and females of all ages. With the artistic direction of Kamruzzaman Shadhin, এ্যালহাকারকাথা Elhakar Katha (A Story of Now) we find a new and entirely surprising work of fluid introspection, movement, and smoothly disrupted time that retains its deep relationships with place, with people and with ancient tradition.

Performers: Hemanta Barman, Nazrul Islam (Modhu), Imon Barman, Narayan Barman, Emdadul Islam (Shonali), Dhiren Ray (Tonmoy), Nayan Barman, Shanto Barman, and. Amal Tudu.

Musicians: Ujjal Barman, Dipen Barman, Suresh Barman, Ananda Barman, Sujan Barman, Sudhir Chandra Barman, Koilash Ray, and Nipen.

Artistic Direction: Kamruzzaman Shadhin

Curation: Kamruzzaman Shadhin and Salma Jamal Moushum.

12.30pm: The Sound of Fakiri with Bhagat Bhoora Lal - Field Recordings by Daniyal Ahmed - Set 2
This is a collection of field recordings of Bhagat Bhoora Lal, a bhagti, devotional, and folk singer from Sindh, Pakistan. To the world, he is a refined singer with a vast repertoire that spans several regional languages as well as poetic and devotional traditions. To himself, he is just an ordinary Fakir. These recordings were done at the Purano river near Bhagat’s village in Mirpurkhas. The set begins with Bhagat Bhoora Lal and his son, Ganga Ram, singing a Vai by Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai in Sur Sassui. Next, I accompany Bhagat and his Tambura with my Bansuri, for a Krishan Bhajan called ‘Bansi bajana chor de’ in which Radha implores Krishna to stop playing the flute. Next, Bhagat sings two Mirabai bhajans, one in which she rejects materialism, and the other in which she rejects marriage. This is followed by a Bhainak bhajan that speaks about the transience of life and the set ends with another Vai by Bhittai in Sur Sassui, about Sassui’s state of separation and how she begs to find her way back to Punnhu. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed

1pm: ‘Folk’, Fun, and the Experimental - Field Recordings by Daniyal Ahmed - Set 3
The way ‘folk’ music is represented across various mediums today often casts this music and its practitioners in a strange mould. In the process of commodifying tradition, the music is portrayed as fixed and unchanging and its practitioner’s conservative and non-experimental. This set of assorted recordings from Sindh and Balochistan tries to show otherwise.

The set kicks off with Shoukat Ali and Lutf Ali doing a 1 minute interpretation of a contemporary beat. The piece, called ‘Disco Chang’, has Lutf Ali on Chang (mouth-harp), Shoukat Ali on Rajasthani Khartal, and Javed Ali on Bhapang. Next, Shoukat Ali sings a Marwari song called ‘Morira’ with the same unorthodox instrumental set up. The third piece features the master Alghoza player Akbar Khamisu Khan playing Rano, with Shoukat Ali on Khartal. This is the first time they played together, despite knowing each other for years, and the improvisational chemistry between them elucidates the innovation and vitality of their music. Next, Ustad Noor Bakhsh plays a Balochi spin on the Sindhi Koyhari before we move on to an instrumental rendition of the Balochi song ‘Hatali Lal Go Jinakah Kitien’ with Jamadar Gohram on Suroz and Dushembe on Damboora. The set closes with the Sindhi hit number Ho Jamalo, with an extended Alaap on Alghoza by Akbar Khamiso Khan, Dholak by Irfan Soomar, and neighborhood kids dancing on the pavement in the back. Recordings and text by Daniyal Ahmed

1.30pm: Break

1.45pm: Short film screening: Double Discrimination, by Rinkoo Barpaga (2014, UK)
Rinkoo Barpaga's thought-provoking documentary about racism in the Deaf community in the United Kingdom. Virtually screened with the permission of Rinkoo Barpaga and the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust.

2.15pm: Rinkoo Barpaga and Ali Noonari, Sign Languages
In the Deaf community, a conversation. A pre-recorded, online conversation between Rinkoo Barpaga in the United Kingdom, and Ali Noonari in Pakistan, communicated through PSL-BSL interpretation.

This film was produced by Deaf Explorer.

Deaf Explorer work in the art form areas of Combined Arts, Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance. Birmingham based, we are creative producers and creative enablers, empowering Deaf artists to access arts opportunities. Our purpose is to support talented Deaf artists to achieve their ambitions in the arts. We are project managers and connect deaf artists to hearing professionals. There is national demand for our expertise. We are Access consultants for Coventry City of Culture and Birmingham Hippodrome. During Lockdown we developed online audiences using our Facebook and youtube channel. We supported Rinkoo Barpaga to receive a Transforming Narrative Digital Commission. Artistic commissions screened on our Facebook can reach 3500 views & you tube 995 views, Rinkoo and Ali’s sharing from their Transforming Narratives commission had an audience of over 16,000 on Facebook, reaching Deaf people all over the world. www.deafexplorer.com

2.45pm: Kashmiri Arts in Birmingham

• 2.45pm: Short film screening, Hymns of the Saints: Saif-Ul-Malook. Director: Shafaq Hussain (14 mins, United Kingdom, 2022)
• 3pm: Panel discussion: Kashmiri Arts in Birmingham: Nowhere to be seen on stage, gallery, or screen

Panellists: Daalat Ali, Rani Ahmed, Shams Rehman. This panel will be moderated by Shafaq Hussain

Daalat Ali: After studying for an MA in Ethnicity and Racism at the University of Leeds, Daalat pursued a varied and exciting career including being elected as a local in Councilor in Rochdale.

Daalat has had good foundation within the public services working in local government project management roles and abroad as an interpreter and multilingual publicity officer for UNISEF and for the Government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. He has taught as a part time lecturer at the Manchester Metropolitan University since 2011. He has published a number of papers on Equality and Public Services.

His extensive voluntary activities saw the creation of the Kashmir Research and Review Centre, the Kashmir Youth Project, Rochdale and the Kashmir Broadcasting Corporation – which caters for Indo Arian languages in the UK. Daalat’s foremost interest and success has been writing a number of screen plays in Indo Arian languages as well several books in Pahari. He has produced and directed two feature films ‘Lakeer’, and ‘Mehendi Laan Da’ and is currently working on a dual language film based in England and Kashmir.

Rani Ahmed: Rani has a distinguished career in public services, working in senior roles in Local Government Authorities as Equality and Diversity Officer, Children Protection Services and Multi-Agency Working Forums. This was acknowledged by Rani receiving an award for community work by the Home Office in 2000.

Rani has contributed enormously to the arta sector in leading initiatives and projects within the community, including working with Stoke-on-Trent Potteries Museum to encourage participation. She co-founded the first ever Kashmiri Art Festival in Britain in 2017 and led on the ‘My World’ project which involved several organisations using photography and other artforms to encourage participation from deprived communities with the Sidney Nolan Trust. Rani’s own interest and expertise as a storyteller based on her own writings and work has been widely received in schools, youth groups, libraries and in many cities across England. She has co-written, designed and performed for variety of drama groups including the ‘Kaka Walait Gaya’ by The Pink Tea Theatre in Birmingham.

Rani has instigated new ground breaking projects such as drama and storytelling on Domestic Violence, Difficult conversations on relationships and breaking cultural barriers.

Shams Rehman: A linguist and published writer who has in depth academic background in acquiring qualifications in MSc Sociological Research, MA (ECON) Development Studies, MA Sociology with interest in Linguistics.

Shams is well established TV anchor within the South Asian channels streaming language programmes. Shams has built formidable reputation as TV anchor within British Kashmiri community, presented a variety of live, interactive and recorded shows including one to one in-depth biographical interviews and multiple participants debate and discussion shows with prominent personalities representing different walks of life.

As a researcher, writer and linguist Shams Rehman is a founding member of ‘Chitka’, bilingual magazine in the Pahari-Pothwari language and author of ‘Azad Kashmir and British Kashmiris’. Shams is a lifelong devotee of Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, after an introduction to his poetry during a childhood in Mirpur, where the saint’s tomb lies.

Shafaq Hussain: A youth worker and lecturer by profession, Shafaq has been involved in some innovative national projects in England including nationally recruiting and training 200 youth workers from the inner cities areas, running a local Prince's Trust Volunteers programme to target inner city and Black Minority Communities take up, Youth Cultural Exchanges of young people from Birmingham to Kashmir/Pakistan and Europe to explore cultural heritage and learn artistic skills and experiences.

The art sector has been one of his main interests and has created innovative projects including theatre in the home, a project during Covid to get the community to share their stories and improve wellbeing. He co-founded the Kashmiri Art Festival initiative, produced documentaries including the BBC local TV on the aid contribution of British Kashmiris during the earthquake in Kashmir/Pakistan. Shafaq founded The Pink Tea Theatre in Birmingham to support emerging artists to co-write, learn, design and produce community theatre. The idea is to tell people’s lived stories and create a pathway for underrepresented communities in the art sector.

Shafaq wrote, directed and produced community drama productions such ‘RUNG’, ‘Apni Yaadan’, ‘Shernee ‘Lioness’ Jan’.

4pm: An update from Culture Central and Transforming Narratives
We draw the Mela & Symposium to a close, with some words on the future from Erica Love, Director, Culture Central; Sophina Jagot, Programme Director of Transforming Narratives and James Hampson, Director UKR & External Relations, British Council.

4.25pm: Close

Monday 21 March
Alaap conversations

• Sudip Chakraborty (BD) & Sadia Rahman (BD)
• Sadia Rahman (BD) & Makbul Chowdhury (UK)
• Makbul Chowdhury (UK) & Hira Rasool (PK)
• Hira Rasool (PK) & Rachael Thomas (UK)
• Rachael Thomas (UK) & Sheikh Dina (BD)

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