ARTS and CULTURE

Vasu Dixit, Bangalore-based music composer-vocalist-guitar player for the folk-fusion band Swarathma, has recently turned music-director with his first movie Bengaloored. The 90-minute English movie directed by Swaroop Kanchi features Kannada actors and has received good reviews both for its music and performances. From humble beginnings in 2002, Swarathma has grown to be one of the major fusion bands in the city now. After regrouping in 2006, the six-member band’s first music album, also called Swarathma, was released in 2008. Their second album was Soundpad Sessions, a project by UK Producer John Leckie, in which they were featured as one of…

A TDR notice was handed over by a BBMP employee at the gate to the Whitefield Memorial Church in May. See copy of notice given to Memorial Church. Similar notices have been given to all residences/commercial establishments along the Whitefield-Varthur main road. Exterior view of the Whitefield Memorial Church. Pic courtesy: Krupa Rajangam. Members of the Church of Church of South India (CSI) congregation and The Anglican Church of India congregation are appalled at this contemplated action of the BBMP. With respect to all Christian denominations, his Highness Wodeyar IX gifted three-quarters of an acre to build an inter-denominational church…

"Sketching is like yoga", says Smitha Shivaswamy in a very serious tone. Having been hanging around with this group of sketchers for a good part of a precious Sunday morning, I cannot but agree. I am talking about Pencil Jam, a sketching club whose members every Sunday to do what they like to do best, sketch. Sketching in progress. Pic: Srinivasulu Mallampooty. Smitha along with George Supreeth, and Prabha Mallya run an illustration firm called Pencil Sauce. They open up their Sundays to jam sessions, inviting anyone who is interested to try sketching.. They are just five sessions old, but…

Someshekar says “We want to stop this work with our generation, our children should go to school and get an education". Pic: Chetan BorayThe bamboo materials are bought from Belgaum. Pic: Chetan BorayThe bamboo stick is made into ladders, baskets of different sizes and so on. Pic: Chetan Boray‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); Around 40 families originally from Mysore, who have been weaving and selling bamboo products on the footpaths of Bangalore Gayanasamaja, KR Road for the past 28 years will now have to find another place to continue their business. BBMP has served them a notice…

On the busy Ring Road in Kuvempu Nagar (BTM Layout) near the BTM bus terminus, unnoticed by many of us, there is a small temple, dedicated to Karumariamman Amma -a well known goddess in Thiruverkadu, Tamil Nadu, now is in midst of a busy neighbourhood. Temple dedicated to Karumariamman Amma. Pic: Chetan Boray. Before the temple was built, there was an ant hill and a serpent, claim the residents of Someshwar Colony. Muniswamy, Ramchandra, Nagaraj and P Shanmugam, all residents of the area took the initiative of constructing the temple. It was completed in the year 1994. Every year, a…

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is suddenly becoming a hub of cultural activity with the ongoing adult and children’s workshops on art, and the curtain raiser for the Dhaatu Puppet Festival taking place on its premises. This activity perhaps coincides with the instating of a Director for the Bangalore NGMA, Sobha Nambisan (IAS, Retd).A small audience on May 6th had an introductory glimpse into the ongoing Puppet Festival which is being held at different venues around Bangalore from May 7th to 16th. Dhaatu is a non-profit organisation which began in 2004 with an aim to bring about awareness…

Imagine you are in a time capsule. You open the door and peer out to see the Bengaluru city, especially the Gavipuram-Gandhibazaar area at different periods in time.Circa 1540: Work going on at Kempambudhi. Kempegowdaru is building a huge lake for the settlement here which later comes to be called Kempambudhi lake. He visits the Gavi (cave) Gangadeshwara temple and prays to the lord.1900s: Basavanagudi is a spacious settlement for the pete people with huge roads and wide open spaces. A little beyond are the some villages in Gavipuram. There are a few who venture into this area. It's a…

Gavipura, once possibly a pleasant village of gentle hills, water bodies, fertile fields is one the spots where the modern city of Bangalore has evolved from. Intach Heritage walk The rare cave temple dedicated to Lord Gangadhareshwara, the Kempambudhi tank built around 1540's by Kempegowda I, the watch tower built by Kempegowda II and the adjoining historic area of Sunkenahalli refer to the genesis of a town.Later developments at Harihara gudda, dhobi ghat, wrestling schools, swimming clubs, Maratha colony, social institutions like Udayabhanu Kala Sangha, SVYAAS, Rashtrotthana Parishad, Kala Mandir, Ramakrishna Ashram and such others have contributed to make Gavipura…

On the ninth day from Ugadi, in Srinidhi Srinivasa temple in Konankunte, Lord Srinivasa was transformed into Rama. This is a special art practised by deity decorator Sridhar K S, who says "I am doing this out of my own interest for the past eight years, and I derive happiness from it". Diety decoration. Pic: Chetan Boray. Sridhar K S. Pic: Chetan Boray. Sridhar also makes special decorations for occasions such as Narasimha Jayanthi, Gokulastami, Shravana Shanivara and other festival days, when the Sreenivasa or Vishnu idol is transformed into his many avatars. He uses simple natural materials like banana…

In the mid-eighties when I used to travel on Bellary Road from Bangalore to Vijayapura, a small town about 50 kms away from Bangalore, many things were different. There used to be a huge Circle called Mekhri Circle and the metro almost ended there. There were a few residential localities like Sultanpalya, Gangenahalli and Dollars Colony along the Bellary Road but these were not congested like today and the highway to Bellary/Hyderabad began at Mekhri Circle. There were very few concrete buildings along the highway like the Kirloskar Factory, AMCO Batteries, Larsen & Turbo and a few petrol pumps. Dinshaw…