The city of Newton hosted an all-day Ethnic Heritage Festival on Sunday May 8^th, the weather was not kind to Festival, and it became a mostly indoor one. That meant that all the performances from the talented groups from Uganda, China, India, Spain, Italy, Israel and more were inside the building and thus not visible to a larger population, the compensation though was the opportunity they got to present at the beautiful  Newton City War Memorial Auditorium. The front steps of the War Memorial Hall, welcoming audiences, had a wonderful mother themed temporary poetry installation by Grey Held, Artistic director with Clara Silverstein creating a lovely ambience to the festival. All the groups that presented that day were absolutely wonderful, enlivening an otherwise gloomy and rainy day with the diversity in music, costumes and dance. Calligraphic art from China, Folk Art from India, and ethnic food embellished this event attended by an enthusiastic audience.

Indian dance and music presentation

The Indian live performances opened with a Ganesh Vandana performed by very young yet accomplished students of Mouli Pal's Upasana School for Odissi dance. The children charmed the audience with their lively performance. This was followed by a Bharatanatyam presentation by students of Sunanda Narayanan's Thillai Fine Arts Academy. The dancers performed a vibrant Tillana with well-executed and coordinated movements. Next came a Rajasthani folk dance by students of Jasmine Shah's Aangikam Dance Academy. The colorful costumes and graceful movements of the group simply captivated the audience and drew a loud round of applause. The last section of the dance presentation was by the amazing MIT Bhangra Team - and this provided a resounding close to the dance section of the day's line-up.

Tiny tots from Newton's Balvihar program recited slokas and prayers to commence the musical segment. Following this was the highly impressive Newton Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble. This group of children, all residents of Newton, presented two beautiful pieces that melded both Classical Indian and Western musical traditions. They opened with "Swachtha" - a song by Sujatha Vijayaraghavan celebrating cleanliness in all aspects of our life and then performed the soulful "Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena". Next on the agenda was Guru Tara Anand's violin ensemble. The group played a lilting varnam in Raga Kuntalavarali and the popular Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma in escalating speeds, with elan. They provided a spectacular representation of the hoary Carnatic music tradition and its passionate pursuit among youngsters here. Closing the music section in a befitting manner was the Indian Rhythmic Ensemble by students of Gaurish Chandrashekhar and Rajesh Pai Kalsanka. The ensemble showcased several Indian percussion instruments including the rarely seen morsing. It was an extremely engaging presentation and it was wonderful to see the audience respond by actively maintaining the beat.

Sunanda Narayanan compered and presented the various artist groups and then handed the stage to Param Roychoudhury for Zumba inspired Bollywood dance. Param is an enthusiastic dance leader and was able to draw many members of the audience to their feet to dance Bollywood numbers with her. It was a fun culmination of the Indian live performances that afternoon.

Indian Art Projects

Two collaborative projects between Thinkfolk and the Mayor’s office of Cultural affairs in Newton were presented on Mother’s Day. Lakshmi Narayan Kadambi, who runs Thinkfolk had transposed drawings of Kalamkari  and Mithila artists on bill boards  for kids and adults to color.

The Kalamkari drawing of beautiful mythical birds and peacocks was contributed by artists who are part of Dwaraka Global, a non government organization working with rural village women artisans  to revive the Kalamkari art form and harness the capabilities and assets of the women for a means of living. Thinkfolk also exhibited some samples of Dwaraka artists work and production.

The two other bill boards, Elephants and Water scape were transposed from drawings by a renowned artist Dr. Rani Jha, from the Mithila region in Bihar, India. Rani Jha is a sensitve artist who has dedicated much of her work to issues faced by women in India. This set of playful drawings presented at the  Newton festival are  part of a collection  on mother and child called “Ma and I color”-in the Mithila style, produced in collaboration with Thinkfolk. These delightful images were available for sale as colorable greeting cards. The cards were hugely popular and the first print was sold out by the end of day - a testimony to the beauty and excellence of Dr. Jha’s work.

Stories about saris that have reached US shores and comments from wearers on how they hope to pass on their traditional saris and wearing styles was recorded at the “Journeys with your Saris” booth. Conceived on the handloom as a 3-dimensional garment, the sari is made from a single piece of unstitched fabric 5 to 12 yards in length that is wrapped, pleated, pulled and tucked around the body. The sari in India existed in many traditional forms in varied textures, fabrics and designs and until very recently you could tell from the way a lady draped her sari, which community she was from. Here in the United States, it survives as special occasion wear and young women often go to a tailor to have their pleats stitched and pinned.

On Mother’s Day in Newton several sari-wearers shared their special wearing style and audio recorded the story and journey of their own saris. Thinkfolk will continue to document stories with people who would like to share their thoughts and experiences. Contact: thinkfolk@gmail.com.

Thinkfolk hopes to connect audiences to stories of folk artists and indigenous crafts people and share their impetus to create in the present day fast changing world, explore the meaning behind their work, present excellence in craftsmanship and encourage folk artist connections and interactions with communities. The objective is to connect, share, conserve and celebrate folk artists and their creations.

Volunteers: At the festival young IAYG volunteers helped  with the coloring project by encouraging audiences to participate in the folk art coloring activity and in the craft booths run by the city on “diya” making.

Last not least, Kudos to Jeannie Smith and Linda Plaut  at the Mayor’s office of Cultural affairs Newton, for providing a venue for all communities to express with artistic freedom and for actively collaborating in the activities presented on Mother’s Day at the Ethnic Heritage Festival. This festival was part of the Festival of the Arts a three month celebration of the arts in Newton, MA.

This festival was sponsored by Newton  Community Pride and Mayors office for cultural affairs, Newton. Platinum sponsor Village Bank.

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