Galaxy of literary luminaries take part in Indo-Irish art & literary fest

 

Chandigarh: The two-day long BPTA Festival-2021, a rare convergence of great Indian-Irish cultural and literary traditions, concluded on a scintillating note with a host of literary personalities and artists showcasing their talent and regaling the audience online.

“Nearly 25 artists and literary personalities from India and Ireland participated in the two-day long virtual BPTA Festival-2021. A large number of art lovers and littérateurs from two great nations joined Macèdoine, a medley! BPTA Festival-2021 which concluded on a positive note,” said Nisha Luthra, Founder Director, Macèdoine, A Medley BPTA Festival-2021.

Cauvery Madhavan  from Ireland had a live chat about books, while Dr Nita Mishra regaled the audience by reciting her poetry. There were live chats and performances by Danish Iqbal and Fauzia Dastango, Alpesh and Aniket, while there were recorded videos from Aifric Mac Aodha, Ashwathy Plackal, Kutle Khan, and Revanta.

Nisha added that the virtual festival was an amalgamation of books, poetry, theatre and arts from both the countries. A tap dance from an Irish group was also performed. A lot more happened to mark the celebrations at BPTA Festival-2021. A Bharatanatyam performance by Revantha Sarabhai, son of renowned Indian classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai was a highlight. 

Luthra said that a famous Irish writer of historical fiction Nicola Pierce's book was launched in India by Vivek Attray, a former IAS officer and motivational speaker, and Sumita Mishra, an IAS officer and poet, also recited the poems of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and WB Yeats.

Sharing more details about the festival, Nisha said that the cover of Indian author and journalist Jupinderjit Singh's English poetry book was unveiled by Emer Davis, the festival director. Fauzia Dastangi and Danish Iqbal narrated ‘Ram Gatha’ in Urdu and English.

Sharing his thoughts about the festival, Irish Ambassador Brendan Ward said that two countries share a rich cultural, literary and artistic legacy, which needs to be preserved and taken to the next level of excellence and acceptance among new generations as well. “BPTA Festival-2021 will prove a milestone in that direction,” added Ward.

Some of great Irish artists, who participated in BPTA Festival-2021 were Fióna, a poet, writer and facilitator, who has lived mainly in Ireland and India; Aswathy Plackal, originally from Kerala but works in Ireland for the last 12 years; Anne Tannam, whose first collection ‘Take This Life’ was published in 2011 by Wordon the street Publishers; Aifric Mac Aodha, the Irish-language poetry editor of Poetry Ireland Review; Nicola Pierce whose books are aimed at children and young adults; Pat Boran, and the publisher of the Dedalus Press which specializes in contemporary poetry from Ireland.

Great Indian artists, who added rare value to the festival included Kutle Khan, a famous playback singer; Latif Khan, Rajasthani folk music and Qawwali Sufi Group; Alpesh Moharir, performer, composer, mentor; Aniket, a classical guitar player from Mumbai; Sanjoy K Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across 40 cities including the world. BW