National Touring Project 2003
Kolkata Carnival

21 Dec 2003 Kolkata, India

In December, a Kinetika team of UK artists,invited by The British Deputy High Commission, returned to Kolkata along with all the costumes. They worked in 8 schools in the city to create another 400 costumes. Tanusree choreographed her students at The Ananda Shankar Centre for Performing Arts, and the carnival took place on Chowringhee on 14th December. Local drumming and folk artists joined, school students and teachers, and dancers, making a procession of 850 people performing to an audience of half a million!
This was followed by a carnival conference that resulted in a Kolkata Carnival trust being formed, which is now busy setting things up for an annual Kolkata Carnival.

 

Carnival in Kolkata

Text: Chaminuka
This article is originally published in Soca News

CARNIVAL in India? For some it sounds like a joke but for those who have travelled in Asia, it may not be a surprise. There are many different processional events that happen all over India every year.

For me it was a surprise because I am aware that none of these are called carnival. Just like we have it in Afrika (Africa), a lot of the celebratory events and religious gatherings are a way of life, without a label like carnival or street arts. However, if these were brought to the west, they would be under the classification of carnival, street arts and even circus arts.

When I got invited to the first ever Indian carnival in Kolkata (Calcutta) my excitement led to the usual questions: "How, Why and Who". As it worked out, a British Carnival company 'Kinetika' was invited by the British High Commission in Kolkata to go to Kolkata with some of its artists and collaborators to set up the Kolkata Carnival using their successful Arts Council funded touring project 'Din Shuru'. Din Shuru portrays the migration of Indian sugarcane workers from Kolkata to Trinidad. Before Din Shuru was taken to India, Kinetika successfully toured it to eight UK events working with both UK and international artists.

Kolkata Carnival was part of a ten-day event programmed by the British High Commission. Besides the carnival, the UK and Kolkata Festival, witnessed a series of cultural and business events, environmental workshops, a quiz show, a film festival, a cricket match, an exhibition of photographs and a carnival conference after the Kolkata carnival.

As well as working with Bengali artists, Kinetika worked with eight schools, therefore the number of participants on the day was more than one thousand. The Asian newspapers went mad with coverage during preparation for the event, ensuring that it was well covered both nationally and locally. One of the reporters warned readers about carnival music calling it 'contagious' while others called the Din Shuru creator a goddess. With the whole of Kolkata waiting to see what the whole hype was all about, carnival took over the streets of Kolkata on 14 December to an estimated crowd of 50,000 excited people.

The heart of the city burst into a flaming riot of colours and came alive with colourful costumes, amazing stilt walkers, soca beats, live drumming dancing from the Bengali folk dancers, contemporary Bengali beats, girls in golden headgear and men in brilliant burgundy, turquoise blue, flaming red and immaculate white costumes. The spectacle of colour and festivity made some of the spectators, from 7 to 70 year-olds, join in what the local press called 'energetic celebrations'. The 1,000-strong group of merry-makers set the calm Sunday afternoon ablaze on Chowringhee.

With all that going on, one could see the links between India, the West Indies and Britain especially through the amazing costumes and two main headpieces created in collaboration with a Trinidadian Kinetika artist and local Kolkata artists. The event consolidated the relationship with the UK and also demonstrated what could be achieved when culture is allowed to explore itself through carnival and international collaborations. Having experienced the Kolkata Carnival and the welcome it received from Kolkatans, I realised that there was no threat to the other processional events that take place in the city and the rest of the country because they are mainly religious events where jumping up and wining are unheard of.

The success of 'Kolkata Carnival' has sparked demands that it be made an annual event," an official of the British Deputy High Commission told Indo-Asian News Service. The organisers are hoping for a repeat of the carnival next year with plans to involve more of the general public. This was evident in the Carnival Conference held after the carnival, which was managed by the British High Commission, Kinetika and the Arts Council England's carnival expert.

"I must say the carnival is a huge success. I truly hadn't expected a turnout as impressive as this," said Ali Pretty, Kinetika's Artistic Director. "This is a conservative city all right, but the spirit of a festival is infectious and almost the whole city joined the procession and danced. The participation of local people has to increase," the Deputy High Commission official said. "This is just the refreshing change that Kolkata needs in its image," said Tanusree Shankar, whose troupe of dancers participated in the march.