Current Projects
Fusion 2
Now in its third year, young people from Bevois Town Primary School, Bitterne Park Juniors, Seniors and ex-pupils performed once again at the Southampton Mela.
The Ensemble performed three pieces, two of which have been specially-composed for the group by renowned musician and composer Dr Rajeeb Chakraborty.
Ensemble Leaders Paul Hart and Paul Overton worked for more than 12 weeks with over 70 young musicians aged between 7-18 and performed a lively and vibrant performance to crowds on the main stage at the 2009 Mela.
It all started back in 2007……
The Mela 2007 saw the launch of Southampton’s first Fusion Music Ensemble, featuring children from Bitterne Park Secondary School and Bevois Town Primary School.
A group of 85 young musicians performed a specially-composed piece of music on stage at the festival. The project was the result of a collaboration between Art Asia, Southampton Music Services and Creative Partnerships, Southampton and Isle of Wight.
The project ran through to its second year in 2008 and aimed to nurture the interest sparked by the 2007 Mela performance.
Fusion 2 2008 involved all of last year’s team, as well as new partners Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Mount Pleasant Junior School.
Indian musician and composer Dr. Rajeeb Chakraborty composed a piece of fusion music for students to perform at the Mela festival.
Rajeeb and musicians from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra worked with the schools and music teachers to develop the piece. Creativity and improvisation were the focal points for last year’s project.
Tabla maestro Sanju Sahai also ran tabla sessions alongside the main Ensemble rehearsals, and the sessions were aimed at keen percussionists.
There was also be an additional Bollywood dance element involved, plus links to a local Youth Music Indian singing project.
Nature’s Icons
Nature’s Icons is a spectacular arts piece on stilts, depicting the battle of Mahisha against Durga specially created for outdoor events. This project was run in partnership with Art Asia’s Southampton Mela Festival, Crawley Mela and Emergency Exit Arts (EEA) and funded by the Arts Council.
30 pupils from St Mary’s Primary School worked with Cid Shaha and Hi Ching of FIPA and River Cultures London in a series of workshops in which they were told the incredible storey of Manisha and Durga, then later learnt some traditional South Asian dances moves and hand positions. They also produced giant flowers with EEA which they used for their procession piece with 6 professional stilt artists who walked, lept and stalked their way around the Mela site with the children.
Some quotes from pupils and staff at St Mary’s -
“The big devil made about 11 children cry, it was great!”
“Loads of people were taking photos we felt like we were famous!”
”It was great for our school to be part of something so central to our local community and I was very proud of the children and staff who participated, we would not hesitate to be part of the Mela Festival again.” Stephanie Hulstrom, Teacher
Here is the storey that inspired the performance -
Mahisha, the buffalo demon, ravages the Three Worlds and the gods are powerless to stop him. They combine their qualities and strengths to create a goddess, Durga, in order to halt Mahisha’s evil control. With her four attendants (the spirits of a swan, peacock, owl and rat), Durga emerges, riding on her tiger. Her arms open and extend to their full width as her energy becomes manifest. Mahisha attacks, but Durga is unaffected. Mahisha changes his form into an elephant, then a lion and finally a young man. (In this production, each form is emblazoned on his shield.) Durga humours him until her patience is tested. With wild cries, she launches into the attack. Her long spear flies around in pursuit of Mahisha striking her target and vanquishing him.
Some Past Projects
Find Your Talent
Art Asia ran two very successful projects as part of initial taster sessions for Find Your Talent (FYT). FYT is a national government initiative that aims to give children and young people regular involvement with arts and culture. The scheme is being run in 10 pathfinder areas across England. The local region pathfinder is PUSH (Partnership for Urban South Hampshire).
Bhangra Bonanza - Southampton
Over 35 young people took part in 'bhangra bonanza' aged 5-19 years old from the Bevois Valley area of Southampton as Part of Find Your Talent PUSH (Partnership for Urban South Hampshire).
World renowned artist Gurcharan Mall (aka the King of Dhol) led the young people in a series of workshops to teach them Dhol drumming and Bhangra dancing techniques. Gurcharan taught two groups of young people (aged 5-12 and 13-18 years) the techniques of dancing and drumming as well as singing.
The young people then had the opportunity to travel to Birmingham to take part in a world record attempt. They successfully smashed the previous world record and a total of 632 drummers played the Dhol simultaneously for 12 minutes and 42 seconds on Saturday 2nd May 2009.
Older members of the group also performed at a showcase event for Find Your Talent at the Southbank Centre in London along with other projects from across England.
They then took part in Southampton's Mela Festival on Saturday 18th July 2009. Opening the event and performing in procession from the Hoglands park up to the Bargate and along the high street as well as several performances throughout the day that drew in big crowds with lots of dancers! Find Your Talent is now funding a continuation of these workshops in Southampton and PUSH is looking to roll this opportunity out to young people in Portsmouth.
Bangla Song and Dance - Portsmouth
Art Asia has worked with over 35 boys and girls aged 4-13 years old from the Bangladesh community in Portsmouth for a series of six lively workshops. Professional musician Yusuf Ali Khan of Surtaal Performing Arts, London worked with the young people to teach them folk songs in their mother tongue. The children had lots of fun learning, Yusuf bought along a harmonium and Art Asia supplied keyboards and Tabla sets for the children to accompany the songs. They also learnt a simple and hand gestures to go with each song.
Professional dancer Cid Shaha of Fipa, London came down to spend three days teaching the group traditional Bangla dance. They completed a complex dance and learnt lots of new dance steps.
The group later took part in the opening procession at the Brick Lane Baishaki Mela Festival on the 10th May 09 where the Bangladesh arts and culture is thriving. The children wore traditional costumes that Art Asia had made especially which were really bright and looked great! Parents and children took part singing along the way and even appeared on Bangla TV.
Chamberlayne Park School: Dance Values Project
Autumn 2007: Art Asia’s second Creative Partnerships project of the year went very well, with keen students and keen artists!
Students from Chamberlayne Park Secondary School worked with Vidya Thirunarayan and Mira Gokul (Sankalpam) to explore personal values through the medium of dance.
Students completed some really creative work, using Bharatanatyam Dance as a starting point. The project challenged the students and inspired them to come up with new ideas for their own choreography.
The students shared their work with local feeder schools in December, with performances of dance intertwined with presentations on the cultural context of Bharata Natyam. It was phenomenal!