Kaleidoscope Paradigm
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June 2021 ® ONON StageStagevolume 10 • issue 11 MODERN TIMES AT PreparingTHE for a NCPAdigital revolution JOHN LENNON THE LARK ASCENDING 50 years of ‘Imagine’ An enduring pastoral romance Chairman’s Note s you move from decade to decade, the saddest part is when you have to delete more from your address book than add to Ait. Natural causes are few and far between. The present terror has completely changed a large part of our mode of living. If it were not for great television, music, and our beloved books, life would have been a misery. In addition, all theatres are shut. Which is why we feel that to bring a little joy to millions of art and performing art enthusiasts, we need to move into the digital era. Our aim is to resurrect the treasures lying in our vaults, refresh them wherever possible and share the joy of reliving those great moments. This project will have an international set of technicians to aid our local staff. That’s not all. We are setting up a studio which will be used not only for editing and colour correction, but will also be fitted with professional equipment to capture both live and staged performances at a high level. The enforced absence from office has also identified the different characteristics of our colleagues, associates and all the people we deal with. Reorganisation of our office is essential. The situation allows us to reassess our artistic and management ability, and to examine our assets and liabilities, and properly conceptualise what the future should be. This is not an easy exercise and has to be done by people with vast experience, which is what we have done by strengthening our management and inducting people on our advisory committees who are experienced in these areas of operations, and bring expertise where it’s most required. Undoubtedly, it will disturb the domestic routine of many of our viewers and their families, but is there a better solution? Khushroo N. Suntook NCPA Chairman Khushroo N. Suntook Editorial Director Radhakrishnan Nair Chief Executive - PR, Marketing & Events, NCPA Pallavi Sahney Sharma Editor Snigdha Hasan Contents Consulting Editor Vipasha Aloukik Pai 18 Editorial Co-ordinator Hilda Darukhanawalla Art Director Tanvi Shah Associate Art Director Hemali Limbachiya Assistant Art Director Nandkishor Sawant Graphic Designers Gautami Dave Advertising Phiroze Shroff ([email protected]; 66223835) Anita Maria Pancras ([email protected]; 66223835) Tulsi Bavishi ([email protected]; 9833116584) Production Manager Mangesh Salvi Senior Digital Manager Features Jayesh V. Salvi Cover Credit Glasshouse Images / Alamy Stock Photo 06 12 Produced by The Digital Blueprint Requiem for a Dreamer Early on in the lockdown, the This year will mark 50 years since John Lennon’s Chairman and senior management ‘Imagine’ was released. We take a look at Editorial Office at the NCPA recognised the need what inspired him and the cyclonic drifts that 4th Floor, Todi Building, for a digital platform to take its surrounded him before and after he wrote what Mathuradas Mills Compound, vast archival treasures and newly would become a universal anthem for peace. Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013 recorded productions to members, By Vipasha Aloukik Pai patrons and a worldwide audience. Printer As the mammoth undertaking Spenta Multimedia, Peninsula Spenta, moves towards its realisation, a 16 Mathuradas Mill Compound, look at how the closed gates of the A Maestro Bows Out N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, organisation are no indicator of the With the passing of composer Vanraj Bhatia, Mumbai – 400013 hub of activity that it has been. we have lost a distinguished composer and a Materials in ON Stage®cannot be reproduced strapping personality. in part or whole without the written permission By Vipasha Aloukik Pai of the publisher. Views and opinions expressed 11 in this magazine are not necessarily those of the A Music Connoisseur Departs publisher. All rights reserved. Alan Bilgora leaves an aching 18 black void in the world of record On the Record NCPA Booking Office 2282 4567/6654 8135/6622 3724 collecting. Chairman Mr. Khushroo From records to digital audio—the journey www.ncpamumbai.com N. Suntook remembers a dear of sound from the 1920s to date has been friend and excellent host whose a fascinating one. But no matter what the record-laden home was always change in technology, music will go on and on. filled with music. By Shayonnita Mallik SHUTTERSTOCK 34 and responding to history. Its an unsurpassed literary 22 response to the horrors of the 34 archive that ran from 1972 to Birdsong for the Soul Second World War, however, Decisive Moments 1988, and featured authoritative A composition inspired by nature and was not a miscellany of plays Head of Piramal Gallery, and wide-ranging articles. This aspiring to the impulse of liberation but a movement which, Mukesh Parpiani, looks back on month, Arvind Kumar reviews the that a bird in flight represents, Ralph among other things, some of the finest exhibitions life, work and the written word Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending questioned the existence of organised between 2010 and of actor Balraj Sahni. is also a gentle love letter to the rolling God. This perspective not 2020 at the NCPA. English countryside. only lingers in modern theatre By Jehangir Batiwala but has also played a part in 42 shaping the contemporary 40 Kaleidoscope paradigm. Archives: More than a star Your window to the latest in the 25 By Kusumita Das ON Stage brings you excerpts performing arts across India and News from the SOI from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, the world. From an introductory music education programme and an all-India Western classical music 30 Follow us on: competition to students of the Performative Artistry Devotional in nature and SOI Music Academy making it to facebook.com/NCPAMumbai international conservatoires, a lot originally performed by is happening at the Symphony celibate monks, Sattriya @NCPAMumbai Orchestra of India. has evolved into a vibrant representation of the bhakti @NCPAMumbai rasa entailing an elaborate youtube.com/user/TheNCPAMumbai1 26 tradition of aharya that Absurd by Design includes costumes, jewellery Theatre has been one of the and make-up. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Please do drop us an earliest ways of recording By Anwesa Mahanta email at [email protected]. COVER STORY THE DIGITAL BLUEPRINT Early on in the lockdown, the Chairman and senior management at the NCPA recognised the need for a digital platform to take its vast archival treasures and newly recorded productions to members, patrons and a worldwide audience. As the mammoth undertaking moves towards its realisation, a look at how the closed gates of the organisation are no indicator of the hub of activity that it has been. or a performing arts centre that hosts more than 700 events every year, the pandemic cast a pall over its theatres, performances and seasons that had been scheduled much in advance, the curatorial planning for the future, the educational Fprogrammes undertaken by the genres, the finances— the very energy that gurgles through a house of culture. The lockdown and its severe impact on the oft-neglected performing arts scene in the country could have been a crippling setback. Yet the NCPA, under Chairman Mr. Khushroo N. Suntook, has been both, a haven of tranquility—in the best Tata tradition, the safety and employment of its executives and staff has been protected—and a hub of activity, wherein in the absence of live performances, the organisation has displayed agility to meet challenges. In addition to moving its operations, and educational and outreach work online, the need to create a digital platform for opening up its fine offerings in music, dance and theatre to its regular audiences and those the world over was soon recognised. “The pandemic may not bring back audiences to our theatres soon, but we needed to find a way to continue bringing our performances to them. The lockdown also further affirmed our belief that many of our shows deserved a wider audience than the SANKALPMESHRAM 6 • June 2021 NCPA NCPA June 2021 • 7 capacity of our theatres. We felt that a new path to While work is underway at full steam to create augment our visibility and income would be through a solid body of content for the digital platform, concentrating on starting a digital division as early as meticulous communication plans are being developed possible which would not only examine the treasures in simultaneously to ensure that when the platform our archives to present them online, but also organise is ready to be rolled out, the NCPA’s offerings reach new recordings of performances by great artistes on potential audiences the world over. the stages of our theatres. This means a comprehensive An obvious physical manifestation of development on review of our archive material, and where necessary, to the digital front has been the construction of an editing technically upgrade it, add introductions, and as for studio, a colour-correction studio, a sound mixing room the new recordings, a professional group well versed and a master viewing room. This post-production hub in modern techniques is now being put in place. with state-of-the-art computers and equipment will By the time things settle down in a few months, the be manned by trained editors and colour correctors. NCPA hopes to be ready to offer you an unparalleled “It is in the very final stages of being ready despite variety of performances in all its genres. This is not as the challenges of getting builders, designers and simple a shift as one thought. The transition has to be equipment on site.