VANCOUVER’S ANNUAL A FESTIVAL WHERE WORLDS MEET JULY 7–16, 2016 POWERED BY INDIANSUMMERFEST.CA SHOWS + EVENTS What Not to Wear 6 ISF2016 Opening Gala 8 Songs of the Desert Sufis 10 Border Crossings 11 Don’t Let Them Know 12 MANAGING DIRECTOR LAURA BYSPALKO (LEFT) WITH SIRISH RAO Seeding the Future 14 Dangerous Silences 15 Maple Leaf Islam 16 5x15 17 Tropitaal ISF2016 Closing Party 18 EVENT CALENDAR 19 Welcome from the Bharti Kher - Matter 22 Artistic Director FUSE 23 What We Hold Dear 24 Sirish Rao The Cartographer’s Tale 25 (be)longing 26 The Indian Summer Festival is really not a festival at all. I say this because the word Merchant of Images 27 ‘festival’ conjures up something temporary, perhaps even fleeting. To all of us at 2 Echo 28 Indian Summer, the festival really is a model for the kind of society we’d like to When Morning Comes 29 see. A society that is creative, diverse, inclusive and innovative. As the world builds let’s heal the divide 30 more and more walls and as societies get more suspicious and afraid of people F-Grass 31 who don’t look like them and think like them, we believe in the transformative Engagement 32 power of the arts and the festival is our way of reaffirming these beliefs. And so for ten days this July, we invite you to gather around a series of provocative FESTIVAL INFO multi-disciplinary events that feature some of the finest artists and visionaries from Artistic Director’s Letter 2 Canada, South Asia and beyond. Our programming is rigorous and quirky with Our Patrons Circle 3 an appetite for experimentation, deep thinking, and curiosity. We see artists as Partners’ Greetings 4 important voices in the larger community, allowing us to step into the worlds they create, while also addressing the pressing questions of the one we inhabit. We Join Our Circle 33 offer a model for dialogue, a possibility for an inclusive community that is unafraid List of Artists 34 of striking up conversations – both cheerful and difficult. About Us 35 Acknowledgments 37 The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Border Crossings’. Our stellar cast of artists - Accessible Indian Summer 38 from Oscar prize-winning filmmakers to emerging young writers - will be bringing the theme to life with the recognition that borders are not just geographic, but Cover image: Echo2 by Bharti Kher, reproduced with the kind permission of the artist. also linguistic, religious, racial, sexual, emotional, psychological and culinary. Indian Summer’s Border Crossings edition seeks to create space to explore these intersecting boundaries where we meet ‘the other.’ We hope the events at this year’s festival will enable you to respect and recognize the work and struggle that SFU is proud to be Founding Partner of the Indian Summer Festival are a part of many border crossings, as well as appreciate that sometimes the most incredible creativity lies at the edges of things. “Celebrating arts, culture and ideas as Canada’s community-engaged research university.” WWW.SFU.CA 2 Messages From Our Partners Thank You to Our Patrons Circle “Welcome to the 2016 Indian Summer Festival! The Government of Canada is proud to support this gathering, We are proud to be a patron-powered festival, made possible largely because which lets artists share their talent and the rich heritage of of the generosity and support of a community of individuals who share our South Asia with Canadians of all backgrounds. As Minister vision for a diverse, inclusive and culturally-rich society. We extend our heartfelt of Canadian Heritage, I thank all the organizers, artists and gratitude to this visionary group: volunteers who made this festival a success.” THE HONOURABLE MÉLANIE JOLY MINISTER OF CANADIAN HERITAGE CURATORS Ali Khan (Honorary) Renee & Monty Sikka “One of the great things about British Columbia is the variety of multicultural events that entertain, educate and inspire us LUMINARIES BENEFACTORS all. The Indian Summer Festival – its rhythms, its colours and its Rita & Pankaj Agarwal Aarti & Shawn Goyal messages – will no doubt inspire one and all.” Sandy Garossino Anuja & Praveen Varshney THE HONOURABLE CHRISTY CLARK Shahin & Asgar Virji Jessie & Jas Sandhu PREMIER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Sunita & Sukesh Kumar Hema & Haresh Bhatt Zena Henriquez Koml Kandola & Mandeep Dhaliwal Richa & Vik Khanna “The City of Vancouver is proud to support and host the 2016 Indian Summer Festival. Every year the Festival features the FAMILY FRIENDS FRIENDS finest artists and visionaries from Canada, South Asia and Ashwin Sood Anonymous beyond who inspire dialogue and global citizenship and Cynnie Woodward & Richard Ladds Carol Dey reflect Vancouver’s position as a harbour for diverse ideas and Debera Barager & David Rees David Pais cultures.” Dianna Waggoner & Michael Alexander Farida & Gulnaaz Lalji GREGOR ROBERTSON Hitesh Kothary & Andrea Hawkes Inji Islam MAYOR OF THE CITY OF VANCOUVER Ishita & Dee Hayer (Honorary) Jan Whitford & Michael Stevenson Lynn & Ashok Katey Lindsay Brown (Honorary) Michael L. Lee & Christina Yan Lee Parviz & Maheb Nathoo “As Founding Partner of the Indian Summer Festival, Simon Fraser Nisha & Sharad Khare (Honorary) Priya Anand University is delighted to welcome you to this sixth annual Nomita & Manish Bharadwaj Shishir Gopinath celebration of arts, culture and ideas. True to our mission as Payal & Kuku Batra Sudha Kshatriya Canada’s ‘engaged university,’ we are again honoured to be Ramesh Sahjpaul Vivek Savkur part of the festival and to connect with friends old and new.” Sangeeta & Kush Malhotra ANDREW PETTER Tracey & Anibal Valente PRESIDENT AND VICE CHANCELLOR, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY 3 4 PHOTO: LORENZO BRINGHELI What Not to Wear with Waris Ahluwalia Waris Ahluwalia is an internationally renowned actor, model FRIDAY and designer. He has been the face of Gap, worked with Wes Anderson, Spike Lee and Deepa Mehta, and is on the June 10 list of Vogue’s ‘10 Most Impactful People’. PRE-FESTIVAL Earlier this year, Waris was returning home to NYC from CURTAIN RAISER Mexico City, when Aeroméxico staff asked him to remove WHEN his turban. Waris pointed out that body scanners made this superfluous but the airline would not budge. Nor would they 8pm Doors at 7pm provide him with the private room he requested to take his WHERE turban off (which, he explained to them, as a Sikh he could not remove in public). He was prevented from boarding the SFU’s Goldcorp flight. Centre for the Arts “Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @ Djavad Mowafaghian aeromexico won’t let me fly with a turban.” He tweeted. Cinema, 149 West As news channels picked up on the story, rather than blow off Hastings St. some celebrity steam, Waris offered to speak to Aeroméxico TICKETS staff about religious sensitivity. His actions and his hashtag #fearisanopportunitytoeducate inspired many, and showed $25-30 grace in the face of prejudice, resulting in Aeroméxico updating their training programme. Spend an evening with an iconoclast who manages to infuse the glamorous worlds of fashion and film with an unwavering commitment to creating a more thoughtful way of living. In conversation with Waris Ahluwalia is Prem Gill, CEO of Creative BC. WARIS PREM AHLUWALIA GILL COMMUNITY PARTNER 6 Opening Gala: Culinary Border Crossings With Vikram Vij & Guest Chefs “One of the top 10 parties to look forward to!” THURSDAY – 24 HRS July 7 Glamorous guests, fine sips and delectable nibbles curated by Vikram Vij – Indian Summer Festival’s Opening Gala is one of the city’s most sought after summer parties. WHEN 7pm This year, Vikram has challenged some of Vancouver’s top chefs to cross a culinary border, in keeping with the festival’s WHERE ‘Border Crossings’ theme. From award-winning stalwarts like Roundhouse Vij’s, Café Medina, Maenam, Cactus Club and Blue Water Café to the new and hip Ancora, Bodega, Bella Gelateria and Community Centre Bob Likes Thai Food, this is a gastronome’s delight. 181 Roundhouse Mews Watch out for the lively music stage serving sonic appetizers TICKETS from party favourites Surya Brass Band and international sensations Rajasthan Josh with DJ Rup Sidhu. $95 This is no time to be shy – bring out your finest saris and handmade bowties. Your ticket includes food and a complimentary beverage. VIKRAM RAJASTHAN R U P SURYA VIJ JOSH SIDHU BRASS BAND HOSPITALITY PARTNERS 7 8 “This was music that transported the Songs of the listener, not just to the state of Rajasthan, Desert Sufis but to a state of mesmeric bliss.” Rajasthan Josh and Friends in Concert – LONDON FINANCIAL TIMES Ever since the Beatles heard the sound of Ravi Shankar’s SATURDAY sitar, and the Rolling Stones stumbled upon the master musi- cians of Morocco, there has been a growing awareness and July 9 interconnectedness between the musical traditions of east and west. Vancouver gets a taste of one of the best exam- ples of this musical conversation this summer when the Indian WHEN music sensation Rajasthan Josh takes over the Orpheum with 8pm Doors at 7pm a host of local friends. WHERE Rajasthan Josh is known for their electrifying sound, driven by rumbling Nagara drums, soulful strings and vocals that dip Orpheum Theatre into Sufi traditions from the12th century to the present day. 601 Smithe St. This unique musical collective has collaborated with a range of international artists from the Grateful Dead to Nusrat Fateh TICKETS Ali Khan, Susheela Raman to Dub Colossus. Earlier this year $35 – 85 members of Rajasthan Josh were part of a major new album Tiered Seating ‘Junun’ (arranged by Shye Ben Tzur and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood). A documentary film by the same name was di- rected by PT Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) premiered at the New York Film Festival.