Three days. Three creative talents

This week has been especially great in terms of introducing me to three talented creative people. I saw two of them perform at The Mumbai Literary Festival at NCPA and the third one at The Art Loft today. Let me introduce you to them one by one.

Vidya Shah



Vidya Shah is a classical and a sufi singer who gave a riveting performance on the first day of the recently concluded Literature Festival. While William Dalrymple read out some spicy and some sombre proses from his book 'The Last Mughal',Shah sang four lovely and amazing classical compositions in between to bring alive the Mughal era. I fell in love with her voice instantly. She almost stole Dalrymple’s thunder that night. She was mesmerising and had a dash of confidence in her music and a dash of shyness in accepting accolodes. It was just wonderful to have spent that one hour listening to the music and her voice. To know more about her and to listen to her voice, check out her blog here.

Mathew Sharp



A professional cellist, this British charmer presented a spectacular one man show for ‘The Finkelstein’s Castle’ on the second day of the Lit fest. For this performance, he played the cello, he sang, he played every character of the play and he charmed, ofcourse. Genius is all I can call it. I was impressed right at the beginning but then he managed to elicit more and more appreciation by each and every scene. Must check out his performance if he comes back to town again. Check out his website here: http://www.matthewsharp.net/


Iratxe Pazos



The beautiful Spanish flamenco dancer, Iratxe Pazos, that I met today at Art Loft during a beginner's workshop on Flamenco dance sweetly confessed that she moved to India because of her lover, a tall dark and handsome Indian boy (who sweetly accompanied her to this workshop and even tried a few Flamenco steps). Now Pazos wants to introduce Mumbaikars to the Spanish dance art form-Flamenco, which is a broad term for a variety of Spanish dances. She took us through various videos of different types of flamenco, origins of flamenco, its importance in the everyday lives of Spanish people and contemporary versions of the dance. She taught us a few basic steps and then went on to give an amazing and sprightly performance herself.
Incase anyone is interested in knowing more about this art form from her or want to learn, she can be contacted on:
Be Flamenco: iratxepazos@yahoo.es Phone number: 9920636690
(Picture courtesy for Flamenco Dancer: nonprints.com)