WEEKLY NOTES

Rohit Bal shares stage with Kashmiri women artisans

Celebrity designer Rohit Bal showcased his collection titled “Guldastah,” with Kashmir as its theme, at the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort edition. 

   

The collection, an ode to the magnificent beauty of flowers of the Valley, has been created by rural women of Usha Silai Kashmir under the mentorship of Kashmir born Bal. 

For the show, the ramp was strewn with dry Chinar leaves, and shikaras laden with colourful flowers added a touch of Kashmir. A playlist of Kashmiri songs, which were followed by lilting Bollywood melodies, gave the show a perfect dreamy backdrop.

But the showstopper — about eight women from Kashmir who were trained by the Usha Silai team and then worked on Bal’s collection in the freezing winter — won the audience’s heart. 

In an emotional gesture, Bal let them take the centre-stage, the spotlight and the joy of a standing ovation whole-heartedly. This initiative, he said, is a step ahead for him.

“Nothing can give me more satisfaction than doing this. In fact, after doing this, I am feeling I am going to do so much more and I am confident about giving back to these people.

“I want to try to make them earn much more than they do. I am going to make sure my association with Usha Silai is a long one so I can reach out to more people as possible,” Bal told IANS.

He is proud of the “incredible talent” in what he calls “my Valley”. The designer says he goes to Kashmir often. “I just don’t go there in winter… I am not a winter person. But it’s just an hour away from Delhi, and anytime I find myself some free time, like a long weekend and I feel I want to feel lighter, I head there.

“Sometimes I go for a few days, sometimes I go for a longer time. It rejuvenates me. But it also makes me very sad… I won’t say it’s all happiness. It is depressing, but like I said, the beauty… In the calamity, the beauty is there to soothe your mind.”

Writer linguist Prof Zahoor passes away

Various cultural organisations, writers, and artists have expressed their condolence over the demise of Prof. Zahoor-ud-Din, Ex-HOD Urdu and former Registrar, University of Jammu who passed away on Saturday.

Prof Zahoor has written more than a dozen books in the genre of criticism, drama, fiction etc. He greatly enriched Urdu literature with the books like Jadeed adbi tanqeedi nazariyaat, kahani ka irtiqa and many others.

A condolence meeting by Jammu Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages was held at KL Saigal Hall here in which prominent academics, writers and artists apart from members of JKAACL service participated.

Expressing deep sorrow and shock over the great loss, speakers conveyed heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the members of the bereaved family and prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul.

Those who were present on the occasion included Ex-Director General Accounts & Treasuries, Aseer Kishtwari, former Director Doordarshan, Jammu Shabir Mujahid, Academy’s Addl. Secretary, Jammu, Dr. A. S. Amn, Associate Professor, Urdu Deptt, JU, Prof. Riyaz Ahmad, Assistant Professor, Urdu Deptt, JU, Prof. Rashid Manhas, Arsh Sehbai, Khurshid Kazmi and Amin Banihali

The condolence meet was moderated by Editor cum Cultural Officer Gojri, Dr. Shahnawaz.

Tagore National Fellowship for cultural research 2019 launched

The Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is inviting nominations/applications for the award of Fellowships and Scholarships in the scheme component of Tagore National Fellowship for Cultural Research (TNFCR) under the Scheme of Scholarship and Fellowship for Promotion of Art and Culture. 

According to the ministry statement, The Scheme is open to both Indian and foreign nationals.

The scheme has two categories of Awards—’Tagore National Fellows’ and ‘Tagore Research Scholars’. Under the first category selected candidates will be paid an honorarium of Rs. 80,000/- per month. Up to 15 awards are given in a year in this category. The selected candidates of the second category will be paid an honorarium of up to Rs. 50,000/- per month. Under this category up to 25 awards are given in a year.

Candidates may submit their application, prepared according to the prescribed guidelines of the Scheme, to any one of the Nodal Institutions of his/her choice depending upon the area of research proposed to be undertaken. The List of nodal institutions along with the other relevant details of the Scheme and application form are available on the websites of this Ministry – www.indiaculture.nic.in and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library – www.nehrumemorial.nic.in under the Scheme Head of the website.

The applications should reach the Nodal Institutions on or before 4th March 2019 (5:30 PM). Application received after the prescribed date and time will summarily be rejected. Applications should not be sent to the Ministry of Culture or Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

Kashur Studio Launched In Srinagar

With an aim to celebrate Kashmir’s rich musical heritage, Srinagar based artists launched Kashur Studio with a slogan ‘where art meets the soul’– claiming to redefine Kashmir’s folk music.

“Kashur Studio aims to feature the best of Kashmiri music by bringing together some of the finest singers, musicians and composers and giving them a stage to celebrate Kashmir’s rich musical heritage,” organizers said.

“We have seen a downfall of vital institutions– which would preserve and promote Kashmiri and other regional musical forms. Now it is a digital world and we are trying our best to spot some of the finest musicians and singers from across Kashmir,” they said.

Kashur Studio is an independent platform–based in Srinagar spotting some of the finest and young musicians. The organizers said that it has been a remarkable musical journey so far and Kashur Studio continues to dig deep into finding hidden talent and celebrating with the people across the world.

“We will try to rope in noted artists as well as young lot and give them a common platform– where they can experiment with the folk musical forms,” they said. “The first season of the of the Kashur Studio is almost ready to hit the web and we are releasing the first song in this week,” they said.

Sarhad organises Kashmir festival in Pune

Pune: Sarhad and Arham foundation organised Kashmir festival in Pune. Organisers in a statement said that a scintillating inaugural performance by the newly set up band “Gaash” comprising children from across Jammu and Kashmir, who are victims of violence and lost their close family members in attacks, marked the celebrations with their scintillating performance.

They said the band members entertained the capacity crowd present to celebrate the occasion. The first ever performance of the band received wide appreciation and those present lauded their spirit and positive approach.

Dr Shah Faesal, the topper of 2010 Civil Services batch, who recently resigned from the service was the chief guest. A special attraction was the presence of Padma Shri, P K Koul, a noted writer and art critic. Among those honoured on the occasion were senior journalist Anil Anand and film maker Mushtaq Ali Khan who is also the festival director for Sarhad’s three-day International film festival to be held later this month, the organisers said.

Traders federation Batamaloo hosts literary function

A literary function was organised at Batmaloo office of Traders Federation by Ghalib Literary Society in collaboration with Kashmir Book Promotion Trust. The function was presided over by noted Urdu poet Nazir Azad while Prof. Nasir Mirza was the chief guest. 

In his presidential  speech Nazir Azad said that young poets and writers should benefit from such events and programs. He complimented Book Promotion Trust and its chief Shabir Ahmad for lending support to such activities. A Mushaira in the memory of Mirza Galib was also part of the program. 

Speaking on the occasion Prof. Nasir Mirza said that real literature is generated in such functions which are organised by people and within people. Book Promotion Trust Chief Shabir Ahmad in his speech said that Trust was  committed to provide a viable platform to young and budding writers. He said, “it is happening  for the first time in the history of Kashmir that any traders’ body is lending active support to a literary event.” Dr. Irfan Qurish thanked Kashmir Book Promotion Trust and Batmaloo Traders Federation for their support  for the event. While paying thanks to poets, guests and other participants on behalf of Batmaloo Traders Federation, Peer Imtiyazul Hassan said that it was  a pleasant occasion for the federation to welcome  and host poets  whom Allama Iqbal had termed as eyes of society. The function and Mushaira was conducted by Zubair Qureshi.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

three × 4 =