WTM London 2010
Singing the painted stories from Bengal
[mj-google-slideshow classname=gss" feed_url="http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/106790519219379482920/albumid/5539372350917114497?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_US" width="735" height="350" scaleimages="false" fullcontrolpanel="false" pause_hover="true" display_time="3500"/] Amidst the bustle of the World Travel Market a Patachitra artist unfurls an intricate and brightly painted scroll, showing it frame by frame to the gathering audience; narrating the story it tells of the 2004 Tsunami in a soft sing song voice. Patachitra is an ancient folk art from Bengal; a form of storytelling combining art and song. The style of painting is said to be similar to the cave paintings of Mohenjodaro, Ajanta and Harappa, the painters or Patuas as…
Capturing the rythm of Brazil
When it comes to getting the feet tapping and the body swaying the African, Caribbean and South American sections of the show are the places to be, alive with the sounds of drumbeats, steel bands and pan pipes. I was keeping an eye out for a lively performance to try out the video capability of the new Samsung cameras I’m travelling with; this delightful and exuberant display of Latin dance made an ideal subject. The slow motion intro was shot at a blistering 240 frames a second with the…