I saw Mother India: 21st Century Remix in 2008 and it was honestly one of the best things I saw that year. It’s been off on tour since but will be back in Birmingham on Sunday (11 April) to crown Mother India weekend – a bunch of events happening at the Town Hall and Symphony Hall.
This version of Mother India is:
A reinterpretation of the 1957 Indian cinema classic as a 45 minute silent movie with new musical score will be performed live by DJ Tigerstyle, drummer David Shaw and cellist Matt Constantine with Josh Ford as visual editor.
MI21 is a compact, powerful and sensual take on Mehboob Khan’s Hindi masterpiece – a hugely important film in South Asian cinema, known for its iconic imagery and powerful storyline: the common shorthand is to reference it as India’s ‘Gone with the wind’.
Definitely go and see it. Here – here’s the link to get tickets.
Other things happening as part of the weekend:
- Fri 9 April Arun Ghosh Sextet (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
- Fri 9 April – Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)
- Sat 10 April – Mid-day Mantra – Sanchita Pal (Symphony Hall foyer bars)
- Sat 10 April – Amaan & Ayaan Ali Khan (Mother India Weekend) (Town Hall)
The first is in association with Birmingham Jazz, the others with sampad and, in some cases, The Drum.
The Mid-day Mantra thing sounds quite good – a variant on the Rush Hour Blues series, I guess. That’ll be happening once a month from now on and will be a freebie.