Goethe Zentrum’s cultural extravaganza

Art fiesta to celebrate a decade in Hyderabad

A series of programmes were conducted by the Goethe Zentrum (German Centre) as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations. The celebrations began with a jazz concert by Tharichen’s Tentett at Park Hyatt. According to Nicolai Tharichen, the composer, “It’s jazz, but at the same time it has poems and fusion music. At times it’s like a ballad. It is being appreciated in India.”

The group performed many pieces. Michael Schiefel grabbed the audience’s attention with his vocals by imitating sounds of different instruments; while Andreas Spannagel was playing the flute; Jan Von Klewitz and Nikolaus Leistle played the saxophone; Kai Brueckner on guitar; Kai Schoenburg on drums; Peter Berns on bass; Martin Auer on trumpet and Simon Harrer on trombone. The second day followed the Helga Paris Fotografie exhibition at Salar Jung Museum.

According to Inka Schube, who wrote a book on the thirty years work of Helga Paris, “The photographs give an insight into the history of the eastern Europe during the Cold War divides. They also tell about the loss, limitation, destruction and decay around the end of the World War II.”

A talk about the facts and myths about oils and fats at the IICT auditorium by Dr RBN Prasad, chief scientist and head, Centre for Lipid Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), gave tips on how to lead a healthy life. Saskya Jain’s debut novel ‘Fire Under Ash’ was launched by Elahe Hiptoola, founder of Lamakaan and Bollywood producer, on the fourth day at the Goethe Zentrum.

On the fifth day, there was a concert titled ‘Under the Banyan Tree’. As a prelude to the concert at Hermitage Complex on Hill Fort Road, a very senior German scholar Vridhagiri Ganeshan spoke about the history of Max Mueller Bhavans in India. An announcement went around about how ‘Music was the aspiration of every art’. There were seven performers in all, Jaywant Naidu (Hawaiian guitar), Shaukat Khan (saxophone), Gafoor Khan (khartaal), Birbal Khan (dholak), Sawan Kakkeri (tabla), Pavan Kumar (rhythm) and Srikant Dhunde (painter).

The programme started with some soft notes in Bhoopali Raga by the guitarist, seated under a ‘Banyan Tree’. Out of the blue, a man in white blazer walked from the audience with a golden saxophone in his hand weaving out musical notes through the cool breeze. As he reached the stage, one could see the colours of nature being splashed on a canvas by the painter.

The Hawaiian guitar notes complemented the notes of the saxophone beautifully, while the powerful rhythm on the khartaal and dholak were weaving complicated rhythms over the tabla and rhythm pads. The musical euphoria concluded with the guitarist playing his own invention ‘Jaywant Guitar’. One could feel the seven musical notes merging with seven colours on the canvas across the Banyan tree, ultimately soaking all of us in the seven colours of life.

On the sixth day, ‘Hamburg Hall’ with photographs by Sridala Swami and Serish Nanisetti was unveiled at Goethe Zentrum. It’s a strange coincidence that both Hyderabad and Hamburg have the same telephone code 040. The seventh and eighth days were about film and theatre, where a silent film ‘Prince Achmed’ by Lotte Reiniger was screened at Park Hyatt. Students from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Uppal, performed interesting plays based on ‘Grimms Marchen’ and were trained by Udaya Bhanu Garikipati.

The students incorporated the German language in some of their songs and n integration of the two cultures through the medium of theatre could be observed. The celebrations ended with a Christmas market ‘Weihnachtsmarkt’ with shopping and entertaining music heralding the arrival of Christmas.

By:Askari Jaffer