Society of Poetry and Indian Music
News & Events (Upcoming & Current)
Saudha - Sonata of Soul | Tagore and Twilight | Symphony Hall, Birmingham
From May 27, 2023 to May 27, 2023 in Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
Symhony Hall, Broad Street, B1 2EA, Birmingham
A haunting production produced by Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music to portray Tagore's philosophical take on Twilight through spoken-word performances, dance for visual interpretation of poetry and Tagore's music composition (Rabindrasangeet) as part of Sampad Arts' Mid-Day Mantra (Tagore Special).
Directed by Ahmed Kaysher, this brief but extraordinary presentation features relevant Rabindrasangeet by a talented interpreter of Bhisnupur Gharana of Indian classical Music Sanjukta Mitra, acclaimed Spoken-word artists Jon Erik Schelander, Poppy Shahnaz and award-winning Indian classical dancer Monidipa Seal.
Ticket link:
B:Music | B:Music (bmusic.co.uk)
Book Launch | A Census of Preconceptions by award-winning poet Oz Hardwick
From May 31, 2023 to May 31, 2023 in Chapel Allerton Library, Leeds.
Wednesday 31 May 2023 at 4.30pm
Chapel Allerton Library, 106 Harrogate Road, Leeds, LS7 4LZ
The book launch offers insightful talks on reading/re-reading/interpreting/re-interpreting 'a dangerously witty, uncanny masterpiece' and the book dubbed as 'a triumph of language and imagination' by an award-winning poet Oz Hardwick, where 'Hardwick explores the language's possibilities in lyric gestures that repeatedly break-free from lyric norms'. Prominent academics that include Dr Anne Caldwell and Dr Edwin Stockdale and poet Ian Duhig will talk on the book while the poet himself and performance poets Shree Ganguly, Jon Erik Schelander and a few more will read Hardwick's poems from the book.
Oz Hardwick (www.ozhardwick.co.uk) is a European poet, photographer, occasional musician, and accidental academic, who has been described as a “major proponent of the neo-surreal prose poem in Britain.” He has published “about a dozen” full collections and chapbooks, including Learning to Have Lost (Canberra: IPSI, 2018) which won the 2019 Rubery International Book Award for poetry, and most recently A Census of Preconceptions (SurVision Books, 2022). He has also edited or co-edited several anthologies, including The Valley Press Anthology of Prose Poetry (Scarborough: Valley Press, 2019) with Anne Caldwell. Oz has held residencies in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia, and has performed internationally at major festivals and intimate soirees. In 2022, he was awarded the ARC Poetry Prize for “a lifetime devotion and service to the cause of prose poetry,” though he is quick to point out that he’s not dead yet. Oz is Professor of Creative Writing at Leeds Trinity University.
Free registration:
Saudha International Literature Festival
From Jun 4, 2023 to Sep 30, 2023 in London and other cities.
The festival preaches the art and beauty of imagination, languages from different cultural heritages through talks, reading, performances.
Curated by poet Ahmed Kaysher, Saudha is bringing new literature from different languages and different cultural heritages through this unique festival happening all around the UK.
Rich Mix, London
35-47 Bethnal Grn Rd, London E1 6LA
Sunday 4 June at 4pm
This session at Rich Mix features spoken-word performances, strong literature-based music performances from medieval and pre-medieval age, Book Launches, reading by contemporary poets and its visual interpretation through different form of dances.
Registration link:
Canary Wharf Rooftop Garden
Crossrail Place,London,E14 5AB
Saturday, 17 June at 5pm
The session features spoken-word performances, reading by contemporary poets and its visual interpretation through different form of dances.
Registration link:
Leeds Trinity University
Brownberrie Lane,Horsforth,LS18 5HD
Thursday 22 June at 6pm
This session in collaboration with Leeds Trinity University and Leeds 2023 is featuring a talks on New literature New Movement by a few poets and academics, spoken-word performances, poetry-theatre and performance of medieval music based on amazingly powerful lyrics.
Registration link:
Poplar Union, London
2 Cotall Street,London,E14 6TL
Saturday 24 June at 5pm and Sunday 25 June at 4pm
this two-day session at Poplar Union (Saturday 24 June at 5pm and Sunday 25 June at 4pm) features spoken-word performances, reading by experimental poets and writers, presentations of poetry-theatre.
Registration link:
Keats House, London
10 Keats Grove,London,NW3 2RR
Saturday 1 July at 5.30pm
the session at the Keats House is featuring a talks on New literature New Movement by a few poets and academics, spoken-word performances, poetry-theatre and book-launch.
The session focuses on reading from the literature of medieval, pre-medieval and romantic age.
Registration link:
Saudha International Literature Festival | Keats House Tickets, Sat 1 Jul 2023 at 17:30 | Eventbrite
Roundhay Park | Poetry in the wood
Roundhay, Leeds LS8 2JL
Sunday 2 July at 5.30pm
This session at Roundhay Park features spoken-word performances, strong literature-based music performances from medieval and pre-medieval age, reading by contemporary poets with barbecue in the wood.
Registration link:
The House of Commons
St Margaret St,London,SW1A 0AA,GB
Tuesday 4 July at 5pm
Sponsored by Alex Sobel MP, Saudha is bringing new literature from different languages and different cultural heritages through this unique festival happening all around the UK.
The session at the House of Commons is featuring a talk on New literature New Movement by a few poets and academics, spoken-word performances, a book launch of a poetry collection by a talented Bengali poet and academic Shamim Reza.
Registration ticket link:
Nehru Centre, London
8 South Audley Street,London,W1K 1HF,GB
Thursday 13 June 2023 at 6.30pm
This session is in collaboration with The Gronthee that features reading by a few leading poets from different languages and a book launch of Independence to Freedom by Viram Jasani, a celebrated musician and an iconic preacher of Indian music in the UK featuring talks by the founder of Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page and a talented academic and historian Prof Nandini Chatterjee.
Registration link:
Oxford Poetry Library
The Community Works, 21 Park End St, Oxford OX1 1HH
Saturday 9 Septemeber at 5pm
The session in collaboration with Oxford Poetry Library and an oxford-based literary magazine La Ninf Eco, features some haunting spoken-word performances from medieval and pre-medieval manuscripts of different languages (English translation), brief poetry-theatres (theatrical presentation of poetry). reading by contemporary poets from different cultural heritage (with English translation), talks on New Literature / New Movements.
Free registration:
Saudha Bangla Music Festival
From Jun 16, 2023 to Oct 28, 2023 in London, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge.
Saudha Bangla Music Festival
Saudha Bangla Music Festival is returning for the 10th year with presentations of wide genres of Bengali music by the best of UK & abroad.
Curated by poet Ahmed Kaysher, the festival brings the evolution of exciting genres of Bengali music that originated from 730AD. Counted as 'the largest and top presentations of Bengali music outside Indian subcontinent, the festival arrays diverse genres of Bengali music from ancient Charajapada, Vaishnav, Ramprasadi, Toppa to Ponchokobi and modern experimental music in different venues around London and other cities e.g. Birmingham, Oxford, Leeds etc.
The House of Commons
St Margaret St,London,SW1A 0AA,GB
Monday 12 June at 6pm
Sponsored by Fabian Hamilton MP, the shadow minister for peace and disarmament, he session at the House of Commons (Committee Room number 9 through Cromwell Green entrance) is featuring a theatrical dance performance The World is One by an acclaimed Indian classical dancer Sohini Roychowdhury Dasgupta (India), Kristina Veselinova,( Bulgaria), Farah Daoud ( Iraq), Rishi Dasgupta (India) on acoustic guitar.
The session also presents talks and reading from the Gronthee anthology, singing from Tagore, his contemporaries and pre-Tagorian composers.
Registration:
Saudha Bangla Music Festival - House of Commons Tickets, Mon 12 Jun 2023 at 18:00 | Eventbrite
Seven Arts Centre, Leeds
31A Harrogate Road,Chapel Allerton,LS7 3PD
Friday 16 June 2023 at 6pm
The session at Seven Arts Centre features one of the leading vocalists of Indian classical vocal music of this generation Srimati Koyel Bhattacharjee touring from India, a Leeds based prominent semi-classical singer Sumana Basu with a London based talented singer and musician Amith Dey on Keyboard and an emerging maestro of Indian classical Tabla tradition Kuntal Das from India.
Registration:
Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP
Date to be confirmed
The session at Royal Albert Hall is bringing a rich tradition of Bengali medieval music and its seamless fusion with other ancient music of the world.
University of Cambridge | ADC Theatre
ADC Theatre, Park Street, Cambridge, CB5 8AS
Date to be confirmed
The session features a hypnotic presentation of pre-Tagorian tradition of Bengali music by leading interpreters those genres.
Poplar Union, London
2 Cotall Street, London, E14 6TL
Saturday 30 September at 17:30
The session at poplar Union will feature Bengali semi-classical music by a major guests artists joining from India.
Registration:
Saudha Bangla Music Festival | Poplar Union Tickets, Sat 30 Sep 2023 at 17:30 | Eventbrite
Keats House/Museum London
10 Keats Grove, London, NW3 2RR
Saturday 7 October at 17:30
The session at Keats House is bringing the reflection and poetic affinity of Keats' idea of truth and beauty in haunting presentation of Tagorian and pre-Tagorian Bengali music.
Registration:
Saudha Bangla Music Festival | Keats House Tickets, Sat 7 Oct 2023 at 17:30 | Eventbrite
University of Oxford | Simpkin Lee Theatre
Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6QA
Saturday 28 October at 5pm
The session at Simpkin Lee Theatre (Lady Margaret Hall) features a new take on Rabindranath Tagore (first non-European Nobel Laureate in Literature) and his contemporaries, presentation of splendour of their moving and universal compositions by a few leading interpreters of this captivating music as well as a special music and spoken-words production Threnody in Tagore and Troubadour directed by Ahmed Kaysher.
Registration:
Rupban|| A ballad of Bengali Oedipus
From Jul 3, 2023 to Jul 3, 2023 in University of Leeds.
Rupban| A ballad of Bengali Oedipus |Leeds University Summer Festival
Leeds University, University of Leeds,Woodhouse,LS2 9JT
Monday 3 July at 7.30pm
A rare and exotic presentation of Bengali ancient village theatre incorporating myths, fairy-tales, folk music and dazzling dance as part of Leeds University Summer Festival and Leeds University International Concert Series.
This is a re-adaptation and a new take on Bengali Jatra Pala/Opera /Rural Theatre by poet T M Ahmed Kaysher that merges captivating myths, fairy-tales, visceral folk music and dazzling dance in a stunning theatrical setting. This ancient Bengali opera tells the story of Rahim, a young boy, who is destined to be married to an older girl in order to avoid a fatal curse.
Inspired by the Greek story of Oedipus this gripping Bengali folk ballad explores the conflict between free-will and fatalism, combining traditional Western storytelling with the captivating melodies of Bengali folk music. A performance guaranteed to transport you to a rural village of Bengal, to lie beneath its traditional storytelling spot; a Banyan tree draped in hundreds of lanterns.
Directed and performed by Ahmed Kaysher, this Pala features acclaimed dancers and actors Sonia Sultana and Sohel Ahmed; poet Sarwar E Alam, Dr Jeet Ganguly, singer Jessy Barua, singer and keyboardist Amith Dey, Dhol player Fahim with a brief introduction by poet and fictionist Shree Ganguly.
Registration:
Taste of Twilight
From Jul 14, 2024 to Oct 27, 2023 in Nehru Centre, University of Leeds, Harrogate Theatre.
Taste of Twilight
Directed by Poet T M Ahmed Kaysher, Taste of Twilight was launched at Senedd, the Welsh Parliament and now touring to Nehru Centre, London, University of Leeds (as part of its international concert series on 14 October ), Harrogate Theatre (27 October), as part of its international concert series, bringing a unique philosophical interpretation of #Twilight, cries and whisper through hypnotic presentation of Raag Marwa, Multani Sebastian Bach, haunting poetry by Walt Whiteman, Sylvia Plath, Dylan Thomas, Ahmed Kaysher and Shree Ganguly; visceral painting by one of the finest Russian landscape painter Isaac Levitan.
Nehru Centre, London
8 S Audley St, London W1K 1HF
Friday 14 July at 6.30pm
One of the finest interpreters of Indian vocal music of this time in India Srimati Koyel Bhattacharya and an emerging maestro of Indian classical Tabla tradition Kuntal Das are joining to perform this session along with a group of talented musicians, spoken-word artists and dancer.
Registration:
University of Leeds | International Concert Series
University of Leeds,Woodhouse,LS2 9JT
Saturday 14 October at 5pm
Registration:
Harrogate Theatre
6 Oxford Street,Harrogate,HG1 1QF
Friday 27 October at 7pm
Registration:
Madness & Meditation Through Baul & Vaishnav Music
On Jul 16, 2023 in Victoria Park Bandstand.
Sunday 16 July from 2pm to 5pm.
RadhaRaman Society in partnership with Saudha Society of Poetry and Indian Music is brining maddening melody of Bengali Baul and Vaishnav Music as part of the concert series run by Victoria Park Friends.
Directed by poet Ahmed Kaysher, the session features one of the most exotic and ancient music of the world being performed traditionally with dazzling dance and engaging rhythm by acclaimed interpreters of Baul and Vaishnav Music.
Free Ticket Link:
Metaphysical Melodies of Ancient Minstrels
From Sep 24, 2023 to Sep 24, 2023 in Aldgate Square, London.
Aldgate Square, London
Aldgate High Street,London, EC3N 1AF
Sunday 24 September 2023 at 3pm
This is a unique and first of its kind production of ancient Indian, Persian & early European Music and poetry.
Curated and directed by poet Ahmed Kaysher, the session in collaboration with Culture team of the city of London Corporation as part of its Bartholomew Fair, features Saudha's first of its kind music and spoken-words production, an ecstasy of hypnotic melodies of Early European e.g. Troubadour, ancient Indian e.g. Vaishnav as well as Persian Sufi music followed by a Bengali village opera (Ballad) - The Story of Gallinule Hunter - Binonder Kiccha.
Registration: