Cultural Riches of Rajasthan celebrated at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2016
- Honourable Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje to inaugurate the Festival - Rajasthani Musicians Nathoo Solanki and Chugge Khan to open the Festival - Free heritage evenings to take place at Amber Fort and The Albert Hall, JLN Marg New Delhi, January 18, 2016 – The rich heritage of Rajasthan is set to come alive next week as the 9th ZEE
Jaipur Literature Festival showcases the colour and culture of its home state to over 2 lakh expected
visitors.
The annual event has been held at the Diggi Palace since it was founded in 2006, and will return next week
for the 2016 edition, which runs from 21-25 January. The Festival is completely free and open to all,
attracting visitors from all four corners of the globe.
From Hindi mystic and poet Meera Bai to Kavaad oral traditions and the wonderful regional cuisine, many
rich jewels of Rajasthani culture will be showcased during the literary sessions at ZEE Jaipur Literature
Festival 2016. Alongside Rajasthan’s top writers, its musicians and cultural heritage will also take centre
stage.
The Honourable Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje will inaugurate the event on the 21st
morning in a ceremony which includes a key note address from award winning author Margaret Atwood
and the release of Conversations at Jaipur – The Spirit of JLF the first of a series of books which brings
together some of the best sessions at JLF over the past few years.
Opening the festival will be local award winning Rajasthani musicians Nathoo Solanki and Chugge Khan
who will mark the start of five days of festivities at Diggi Palace. The morning music will be by Gaayatri
Kaundinya from USA, a Hindustani classical vocalist of the Baba Allauddin Maihar Senia Gharana
Festivities on the second morning will kick off with Indian classical and Rajasthani folk fusion artist Suman
Yadav. She will perform music from her new album Evening Serenity featuring classical devotional music.
Kick-starting the evening music programme at the Au Financiers JLF Music stage will be a headline act by
the Kutle Khan Project, a unique collective of Rajasthani folk musicians led by Kutle Khan, a multi-talented
folk musician who has performed across the world. The Music stage is presented by Rajasthan based Au
Financiers who have now grown to have over 250 branches across 10 states.
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival’s ongoing partnership with Rajasthan Tourism brings together arts and
culture with built heritage at two mesmerising evening events at the magnificent Amber Fort and the
beautiful Albert Museum, JLN Marg
Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of William Shakespeare, the play Piya Behrupiya, an adaptation of
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night will be performed at The Albert Museum, JLN Marg, Jaipur on Friday, 22nd
January at 7.30pm.
Filled with a cast of unforgettable characters, Twelfth Night/Piya Behrupiya combines cruelty with high
comedy, and the pangs of unrequited love with some of the subtlest poetry and most exquisite songs
Shakespeare ever wrote. Performed by Company Theatre, directed by Atul Kumar and presented by ZEE
Theatre and Rajasthan Tourism.
Time and the Indian Imagination is an evening of readings by celebrated playwright Girish Karnad followed
by Sufi music and poetry by Mir Mukhtiyar Ali at the Amber Fort, Jaipur on Saturday, 23rd January at
7.30pm.
Indian music has ragas associated with specific times of the day. Girish Karnad will read three scenes from
his plays associated with evening/ folklore Nagamamdala, midnight/ history Dreams of Tipu Sultan and
morning/myth The Fire and the Rain.
The evening presented by Rajasthan Tourism and the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2016 will finish with a
very special performance of Sufi Music by Mir Mukhtiyar Ali. He lives in Pugal, in a village bordering
Pakistan with Rajasthan. He belongs to the 26th generation of this community which has successfully kept
alive the oral tradition Sufiana Qalam. Mukhtiyar Ali has a voice which can only be experienced. He
pervades this very essence of Sufiana Qalam with his involvement not just in the music but also in its
poetry.
Passes to these two heritage evenings are available at the information desk at the Diggi Palace.
Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, Producer of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival said,
“Rajasthan is one of the few states in the country that have understood the importance of culture, heritage
and tourism and its impact on local economies. We are delighted to bring some of the best music, theatre
and poetry and showcase these against the backdrop of over a 1000 years of Indian architecture and
heritage.”
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For press information, please contact Edelman India:
Surbhi Sharma
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Muskaan Tandon
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About the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival
The world’s largest free festival of its kind, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival has been described as the
‘greatest literary show on Earth’. Celebrating writers from across the world, the Festival has hosted some of
the best regarded and loved names ranging from Nobel Laureates and Man Booker Prize winners to star
debuts including Amish Tripathi, Eleanor Catton, Hanif Kureishi, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Ian
McEwan, JM Coetzee, Mohammed Hanif, Oprah Winfrey, Orhan Pamuk, Pico Iyer, Salman Rushdie, Vikram
Seth and Wole Soyinka, as well as renowned Indian language writers such as Girish Karnad, Mahasweta
Devi, MT Vasudevan Nair, Uday Prakash and UR Ananthamurthy.
Writers and Festival Directors William Dalrymple and Namita Gokhale invite authors from across the globe
to take part in the five-day programme set against a backdrop of Rajasthan’s stunning cultural heritage and
the Diggi Palace in the state capital Jaipur.
Equity and democracy run through the Festival’s veins placing some of the world’s greatest minds,
humanitarians, historians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers from all walks of life
on stage together. This free and egalitarian access to these renowned thinkers and writers is a powerful
statement in a country where access to such individuals remains a privilege of few. The ZEE Jaipur
Literature Festival provides a potentially life-changing opportunity for audiences from Rajasthan, across
India and the world to learn from and exchange ideas with contemporary literary stalwarts.
The Festival is a flagship event of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts,
visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities globally, and is produced by Sanjoy K. Roy. Since
2014, JLF has spread its wings beyond the borders of India with weekend events at London’s Southbank
Centre in May and Boulder, Colorado in September.
Website: www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org
About Teamwork Arts
For over 25 years, Teamwork Arts has taken India to the world and brought the world to India.
In countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Korea, Singapore,
South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, Teamwork produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts
and literary festivals across more than 40 cities.
Teamwork produces one of the world’s largest free literary gatherings, the annual ZEE Jaipur Literature
Festival, international festivals Shared History in South Africa, Eye on India in the United States of America,
India by the Bay in Hong Kong, and many more.
Website: www.teamworkarts.com