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| ARTS TRIBUNE | Friday, March 16, 2001, Chandigarh, India |
Tribute to renowned artist ART & CULTURE Crooner who holds promise
Tehelka takes all |
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Tribute to renowned artist As a befitting tribute to the great artist, late Sardar G.S. Sohan Singh, a memorial trust was formulated in his name for the preservation and presentation of the artist’s major contribution to the cultural ethos of India with particular reference to Punjab. The trust aims to set up a memorable museum in the vicinity of the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, the Golden Temple complex. The museum will put on display an array of the outstanding art works related to the history of the Harmindar Sahib (Golden Temple), in addition to the works of old masters as well as contemporary artists in an attempt to rejuvenate and revive the ancient Indian culture for the generations of today. On the forefront of the trust are the artist’s sons, Surinder Singh, Satpal Singh ‘Danish’ and Harpreet Pal Singh, who have given a concrete shape to the idea to revive the interest of the masses in the great works of artists. Lamenting the vanishing of Sikh cultural works from gurdwaras, deories, sarais, havelis, dharamshalas and akharas, the trust aims at retracing and collecting the neglected and lost bits of this heritage. This includes intricate and valuable art pieces, both historical and ancient in addition to art books, tools and the era artfolios. Their subsequent display at a visibly prominent place in the Temple would do justice to the vast panorama of the artistic works of the era. The late master artist, Sardar Sohan Singh, was renowned for the vast array of brilliant art works that were not only confined to the Sikh history, but also included the Mughal history and Hindu mythology. His collection includes the “Satyamev Jaitey of Bhagat Pralad” depicting Pralad in a devotional posture undaunted by the evil attempts of Holika to kill him. The facet of natural innocence mesmerises many as he continues in penance in complete affinity with the divine beautifully indexed by the artist. “Hemkund Visualised” in another of the artist’s tremendous spirit. Set in the lofty ice peaks of Hemkund Sahib where Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru’s in complete communion with the eternal Master. Of special attraction is the “seeming” waves of the Guru’s scarf that keeps the on rush of the evil forces at bay surrounded as the Guru is with a divine halo or the nimbus englowing the Guru. “Rendezvous of the Souls” traces the love of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, the two lovers separated by fate meet in the heaven above bathed in the golden glow of the evening. The Taj Mahal, symbol of their love, becomes a natural venue of incessant unions and reunions of souls of lovers forever. Other works of the artists include “Listening to the Woes of Kashmiri Pundits” irked as they were by the Muslim onslaught, “Punjabi Mela” depicting joyous music and dancing or the “Literacy Campaign” show and old man dabbling in the alphabet on a wooden tablet (takhti), its relevance not lost in recent times. Sardar Sohan Singh, born to Bhai Gian Singh “Naqqash”, a renowned artist in frescoes and inlay art work on the walls of the Golden Temple, after doing his apprenticeship with Sardar Hari Singh, toured with the famous Elphinston Threatrical Company and carried their plays to various townships of Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mumbai, Calcutta etc. Learning and incorporating numerous techniques of art, he later established his art studio in 1931-32 at Amritsar. He produced some rare original art creations over a period of 70 years working ardently till his last day at the ripe age of 85 in 1999 when he died. |
ART
& CULTURE Panjab University’s Art Museum has displayed city artist Prem Singh’s “Visual Voice in Ink,” a wide-ranging collection of drawings in ink. The artist has been doing this work in ink for a long time. He says, “Since my childhood I have been experimenting with this medium. Earlier it used to be a “takhti (wooden slate) that held my art, and now over the years it has been refined on a more sophisticate canvas.” Ask Prem Singh why the choice for ink and not the usual artistic artillery of paints, and he confidently answers. “The entire range of my work possesses shades and tones, and only recently I have discovered a certain texture in them. Over the years in my journey of understanding art there have been voices that I heard and wanted to express through my work. Ink to me translates these constant and consistent voices and this exhibition is an outcome of such renderings”. It is also that ink seeps in more than it displays, hence, the philosophy of this kind of art necessitates its use. As regard its thematic interpretation, the difference in the artist’s previous work and the recent display is that earlier drawings focused primarily on the head of an object and now it is the complete “body” encompassing the entire travel of the artist, starting from reminiscence of his childhood and going up to his adult life. Prem Singh explains this saying, “You might observe there are certain pictures of a little chap playing; that is me when I was small. The artist elucidates through some of his frames on the contemporary relevance of time and situations within human existence. There is always much more than what meets the eye, but the artistic comprehension by Prem Singh in this exhibition provides an articulation that only a mature and seasoned artist has. The collection is an amalgamation of nudes, abstracts, and other related art themes. The attempt of the artist to supplement his aesthetic inclinations along with his voices has been brought rather keenly in each of the displayed frames of the exhibition. The participation of ink as a mode of reflecting Prem Singh’s internal translations and conversations is indeed unique and expressive. The exhibition will remain open till March 22. |
Crooner who holds promise Punjabi pop seems to be an ever-growing field with new singers bursting on the scene regularly. The latest entrant is Madan Maddi, a stage singer based in Canada, whose album “Has Bol Ve” has been released by Tips. This graduate in mechanical engineering has been pursuing music only as a hobby. He does not belong to a musical family and has not received any formal training in the field. He is fond of traditional Punjabi folk music, but also likes to experiment. He has not made much of a mark as a crooner, but holds promise. He exudes confidence and believes that his hard work will not go waste. He has been greatly influenced by Punjabi singers Sardul Sikander and Sukhwinder Singh. Madan went with a friend to Canada for a stage performance, where his talent was appreciated and he decided to take up music as a profession. His first album, “Mohabattan”, was released in Canada in 1992 and later released in India. His second album, “Maan Na Kariye”, was released in India in 1998. This time he has come out with “Has Bol Ve”, a romantic and peppy album. The music director, Sukhshinder Shinda, has combined Punjabi folk music with western beats to come out with an impressive foot-tapping score. The video of the title track has been appearing on various television channels. Madan has also written some of the songs for this album. His personal favourite from the album is the number Tu ki chheez hai kudiye... This rising Punjabi pop star has pinned high hopes on his latest effort. |
SIGHT &
SOUND Well, nothing could have competed with the Tehelka tapes last week. To watch before our very eyes those who claim to be purer than driven snow grabbing bundles of notes and explaining helpfully to what use they would be put and to find experienced scamsters laying down the exact percentages for distribution of loot was the stuff of high drama. The whole nation lapped it up. But, as one Opposition politician put it, one is not sure with what degree of sincerity, it was also a sad moment for the nation, to find our defence security being so easily bartered away. So, apart from its entertainment value, the tapes have supplied plenty of material for the nation to introspect where exactly it is heading. And one must do credit to television for helping exposes of this
type. As the old saying goes, “seeing is believing” and this is the nearest one can get to proof positive. If this is our Watergate, television has more than played its part. And I will not single out any channel for praise because they all did their bit. Before Tehelka erupted on the screen and in spite of Balco and Bamiyan, the eyes of most Indians, as far as TV goes, were fixed on cricket and badminton last week. If our test team did not exactly cover itself with glory to begin with, and we saw the Eden Garden crowds walking out in disgust towards the end of the first day, at least Indians had reason to be proud otherwise. Two young Indians, Harbhajan Singh and Gopichand kept the flag flying in Kolkata and Birmingham and, at the time of writing, batsman VVS Laxman has demonstrated that not everyone is afraid of the big bad Australian wolf, or should one say kangaroo? I am writing this on the morning of the third day, when even Dravid has woken up. And that is where Doordarshan comes in. It did not cover itself with glory either. I got quite a few calls from irate viewers who complained that DD was back at its old game of plugging in ads after the first ball and before the last ball of the over, and completely cutting off the analytical comments of the expert commentators. In one instance Ravi Shastri said as a batsman got out: “Let’s see whether the ball hit the pads”, but that was as far as it went. Up came the ad for Pepsi Cola and we neither saw the replay nor got the verdict from the commentators. The same thing happened as we watched the badminton finals from Birmingham. The ads intruded most annoyingly. And DD seemed to think that once Gopichand had won, it was time for the instant ads to jump in and go on till the presentation. But the question which almost every viewer asked was: Why is it that only DD rides roughshod over viewers with intruding ads and Star Sports and ESPN do not? I asked DD the same question on the behalf of viewers and the answer was quite shattering. It seems it is not DD, but the company which gets the contract for the sports relays, which has control over the placement and duration of ads and DD can’t do a thing about it. A sad situation for an organisation that claims to do public service broadcasting and calls itself the national broadcaster. A sadder confession that “autonomous” Prasar Bharati cannot do its own thing. There were certainly very pleasurable sports programmes otherwise. Shedding its all-Hindi image, Aaj Tak took the plunge into English and carried one of the best sports chats I have heard in years, between Steve Waugh and Bishen Singh Bedi. Unlike DD, which dubs the voices of newscasters and interviewers on the original voices when translating, Aaj Tak wisely let the original English voices remain, carried sub-titles in Hindi and it worked. Bedi not only knows the game and its personalities inside out, but he has the same extrovert ease as Geoffrey Boycott, which made his conversation with Waugh a delight, a relaxed chat between top professionals which matched their scintillating performances on the field. TAIL-PIECE: If there are ads which annoy Sushma Swaraj, mine are on grounds of ugliness and not obscenity. In Everybody Loves Raymond, he says: “Otherwise I’ll have to hide my nose in your belly”. Horrible! And the one for pizza where the woman bites the man’s ear and he says: “Hungry kya?” and up comes the pizza. Even more horrible! |
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