Celebrate Bandra: The line-up is out!

It’s time for the biggest fest of the hippest burb to liven it up over the next two weeks, starting 12 November. The schedule for Celebrate Bandra, held once every two years, is out. And for a festival advertised as a performative and visual experience, it has a more than proportionate space for music gigs and children’s events. And there’ll be theatre, movie screenings, Marathi folk workshops, quizzes, sports, ghazals, walks, cycling, shopping, food and so forth. [caption id=“attachment_128447” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Wall art in Bandra. Anuradha Sengupta via Flickr”]  [/caption] Held for the first time in 2003, this year the festival’s theme is ‘diversity’. Over the next two weeks, the places to be at are Carter Road, Bandstand and the Bandra Fort amphitheatre. In the big line-up of music performances, there is  Soulmate from Shillong, graffiti and Hip Hop artist Akim Walta from Berlin and Peter Cat Recording Co from New Delhi/ San Francisco who the Times of India says, “create orchestral soundscapes that throw Neutral Milk Hotel and disco Bollywood in a washing machine with Cabaret Tide.” Other al fresco gigs by the sea include those by The Mavyns, inspired by ‘pre-Revolver era Beatles pop and new-Brit post-punk’, home boys and folk rock band Spud in the Box, the Mumbai-based Hindi rock band Airport, 3 Guys & a girl, Sky Rabbit, The Ungulates and almost an equal number more. Events for children — housed in the recently converted Municipal library MCubed Library — include a reading of kid lit by actor Rahul Bose, quiz, a Know Your Mumbai session, screening of an animated film, a reading by Jerry Pinto and one by children’s writer Tara Ramaseshan. There will also be glass painting and pottery workshops. Stuff to watch out for: A session on Bandra stories, one on ‘The way we used to eat’ and screenings of National Award winning film Pancham, and the 1970’s documentary Woodstock. And you can start with a  wine tasting session on the 12th and 13th. Click here, for the complete schedule.