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Adiverse line-up of Arab and international singers and entertainers will perform during the 12th Spring of Culture festival which runs until April in a bid to keep local and expat residents entertained as well as attract music fans from neighbouring Gulf countries.
Artistes booked include soprano trio Musica Scotto Le Stelle’s concert Music Under the Stars at La Fontaine on March 9, Chelsey Green and the Green Project Ensemble at the Cultural Hall on March 17, acclaimed Mexican guitarist Paco Renteria on April 6 also at the Cultural Hall, and English blues star Dana Gillespie on March 31 at La Fontaine.
Chart-topping reggae stars UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, Astro andMickey Virtue will take to the stage on March 31 at Bahrain Bay, as reported inlast week’s GulfWeekly.
Featured Arabic singers include Majed Al Muhandis and Waleed Al Shamion March 10 at Bahrain Bay, Palestinian artist Omar Kamal on March 17, Syrian artist Bashar Zarkan on March 20, and Mo Zowayed & Majaz Band on March 18 at Bahrain Bay.
Audiences will also be treated to a ‘unique audio experience’ featuring workers of the Bahrain National Quarry on March 9.
The festival will also feature an array of performances by international performers with unique talents. These include Groove Onkels, apercussion band that does not use actual musical instruments, as well as the amazing acrobatic light hearted dance extravaganza of Tap Factory.
Another ‘not-to-miss show’ will be the magic and sleight-of-hand of Argentine Edgar Groll, and the Canadian theatrical production Journey to the Planet of the Senses. An Indian acrobaticart called Pole Mallakhamba will appear as well as contemporary circus act Traces, and a ‘fun interactive production’ is promised from Bahraini children in A Tale or Two for Alef.
The Spring of Culture Festival also features leading Arab and international public figures in a series of talks held in cooperation with the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research.
The intellectuals, media and literary personalities include Saudi broadcaster and journalist Dawood Al-Shirian, Tunisia’s former Minister of Culture Sonia M’barek, Lebanese writer and editor Fares Youwakim, Lebanesewriter Ivana Marchalian, Joshua David, Palestinian poet Ehab Bseiso, pioneering Palestinian artist and writer Raeda Taha, and American-Egyptian writer and director of London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Middle East and Gulf Security programme, Mamoun Fandy.
In addition, a number of lectures and seminars about photography, food and ancient Tylos-period statues will be held as part of the festival, as well as lectures by French archaeologist Dr Pierre Lombard and Bahraini researcher and writer Dr Abdullah Al-Madani.
A number of important cultural infrastructure projects will also be officially inaugurated such as Dar Al-Riffa Al-Oda in East Riffa and Al-Maktaba Al-Khalifiya in Muharraq.
Sites of historical significance will also be highlighted, such as Al-Khamis Mosque, whose status as the most important Islamic archaeological site in the Gulf region will be highlighted as part of a major conference onIslamic archaeology to be held in the Bahrain National Museum, as well as celebrating the deep-rooted heritage of Bab Al-Bahrain’s gold industry.
The festival will also showcase Bahrain’s intangible heritage ofseafaring chants and folk music with weekly concerts by the Mohammed bin FarisBand and Fjiri music at Dar Al-Muharraq.
Art and culture exhibitions include the collaborative Out Of Time which brings together 20 artists from around the world, Two Architects Two Visions featuring the works of a Saudi-Italian pair of artists, and The Selfless Holy Ground n which depicts the contradiction between the spiritual and religious connotations of sacred rituals and human nature, as well as an exhibition on the UNESCO World Heritage-inscribed Pearling Path and Do You Trust Me? photography exhibition.
Fans of the seventh art will enjoy a selection of films during the Japan Film Festival, a special event within Spring of Culture organised in collaboration with the Japanese Embassy and the Japan Foundation in the kingdom. The festival includes a showing of the film The Pearl Diver that chronicles the history of the natural pearl divers in the Arabian Gulf nations, as well as other memorable movies.
Opportunities will be available to the public to take part in a large number of educational programmes and workshops, such as the How to Make Pearl Jewellery Workshop which follows the ‘path of the pearl’ over a 3km open-air museum in Muharraq.
A ‘My Dish, My Gift’ cooking workshop with follow the launch of the second edition of the book Food is Culture.
And, as part of BACA’s year-long celebration of Bahrain’s archaeological heritage in 2017 under the slogan Our Year of Archaeology, a children-focused workshop entitled Enkiru’s Journey Through the Ages aims to help to foster the ‘spirit of belonging’ through a historical account about the civilisations which once inhabited this land.
The workshop series also include a pair of workshops on the art of carpet-making and silver smithing, with the objective of supporting the revival of traditional crafts that were once widely practiced in Bahrain, as well as several other educational workshops.
The festival is being jointly-organised by Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA), the Economic Development Board, and Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Center for Culture and Research, incollaboration with Albareh Art Gallery, Al Riwaq Art Space, and La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art.
Gold Sponsors of this year’s festival are GFH Financial Group, Huawei, and the National Bank of Bahrain; while Silver Sponsors include Aluminum Bahrain (ALBA), Bahrain Airport Company, Bahrain Duty Free, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, and DHL and with additional support from the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance, Investate, the National Oil and Gas Authority and Bahrain Maritime & Mercantile International (BMMI). The festival events were also made possible by contributions from the embassies of Italy, Japan, US and Mexico in Bahrain.
President of BACA, Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa said: “As we celebrate our 12th anniversary, we grow ever-confident of culture’s capabilities and positive impact. We also are mindful that by telling the many stories of success over the course of our history through our archaeological monuments, we can bring joy to our communities and instil a sense of pride in our identity and heritage, while at the same time promoting the best of what Bahrain has to offer.”
Updates and latest news about the activities taking place will be available on the festival’s official channel @springofculture on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The full festival programme and ticket details are available on www.springofculture.org
