Preview 'Dubbing Culture' Presented by South Asia Society

Author: Kate Prouty

After the annual Clifford Symposium opened the semester with a discussion on why "Art Matters" in the 21st century, many organizations have followed suit, proving that, to lots of groups on campus, art really does matter. Soon after the Clifford's "24 Hours of Art" the College experienced "24 Hours for Peace," a musical and comedic run of performances geared to rally peaceful spirits against the war in Iraq.
Now the South Asia Club is holding its own Symposium on the Arts. Entitled "Dubbing Culture: Reinventing India in Film, Literature and Music," the South Asia Club has adopted the same multimedia approach as the Clifford Symposium did in the third week of September.
They have narrowed their material down, though, to a keynote address by an accomplished translator, a lecture and a reading by an up-and-coming contemporary author and a music performance by a popular DJ as well and a South Asian meal.
Specifically, the symposium will open this Thursday afternoon with the keynote address "Transliterating Traditions," delivered by Arshia Sattar, a translator, filmmaker and freelance writer. Having earned a doctorate from the department of South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago, Sattar has had a major influence on the depiction of Indian mythology and culture.
Sattar's documentary film, "Kings, Lovers and Thieves" will be screened on Friday, also as part of the symposium. The documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at India's improvisational and often bawdy forms of folk opera Nautanka, as well as its rural cousin, Khyal.
Friday afternoon offers a reading from "Beach Boy" by author Ardashir Vakil. This debut novel by Vakil has been praised by Salman Rushdie as a book so "highly original" that he included an excerpt from the novel in his anthology of the "most brilliant" Indian writing of the past 50 years. Vakil will also read from his upcoming novel "One Day," which is due to published by Viking in February 2003. An Indian dinner will follow this event.
Friday night the entertainment gets a little louder with a live performance by one of the pioneers of New York City's underground South Asian music scene. DJ Rekha Malhotra has always aimed to integrate community activism into her music. By founding organizations such as Basement Bhangra and Mutiny, Malhotra is one of the key players in introducing the sounds of Bhangra and British-Asian music to North American listeners. Her latest project, "Your Attention Please," is a monthly fundraiser that partners with organizations addressing human rights, domestic abuse and police brutality. The project gives her a chance to bring classical, non-dance oriented South Asian music into a club setting.
The South Asia Club is a student organization aimed at transporting South Asian culture into the College campus. The Club's geographical definition of South Asia includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Typically the Club organizes dinners, music recitals, dance concerts, cultural galas,coffee houses, trips to the South Asian clubs of other colleges and universities in Boston and New York and movie screenings. The oppurtunity to arrange events such as this symposium however, allowed the group to provide a forum for discussion of various issues relating to South Asia that is grounded in a specific arena, namely the arts.
This is the second Symposium the South Asia Club has held. The first, "A Symposium on Literature," which was held in 2001, marks the debut effort to establish an annual tradition.
Scheduling information for the symposium as well as extended bio information of the contributors can be found on the Web site: www.middlebury.edu/news/ dubbing.html.