1. Friday, April 15, 201620 GULF TIMES
COMMUNITY
Diversityfestivalcontinues
toattractaudiences
By Anand Holla
C
all it the ultimate
cultural unification
programme. Never
running out of charisma
or colours, the nearly
five-month-long Cultural
Diversity Festival at Katara is now
well past the half way mark, while
visitors to its performances are
only growing by the week and its
organisers promise to maintain the
momentum that it has so steadily
gathered.
Organised as part of the
Intercultural Dialogue and Cultural
Diversity Programme of Unesco
in Qatar and funded by Katara in
order to promote cultural diversity
and cross-cultural understanding
and awareness, the Festival will
bring down performing groups
from a total of 21 countries
representative of all continents to
Katara to perform three days each.
Rabih Karam, Managing Partner
of Art & Art, which is organising
the performances week after week,
told Community, “It’s really a
unique festival in Qatar as nobody
before has put together such a
mega international event that has
gone on for five months. At Art
and Art, we work with more than
1,500 artiste groups across the
world, and for this event, we have
been bringing down the choicest
of dance and music groups from
various countries.”
The performances will be
organised every week until the
end of May to mark the World
Day for Cultural Diversity for
Dialogue and Development on May
21. Karam admits that it’s not an
easy task. “The whole process is
challenging because of the large
number of people that we deal
with. We are talking about more
than 300 artistes, and managing
everything from their flights to
accommodation. Even if one
artiste misses the plane, we will
have no event. However, having
handled such events for years on
end, we put our experience to
good use and it’s been wonderful
showcasing such talents in Doha,”
he said.
It was the Philippine national
folk dance company Bayanihan,
which flagged off the Festival in
pomp and splendour on January 11
and took the people of Qatar into
folklore and beyond. This act was
followed up by India’s Aparajita &
Troupe show, the Nairobi National
Dance Ensemble, Georgia’s Youth
Folkloric Ballet ‘Egrisi’, and so
on. The other countries that have
taken part at this Festival thus
far are Tajikistan, Serbia, Jordan,
Spain, Senegal, Austria, Tunisia,
and Czech Republic.
“On April 17 and 18, we have
performers coming down from
Italy, which will be followed by
acts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey,
Singapore, Russia, Burkina Faso,
Cuba, Japan, and Argentina, over
the coming weeks,” Karam said,
“So far, we have had a full house
for every performance, which
features one country every week
at the Katara Esplanade. While
the group performs in Katara for
two consecutive evenings, for the
third day, we collaborate with
the embassy of that country to
get the group to perform at the
venue chosen by the embassy. For
instance, the Bayanihan, on its
third day in Doha, performed at
the Philippine School Doha for
students and teachers.”
Art & Art is a leading Qatar-
based company engaged in media
and events management that caters
for the GCC, and has organised
big-ticket events in Qatar such
as the Latin American Cultural
Festival, First Bravo! Flamenco
Festival, and the My Coffee My
Identity event last month, among
others. Karam is thrilled that his
company has been tasked with
organising this Festival. “The title
says it all. The Cultural Diversity
Festival is all about presenting
the country’s essence through
its music, dance and art. It gives
us a glimpse into how the people
of each of these participating
countries live their daily lives,
how they deal with love, war,
challenges, and most importantly
how they share happiness. This
precious cultural knowledge is
passed down to Qatar through
their art, music, and dance,”
explained Karam.
“Be it how women are treated in
their societies or how they process
relationships; to learn all of this is
the real value of the event. Through
this programme, we have been able
to show to the Qatari society, how
multi-cultural countries can live
together, have people coming from
diverse cultures and live together
with synergy,” he said.
Karam believes that such
cultural fusion can lead to amazing
revelations. “For instance, some of
the artists and groups are deeply
influenced by other cultures. When
the Spanish group performed
flamenco, the Arab audience could
spot how the flamenco music and
dance have elements very similar
to what the Arabic Andalusi music
would have. Flamenco has traces
of Al-Mawal, which is essentially
a song with powerful vocals. If you
pay attention, you can hear this in
flamenco,” Karam said.
As for the closing ceremony
slated for the last week of May,
Karam assures Doha a big surprise.
“The surprise will be the most
befitting one for such a grand
event. It will definitely feature
some of the most spectacular
performance art groups in addition
to the manifestation of the Qatari
culture, which will be displayed
through Qatari music and dance,”
he said.
Oslava Dance Group from the Czech Republic performed earlier this week.
The Tunisian dance group performance earlier this month.
When finished, the Cultural Diversity Festival at
Katara will have featured artistes from 21 countries