Do It Go » Arts

Bombay’s Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

Sam — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:33:07 +0000

There are so many alluring things about Bombay, restaurants surely being fairly near the top. Bombay is a real feast for all the senses, being one of the most visually stunning cities on earth, with a rhythm that is constantly shifting, simultaneously seducing and alarming the auditory centers of the body with every step in every neighborhood, and of course, is a fantastic place to eat. Indian food is among the world’s greatest contributions to the potentials for happiness among the human race, and Bombay is at a unique and fortuitous position. Being one of the largest cities here, it attracts people from all over the country (and the world), and they bring their customs, and cooking techniques, with them. So it is very possible to sample food from all over India, and our restaurants are carefully chosen to represent the best of the best.

A perfect evening begins with a perfect meal, and you’ll find a dazzling array of gourmet delicacies to choose from in our restaurants. Whether your pleasure is spicy, creamy, or simply succulent, you’ll find something here that will make you smile. And after a splendid meal, followed by a tea or coffee and a scrumptious dessert, there are a thousand things to do here. One of the most heady events in South Bombay, if your timing is right, is the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. This has been ongoing since 1999, and is the perfect place to touch the heart of India, and let the rest of your senses wake up and experience the rich fabric of life here.

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival really demonstrates what Bombay is all about. The focus is, ostensibly, on visual art, but it really has everything. Live music, literary competitions hosted by world-class authors (Bombay is one of India’s literary centers, after all), crafts, and, if you find yourself ready for a snack after the heartiest meal of your life, more eating! There really is something for everyone here, and it is one of the most well-attended events in Bombay. Be sure to use good judgement and common sense, since the crowds here are rather dense, and the constant bombardment with sensory stimuli is enough to distract just about anyone. However, it is also a fabulous way to see the city, in all its splendor. The visual art is truly extraordinary, too. Not only are their exhibitions of small-scale works, there are also a spectacular number of large public sculptures, and a look at the past Kala Ghoda festivals should inspire a visit here.

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Bombay’s Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

Delhi’s Asmita Theatre

Sam — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:13:06 +0000

When traveling to Delhi, 5 star hotels are the perfect way to make your accommodations in luxury comfort. Our hotels are remarkably distinctive in style and panache, providing a splendid base from which to see a remarkable city. We specialize in hospitality and graciousness, insuring that your stay here will help to revitalize the body and mind. Dining here is splendid, featuring local and national cuisines, with international touches, prepared by our first-rate chefs. There are also exercise facilities, and plenty of wonderful extras that make our hotels an exquisite experience.

Delhi is an amazing city. One of the longest continually-inhabited places on earth, Delhi attracts artists, intellectuals, people in business, politicians, and others from all walks of life, intrigued by the city’s magic appeal. There is also a thriving performing arts community here, reflecting the populations they serve. One performing company not to miss is the Asmita Theatre Group. Founded in 1993, their mission is to showcase works that are aesthetically innovative and socially relevant, catering to a large cross-section of the population.

Their work is very much grounded in the community here, and speaks to contemporary and very local issues and concerns. But there is also a genuine attempt to appeal to everyone, so that visitors here will find a lot to admire in Asmita Theatre. They perform almost entirely in Hindi, so an evening of theatre here will be very much a reflection of the place, and is a fantastic way to begin to learn about the people who live in Delhi. The company’s director, Arvind Gaur has an extremely impressive resume, having directed over 48 plays, all over India, in the U.S., and in Australia. He has worked on traditional plays, contemporary comedies, political dramas, and solo work. His commitment to the form, and dedication to bringing the work to the people of Delhi, is in line with the company’s mission, and gives excellent reasons for visiting Delhi.

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Delhi’s Asmita Theatre

Singapore’s Surrealist Love Scene

Sam — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:52:47 +0000

In the realm of accommodations, Singapore luxury hotels are a whole world apart. Nestled in one of the world’s most interesting and livable cities, the hotels are a beautiful combination of old-world traditions and absolutely contemporary style. There is an extremely lively youth culture here, and they have a fascinating way of adopting the latest trends, recycling them, and then turning them into something entirely local. Art, design, and visual culture generally are watched and absorbed very carefully, and then refabricated in new and innovative ways. The hotels are a mirror of this, where the best of the old world, with traditions of hospitality and graciousness, are added to the most cutting edge trends in hotel living, to make for a very lovely experience for guests. With incredible food, and a very knowledgeable staff to help you plan your days, your stay here is destined to contain adventures.

Some of these things will become apparent as soon as you walk outside the door, where the incredibly lively urban scene will play out before your eyes. People watching is at a premium here, and there are way too many things to do. With restaurants featuring delectable meals, clubs playing some of the hottest beats in Asia, and live performances that demonstrate the best in live art, this is a place to see and to be seen. Fashion, of course, is a big part of urban life, and one of the coolest places in Singapore is Surrealist Love Scene.

Started by a group of four like-minded (read: extremely hip) individuals looking to unite fashion and rock culture, Surrealist Love Scene is a physical store in Singapore with an interesting on-line presence. Too cool even for a website, their store is a blog, with updates on some of the newest trends in fashion in Singapore, Asia, and the world. The writing is incisive and witty, and their taste is really impeccable. They carry and distribute some of the coolest labels out there, and their world of fashion has a global scope, and a local feel that is utterly modern.

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Singapore’s Surrealist Love Scene

Clubbing Ibiza

Sam — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:23:38 +0000

There is only one reason my best friend planned our vacation in Ibiza, Spain, the clubs. And we weren’t disappointed. We arrived in Ibiza around 10pm, checked into one of the Best Hotels Ibiza offers, put on our club clothes and headed out with no time to waste. We were ready to party and maybe, just maybe meet our future girlfriends.

We managed to make it to the latest hottest club ‘London’ just around midnight. We were surprised to find everybody was inside, apparently to make to most of the ‘drink all night’ price. We headed immediately to one of the two main rooms upstairs. We were excited to find Jo Mills spinning to a cavernous room crowded with clubbers dancing beneath a white camouflaged cloth suspended from the high ceiling. We caught the club fever as a spontaneous ‘Woo oooh’ broke out among the dancers. Luckily we were dressed appropriately, this was no t-shirt and jeans crowd. We managed to work our way to where most of the clubbers were wearing their luminous accessories and fluorescent painted faces and exposed body parts. We brought our our rave rings, wristbands and the newly popular shutter shades with which Kanye West wears. We fit in quite nicely.

My friend and I danced with a lot of hot girls and we were impressed with how quick we got drinks served to us. After about an hour of intense dancing and flirting, we take a quick chill and find a seat in the main room. We talked to this guy sitting next to us, he was a local and he said he’s addicted the all the colors and clubbers. He comes all the time. We were envious to say the least. We have nothing like this back home. Nothing.

The free drinks kept coming and the girls flowed up to us as well, but unfortunately, there is a side effect to free drinks, a downfall really, we became too drunk and tired. It was only 3:30 in the morning, so we hailed a taxi and headed back to our hotel room, without new girlfriends, but not penniless. Ah, there’s always tomorrow night.

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Clubbing Ibiza

New York’s Andy Warhol

Sam — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:32:23 +0000

For the perfect five-star hotel, New York City can deliver. With the most sophisticated accommodations on the planet, New York is the trend-setter before all others. Considered by many to be the epicenter of cultural activity in recent years, it is home to artists, designers, writers, poets, and musicians. The most famous people pass through here at one time or another, and often, they don’t leave. One of New York’s most fascinating residents is pop icon of pop icons Andy Warhol.

Born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928 to a Slovenian-American family, Andy Warhol went to art school at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. Although he spent more years in New York, Pittsburghers still claim him as their own, and have an amazing museum dedicated to his works in the downtown section. After art school, he left one city for another, and in New York found some success as a graphic designer. It wasn’t until the sixties, however, when his mark on the world was indelibly made. When he created his famous print of the Campbell’s Tomato Soup Can, the art world was suddenly changed. An everyday object with some very minimal graphic appeal, the can-turned-art-object was simultaneously an art work and a comment on works of art. But whenever asked about the hidden meanings in the soup can, Warhol would reply that he always liked the soup.

The Marilyn series, along with other mass-produced prints, would round out his entrance into the art world, and secure it. He became an icon himself, and his expertise in turning the table on interviewers would earn him the admiration of art connoisseurs looking for a smart joke. He had the New York sophistication to make his own celebrity status a certainty. He produced the Velvet Underground’s first album, “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” and helped design the iconic pink-banana cover. He also made a number of fascinating films that are some of the most referenced in art cinema today. Although he apparently had his share of enemies, Andy Warhol is undoubtedly an American original.

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New York’s Andy Warhol

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The Peaceful Life in Phuket, Thailand

Sam — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:39:19 +0000

Thailand has had a long and an extensive history, that has culminated in a country filled with not only native Thais, but with immigrants as well. The diversity of the cultures are witnessed in the food, in the talent of the painters, writers, musicians, architects and dancer. The many artists and artisans indigenous to Thailand, combined with work of the immigrants, has created on of the most visually stunning locations in the world. In most cities and in most structures, delicate care is taken with design and composition elements, such as in the Phuket best hotels. Much of the influence comes from Laos, Persia, India and China. After so many years, the physique and physical characteristics of what it means to be Thai, is varied, with not one aspect being ‘typical’. Thais, similar to the people of the United States, come in all shapes, sizes and skin tone. Most are strongly connected to the land through agriculture, and in different degrees, are influenced by the ceremonies and rituals and festivals that make this country such an incredible place to visit.

The predominant form of religion in Thailand is Theravada Buddhism. In fact more than ninety percent of the population is Buddhist and this has a huge impact on the daily lives and the lifestyles of this country. The tallest Buddhist sculpture in the world, a monument to Emperor Asoka, is in Nakhon Pathom. Nakhon Pathom is the site wherein Buddhism was first introduced during the Third Century BC. Emperor Asoka was a missionary from India, who traveled to Thailand with the purpose of spreading the Buddhist Religion. This religion encompasses the ideas of morality and ethics for all beings, cohesion of cultures, and places a strong emphasis on the artistic realm of life. The temples have inspired those to creation of artwork, and in most families there is at least one person who is an artist, and at least one male family member that has studied in the monasteries. And while most Thais are Buddhist, one aspect of the faith is religious tolerance, thus providing the immigrants from Hindu, Christian, Sikhs and Muslims the freedom to exist together, in a peaceful and respectful home.

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The Peaceful Life in Phuket, Thailand

The Famous Flamenco of Madrid

Sam — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:35:08 +0000

The traditional dance and music of the Andalusian Gypsies of Spain is the Flamenco. The roots in this art form come from various cultures, the Moors, the Andalusians and the Gypsies and the dances and the songs have been cultivated over many centuries. In the early 1,800′s this form of expression became very popular and has since that time, become widely performed and widely viewed, many shows being done and seen in the coffee shops, the bars, and the restaurants of the five star Madrid hotels, and the cafes throughout the entire country. In the city of Madrid there is a wide variety of shows to see.

One of the most fine and most impressive flamenco shows is performed nightly at the Taberna Casa Patas. Very well known artists, the musicians and the dancers have performed here in the past, such as Chano Lobato, Remedios Amaya, and La Nina Pastori. This is a well known venue however is not known to be overrun by tourists, it is a very traditional spot. Dinner is served before the show begins and throughout the show as well. Casa Patas is famous for the tapas menu as well as their seafood and steaks, and the house speciality, the tail of a bull.

One of the most established and oldest venues for flamenco is located near the Royal Palace in the older section of Madrid. This is Cafe de Chinitas and it is set in a palace from the eighteenth Century. Many of the best, local and international flamenco stars have performed here over the years. The shows here alternate monthly, and as with the previously stated venue the food here is out of this world. And then there is the Corral de la Moreria, a venue that began in 1956 and has been known to attract many celebrities, artists and famous sportsman and ever a rock band here and their. Audience members in the pasts have included the band U2, the boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Picasso and Frank Sinatra. It is no wonder as the shows performed here are considered by some to be the absolute best in the world. These are just three of the many venues that will provide one with a night out of the traditional music, dance and cuisine when traveling through Madrid this summer.

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The Famous Flamenco of Madrid

Finding Work in Spain

Sam — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:31:18 +0000

There are many opportunities for work in the tourism industry throughout the country of Spain. Many travel to the city and fund their ‘vacations’ by working in the service industry, such as in the restaurants, bars, or the five star hotels. Spain is a very laid back and welcoming country, and in most of the cities many of the people and the businesses will give foreigners the opportunities for employment throughout their stay. And if one is in need of learning the language as well, the people are extremely helpful in teaching one along the way, while still offering employment. Any traveler from one of the other European countries will find it extremely easy to find work. There are various regions throughout Spain, and each region speaks with a different dialect, so while most businesses are willing to give outsiders jobs, it goes without saying that should one speak the dialect of a region, finding work becomes much easier.

Due to the tourism, there are opportunities to work in various cities and villages along the coastline. More than half of the population living in Spain works in the service industry, and many in the country alternate jobs, working in the industry during the season and picking fruit during the off-season. For those skilled at water activities and sports, there are many positions available, through teaching scuba diving, to surfing, to sailing and windsurfing. One of the more popular spots for diving are the Medes Islands. More that 60,000 dives are taken into the waters of the Mediterranean here each year. Many of the schools located here cater to English speaking tourists, so this may be a better location to find work if one does not speak on of the dialects.

And of course there are the Balearic Islands, which provide a wide range of opportunities for seasonal work. Many who work on the islands do so while they are taking their own vacations as well. The club scene in Ibiza is legendary, and the staff in most of the clubs and bars are internationally diverse. Mallorca has many opportunities for work in the bars and restaurants and tends to be a bit less trendy and more relaxed. There are many British owned businesses on the islands as well, for those seeking jobs, that are a bit more suited for older people, without the party atmosphere. In all, this is a great way to travel, especially in these times when vacations may be a bit out of the financial reach of some, they are able to finance vacation time, by working in the vacation spots of Spain.

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Finding Work in Spain

The Botanical Garden of Barcelona

Sam — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:28:18 +0000

The focus of the Barcelona’s Botanical Gardens is to be of service to the ecosystem and to society. This particular garden not only showcases some of the most incredible plants of the Mediterranean, but is dedicated to the documentation and conservation of the heritage of the natural world of Catalonia. This region, and the city of Barcelona in particular, has a long history of botanical traditions, farming and gardening. Many of the city buildings and five star Barcelona hotels are surrounding by blooming plants year round. The Botanical Garden’s staff seeks to ensure that these cultural traditions remain. They provide educational activities for all, from the amateur home gardeners to the scientists that travel to the Garden for lectures and seminars. Many schools throughout the city take tours and classes throughout the year. The Garden receives support of the Botanical Institute of Barcelona. The Garden boasts and large reference library and one of the most extensive collections in their herbarium in all of Catalonia.

The buildings in the gardens were designed by two well known Spanish architects, Josep Lluis Canosa and Carlos Ferrater. The genius behind the design for the landscaping was Bet Figueras, and a horticulturalist and a biologist were instrumental as well, Artur Bossy and Joan Pedrola, respectively. The team had a few aspects to consider, which was the structural layout of the vegetation, and designing that layout to fit withing the mountain that it was being created on. The result is one of the most incredible gardens in the world. The winding paths are a perfect way to spend the afternoon. And the perfect way to be able to see most of the plants of the region, all in one place. This garden and the research that has been conducted here has influenced all of the cities parks and created a city that is not only one of the most incredible to walk around, but one that has begun to conserve and protect the environment as well.

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The Botanical Garden of Barcelona

“Culture Jamming” in Barcelona, Spain

Sam — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:25:06 +0000

The term ‘culture jamming’ has become the phrase used when describing the ways that artists intervene with commercialism. The band Negativland is credited for coining the phrase. One of the local street artists in Barcelona has been ‘culture jamming’ for years. Jorge Rodriguez Gerada a Cuban born painter has been living in the city and has been adding to the amazing street art scene in many ways, one of which includes the altering of billboards and other forms of public advertisements of Barcelona, Spain. Hotel walls, and street signs have been painted over by Gerada in an attempt to parody the ads and to change the messages that are conveyed. Gerada is known as one of founders of this art form, one of the most creative and skilled.

He has been creating a series throughout Barcelona called ‘The Identity Series‘ for almost seven years. Beginning in 2002, Gerada put large scale charcoal drawings of people on the building walls in various locations throughout the city. Charcoal will not stand up to the elements but this fact is all part of Gerada’s process and message. His intention in creating these works that will be destroyed eventually by the wind and the rain, is to convey the message that memory and place are two important components in the establishment of identity. He wants to question the control enforced through the use of public property.

He questions commercialism and brand name items, and the way in which these companies advertise their brands. He states that everyone should question those who appear to be choosing the role models and the icons of culture, and to be aware of the manipulation of corporate companies. He creates his works using models of everyday people. His hopes being, that when an anonymous person becomes important, people will begin to become more empathetic and aware, that even though the image will fade the memory will remain. His works are throughout the city in Spain and should be a part of every walking tour through the street galleries of Barcelona.

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“Culture Jamming” in Barcelona, Spain