Two Indian artists and world-class dancers and musicians are performing at St James Cavalier as part of the celebrations of this year’s Festival of Light in Malta. This festival is one of the highlights of the Indian calender.
The two artists, Malavika Saukkai and Shadid Parvez, have performed at leading institutions around the world, including the Festival Hall in London and the Lincoln Centre in New York.
Malavika Saukkai, one of the most celebrated exponents of Indian dance, will be performing on 17 and 19 November. Shahid Parvez, a sitar player, will perform in December.
Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, together with HE Dinkar Prakash Srivastava, High Commissioner for India, launched the two performances.
Minister Zammit Dimech said that, through its many activities, St James Cavalier is promoting foreign cultures in Malta and thus contributing to better understanding between peoples and towards peace in the world.
He pointed out that St James Cavalier organises film festivals from different countries, with an accent on culture. This year, he said, 16 theatre productions and 104 performances had attracted 11,000 people to St James Cavalier. And he added that over 45 concerts, attracting over 6,000 people, had been organised.
Dr Zammit Dimech said that over 50 films were shown in the cinema of St James Cavalier, attracting over 11,000 visitors. These films, he said, did not include five film festivals from India, France, Mexico and Australia as well as festivals on Architecture and Truffaut.
Nineteen exhibitions had also been organised with artistes from the Commonwealth, Germany, Argentina, Canada and the former Republic of Yugoslavia.
The minister said that over 110,000 people had visited St James Cavalier last year. He said that all this had contributed to the dissemination of culture in Malta. Culture was at the top of the Government’s agenda, said Dr Zammit Dimech, and he was sure that St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity was contributing its fair share towards this national project.