If style maketh the man, the streets maketh the city. They are the lifeblood of a city, determining its character and perception. And so, you have the sedation of Chandigarh's broad, genteel avenues; and the thrumming colour of Varanasi's crowded, variegated streets. New York has its 'every man for himself' mean streets, while Paris is famous for its streetwise cafes and unhurried pace of life.
Mumbai's Streets are its life. It is where the city shops and eats, works and wastes, and as is true, lives and dies as well. This edition of Jashn-e-Dastaan-e-Mumbai celebrates the varied streets of the metropolis and their unique culture, from the Vada Pao to Fashion Street, from forgotten street furniture to vivid street signs shouting new wares.
The ASM's Mumbai Research Centre was founded by Dr. Aroon Tikekar in 2009 to rigorously research these varied aspects of urban life. Since 2020, the MRC has organised the Jashn-e-Dastaan-e-Mumbai annually to bring together academics and laypersons, entertainers, and entrepreneurs to share knowledge and to raise funds for research. We aim to raise enough revenue to fund the research and outreach programs of the MRC through the year.
No festival of Mumbai can be complete without Bollywood. From the 1956 classic "Zara hatke zara bachke yeh hai Bombay meri jaan" to "yeh hai Bambai nagariya to dekh babua" of 1978's Don, from the peppy 1958 number "Babu samjho ishaare, horn pukaare" to the dark tones of 2006's "Shola hai ya hai bijuriya, dil ki bajariya, Bambai nagariya" (Taxi No. 9211) - some of its most iconic songs were set on the streets of the city. Join Manek Premchand on this musical journey through the decades, as he captures the mood of the streets.
Manek Premchand is an Indian writer and historian of film music, who has written several books pertaining to the history of Indian film music and biographies of musicians. He has hosted shows on WorldSpace Satellite Radio and been a consultant with Saregama. In 2003 he completed his first book, "Yesterday’s Melodies, Today’s Memories", with the aim of giving songwriters, singers and composers credit. It was followed by "Musical Moments from Hindi Films" (2006). In 2010 he became part of the Mohammed Rafi Academy's governing body and two years later produced "Romancing the Song" (2012). He contributed an essay on Shivkumar Sharma in "Shiv Kumar Sharma: The Man and His Music" (2014), and released a biography of Talat Mahmood the following year. In "Hitting the Right Notes" (2016) he focusses on songwriters and composers, the difference the music made and the trends they produced. He devoted a chapter to Mubarak Begum in "The Hindi Music Jukebox: Exploring Unforgettable Songs" (2018) and has published a biography of Hemant Kumar in 2020.
Please RSVP here to join the programme.
Date: 28 January 2023
Time: 3 to 6
Venue: Durbar Hall of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.
