Indian Summer Festival announces live programming around new Granville Island hub
Running July 7 to 17, culture-bridging fest features musicians, thinkers, DJs, films, and more
Modern Biology is the mind-expanding project from Indian classical music veteran and biologist Tarun Nayar.
INDIAN SUMMER Festival has announced a return to in-person, indoor and outdoor events centred around the new hub of Performance Works on Granville Island.
The fest unveiled programming and tickets today for the event set to run July 7 to 17, with acts spanning climate-change and social-justice thinkers, musicians, dance, and DJs.
Called Inner/Outer Climates, the opening-night party features musical stars Laydy Jams, DJ Paisley Eva, and DJ Shao alongside chef Vikram Vij’s team of culinary artists.
On July 8, the fest screens The O Show, a documentary about the life and work of Orene Askew aka DJ O Show, then the subject of the film steps up to spin tunes as Performance Works is turned into a dancefloor.
The inaugural edition of Imaginarium: Parables for a Planet in Crisis happens July 9. The evening of ideas, conversation, and music hosted by Indigenous broadcaster and curator Jarrett Martineau and visionary artistic director Sirish Rao, who weave together interviews with noted writers and thinkers Naomi Klein, Amitav Ghosh, Robyn Maynard, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.
July 10 sees Modern Biology, a mind-expanding project from Indian classical music veteran and biologist Tarun Nayar. With his home-built synthesizers and other analog equipment, he creates an ambient world that riffs off the natural vibrations of plant bioelectricity, latent electromagnetic radiation, and even the earth’s resonant hum. His special guest is sitar virtuoso Sharanjeet Singh Mand.
Dancer and choreographer Sujit Vaidya’s OFF CENTRE brings its provocative dance performance to the stage on July 12. Vaidya performs with Arun Mathai around the live percussion of master drummer Curtis Andrews.
In a copro with the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, musician Arooj Aftab performs for the first time ever in Vancouver the next night; the singer, songwriter, and composer made history as the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy.
On July 14, artist and yoga master Yogacharini Maitreyi blends art, modern science, and ancient wisdom ; the evening is opened by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh elder and sculptor Robert Yelton, whose iconic totem rises in Stanley Park.
The next evening, the global speaker series 5x15 gathers a rotating array of of writers, musicians, filmmakers and activists to speak about the wilderness and our inner/outer climate.
And July 16, Ruby Singh curates the Closing Party, presenting his Kraken project, a “More-Than-Human Hip Hop Collaboration” featuring birds, frogs, and the marine soundscapes of Desolation Sound, along with an array of muscial alchemists.
Free events on Granville Island include the ISF Sound System at Granville Island Market courtyard, with the music of classical and contemporary South Asia, on both Sundays of the fest from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm, and ISF Featured Artist set designer Kimira Reddy’s installation at Ocean Artworks, on view to July 17; Reddy has turned that spot into a gathering place reminiscent of rural India.
You can buy tickets and find more information here.
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