The Ottawa International Rhythm Festival educated and entertained audiences through music and dance from cultures around the world on Sept. 3 in Carleton University’s Kailash Mital Theatre.
Gharana Arts, an institution dedicated to the preservation of Indian cultural and artistic traditions, partnered with the Ottawa International Drumming Festival to plan the event. Ravi Singh, president of Gharana Arts, said the partnership was a result of the desire for a more expansive, inclusive event.
“The reason we chose ‘rhythm’ is because we wanted to include dance, as well as drumming,” Singh said.
The festival featured artists from India, Indonesia, and Zimbabwe, among others, as well as workshops in many of the dance and drumming styles seen in the performances. Since this was the first year, Singh said he was expecting a crowd of around 300 people throughout the day, but was surprised when more than 500 people showed up. He attributes this to the diversity of groups at the festival.
“When we changed the format of the festival, being indoors and outdoors, actually opened up for a lot more diverse groups,” Singh said. He added some types of groups were limited in the Ottawa Drumming Festival since it was outdoors.
“When we sent out the call, a lot of people who would’ve wanted to have done it in the past were excited, so they also brought out the community,” he said.
The Kailash Mital Theatre hosted the performances of the festival, which featured many new and local artists. Singh said the festival served as a professional platform for local artists to present their art and network with other professionals. He added the workshops were key because they provided artists with the opportunity to educate and for the audience to learn about cultural traditions they may have never heard about.
Carleton president Roseann Runte made an appearance in the evening, which Singh said helped establish a sense of community.
“The festival was able to achieve that basic goal of bringing so many cultures together as we realize in drumming . . . there are so many . . . aspects we can all relate to, as well as in rhythm,” Singh said.
Singh said they will start planning for next year’s festival by mid-October. Until then, he said Gharana Arts will resume its role of education, an element also greatly emphasized in this year’s festival.
“Whether you were from Samba, African, Djembe, or Indian classical style, we all provided opportunities for people to learn,” Singh said. He said diversity of the festival’s groups not only provided an opportunity for education, but also unity among different cultures through drumming and dance.
“This festival is an opportunity for us to connect with the whole Ottawa community,” Singh said.
