I have been recovering from my hectic weekend at the Artwallah festival in Los Angeles. After four days of South Asian Arts and three straight nights of afterparties, I needed a break. I took a lot of pictures though. Rather than provide a long winded re-cap I thought I’d just flog a few highlights so you can live vicariously.
The Himalayan Project break it down
Paul Varghese works the crowd with his understated humor
Blu Soul with lead singer Shalini Rehil soothe the audience
Spoken word artist Shailja Patel shows off the goods
Sarina Jain leads a Masala Bhangra workout (I should have learned when I had the chance).
Not only was the energy at this festival great but all those artists in such close quarters led to some unique collaborations. Comedian Ravi Patel did his stand-up routine with a couple members of Mission on Mars jamming in the background. Soulful singer Jason Joseph mixed it up with rockers Calcutta. Both short films that played during the evening show, Call Center and Nina Paley’s Dandaka Dharma, got lots of laughs from the audience at the evening show.
I’d love to hear comments from any SM readers that attended the festival.
