The weekend is upon us, almost, perfect for a festival of some sort. Something like MASALA! MEHNDI! MASTI!…Y’ALL! In its sixth year running, M! M! M! is going large and fabulous at Exhibition Place (Toronto), starting with the opening reception tonight and continuing on till people are dropping with dance fever (for real, this happens) on Sunday. The incredibly varied programme brings together artists, authors, performers, instructors, and anyone I’ve left out from Canada, USA, UK, France, New Zealand, Trinidad, Guyana, and India.
This year’s headlining act is Trickbaby (of Bluffmaster fame) as part of the Brit InvASIAN showcase, which is presented yearly courtesy of the British Council. And if you Taraana Mutineers were wishing you could have gone to see some Rajasthani folk music tonight then hold up because Kerap is going to be on stage this Friday evening. I love me some Marwari music. Strangely enough they are also from France! The Chillin’ in Your Brown Skin seminars are back facilitating dicussion on different social issues. A spoken word fest (with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Sheniz Janmohamed and Muslim Rizvi) and book readings galore. There’s even a couple Laughter Yoga Club sessions on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Need I say any more? Check the listings for your fix.
Like I said, M! M! M! has gone big this year with an impressive corporate sponsor (Rogers) and a spangly new venue, much needed after they hit the 100, 000 people mark last year. Admission price is still a big juicy zero, thanggod. So go forth and machaao-fy some dhoom dhaam, it’s a brown town this weekend (well, actually, every weekend, but this weekend especially so :-)
