A tribute fit for a master

Artist S H Raza's 85th birthday will be celebrated with an artistic extravaganza, says Rewati Rau.

The master turns 85 on February 22, but S H Raza is not celebrating his birthday
alone. In fact, people from different parts of the art world are getting ready to make his birthday a memorable one.

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The celebrations will go much beyond the brush and strokes as a complete festival, Swasti, packed with fine arts, poetry, classical music and dance, is being organised by Gallery Art Alive to pay Raza a tribute. Swasti will have renowned dancers, musicians, poets and artists from all over the country taking part in the festival.

Sunaina Anand of the gallery says, “Razaji is such a senior artist and also one who strongly supports the budding artists from different fields. So we thought we should do something special for his 85th birthday.”

There will be Malvika Sarrukai and Prerna Shrimali performing classical dances, Mukul Shivpura and Satyasheel Deshpande giving vocal recitals and an exhibition of the works of the awardees of Raza foundation including Akhilesh, Manish Pushkale, Rahim Mirza, Saba Hasan, Sanju Jain, Seema Ghuriyaa, Smriti Dixit, Sujata Bajaj, Yogendra Tripathi and Yusuf.

Festival in many hues: Raza’s work which will be a part of the retrospective show

The artists who are taking part in the festival are an excited lot.

Kathak dancer Prerna Shrimali says, “I have a very long association with Raza and I can say that am yet to meet a person like him. It’s a great honour for me to be performing on his 85th birthday celebrations.”

The festival will also see the release of Raza: A Life in Art, a book on the life and career of the veteran artist. Written and edited by the eminent poet-critic and art-lover Ashok Vajpeyi, the book carries nearly 100 colour reproductions
of his paintings, covering a period of 60 years, sketches, drawings and a lot more.