We asked any of you who attended a concert, a recital or any music or dance performance or stage production outside of the US in the last couple of years to tell us how you learned about it and how you obtained tickets. We printed responses in three issues (October, November and December ’11), and more are coming. Those shown below are about events attended in India, Colombia and Indonesia.
Have an experience to share? State what you went to see, where it was (country, city and, if known, the venue) and approximately when you were there. Tell us how you learned about the event (website? newspaper? street flier?) and how you obtained tickets (venue’s website? box office? hotel travel desk?). Are there any dos and don’ts you would suggest regarding purchasing event tickets? If the performance you saw was not in English, how was the experience? Did you notice anything different about how the audience behaved? What advice would you give to others considering a night out in a foreign country?
Send your report to Attending a Concert or Play, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com. Include the address at which you receive ITN (ITN prints letters from subscribers only). Photos are always welcome!
I attended many concerts in INDIA, including events in Calcutta, Chennai and New Delhi, from 1998 to 2008. I found out about the concerts either in the English-language newspaper(s) of the city in question or through magazines that listed events.
In Delhi, I found Delhi Diary, a small, cheap (10 rupees in 2008) weekly available everywhere, to offer better choices than the glossy monthly magazines. In the winter there were several choices daily. In addition to music and dance, it listed many lectures in English as well as, sometimes, English-language theater performances. Most of the events were free, but I never paid more than INR100 (about $2).
Usually, one could just show up at the event. Occasionally, there would be instructions for making reservations, which often involved making a phone call. When I did have to pay, I paid at the door. Once, when there was a fee, the box office attendant waived it because I was a foreigner and they were so happy to see someone from another country at their event.
These concerts are usually put on by arts organizations. The performers can be artists at the top of their profession or they can be students, and I have always enjoyed them. The venues have included community rooms in temples; various cultural institutions; small, private theaters, and large civic auditoriums.
In NEW DELHI, a particularly pleasant venue is India Habitat Centre (Lodhi Rd., New Delhi 110 003, India; phone [+11] 24682001 or 24682005, fax [+11] 24682010), located in South Delhi.
Most Western visitors to India only go to concerts arranged by their tour company or through a tourist office. At the events listed in Delhi Diary or the newspapers, you might be the only non-Indian, but, in my experience, the audiences have been uniformly welcoming. More often than not, someone has come up to me and started a conversation.
Granted, I have a high tolerance for sitting through performances in languages I don’t understand, so I wouldn’t recommend these for everyone. People sometimes whisper helpful things in my ear at critical moments, but I don’t rely on this happening.
I have found concert-going under the circumstances I’ve described to be one of the most reliable and enjoyable ways of meeting Indians and joining them in something we both appreciate.
Terrence Johnson
Los Angeles, CA
My favorite performances are the Kathakali dance dramas, often performed as ritual dances in COCHIN/Ernakulam, Kerala, southern India.
These stunning dances, derived from temple art, have been refined in the last 500 years to be more like plays, performed in or near temples.
In each story — drawing from epics and Puranas (ancient scriptures) filled with gods and a world of demons — the demons want to make trouble with the people, so good fights evil in one way or another. There are about 45 stories, covering war and peace; the cosmic and terrestrial; courage and cowardice; wealth and poverty, etc.
The dancers are always males dressed in elaborate, heavy, puffed-up, skirted costumes with huge headdresses and wigs, and they wear elaborate, brilliant, mask-like makeup. The makeup takes more than an hour to apply. The main dancer, with a human spirit, will get his face and neck all puffed up by attaching plastic pieces, which are painted to match his makeup.
In the story, it’s obvious who’s good and who’s evil by looking at the makeup and costumes; i.e., evil has, perhaps, a red seed under each eyelid and a red or black beard.
Emotions are shown with facial expressions as well as finger and hand movements called mudras. These are so exact that they can be read by the audience; still, there is a narrator. (At the last show we attended, the narrator looked like Omar Sharif and spoke fluent English for any visitors who wished to hear the story. He also sang in the play.)
In addition to singing, the music consists of gongs, drums and symbols.
There are several places in the Cochin/Ernakulam area to take in such shows. We stayed in Ernakulam, where there is a variety of hotels. Each time, we asked our hotel’s desk clerk about Kathakali show times and tickets, and after making a short phone call he gave us the info we needed.
The theaters are fairly small, and tickets are sold on a come-first basis only. They aren’t too crowded on weekdays, but for a weekend it’s best to make reservations, if possible. Prices run INR125-INR150 (near $2.50-$3).
Get there early to get tickets and watch the makeup session. Makeup starts between 5 and 6 p.m., and shows can start between 6:30 and 7:30. Shows last about an hour. Photography is welcomed.
• Of the performance venues, my favorite is Kochi (or Cochin) Cultural Centre (1521 Sangamam/Manikath Rd., Kochi, 682 016, Kerala, India; phone [0484] 2368153 or +91 484 2356366, www.cochinculturalcentre.com) — makeup 5:30 p.m., show 7 p.m. It has seating for 200 people.
• Kerala Kathakali Centre (phone [0484] 2215827 or [0484] 809810), at Cochin Aquatic Club on Calvathy Road, near the bus stand, in Fort Cochin — makeup 5 p.m., show 6:30 p.m. (in English).
• Durbar Hall Ground (Durbar Hall Rd., Kochi, Kerala, India; phone 367866).
• See India Foundation (Kalathiparambi Rd.; phone [0484] 2376471), near Ernakulam Junction train station — makeup 6 p.m., show 6:45 p.m.
I knew about these performances long before my first trip to India, October-February 1995-56. My second trip, December-April 2006-07, allowed me to enjoy and explore most of the country except the far northeast.
I love India, especially Kerala and the Nilgiri Hills. The language program “Language 30” (Educational Services Corp., Box 370, Folly Beach, SC 29439; 843/588-9916) and some 4"x6" flash cards that I made for myself helped a lot, but in Kerala about 40% of the people speak English.
One just needs to live life as it comes into being each day.
Inge Wilson
Alamogordo, NM
In Colombia in June ’11, I attended a rehearsal for the play “Yerma” by Federico García Lorca. It ran for a week in August at the Teatro Caja Negra (Carrera 44 Nro 47-24, MEDELLÍN, Colombia; phone 239 25 41 or 397 61 47), located at Plazoleta de San Ignacio.
Tickets were sold at the theater and were very inexpensive (COP10,000, about $5). The play was in Spanish but was very easy to follow.
I have found audiences in Medellín to be much like those in the US. People were interested, respectful and very quiet. No cell phones were going off.
Here are websites which pertain to two other theaters in Medellín: www.ateneodemedellin.com and www.teatromovil.net.
Ralph McCuen
El Paso, TX
I stayed in UBUD, Bali, three times (for a total of 12 nights) during a seven-week trip to Indonesia in July-August 2011 and had the pleasure of attending eight dance performances because, luckily, on the first night there I met Gusman (phone [+62] 081 236 475 299 or e-mail gusmanticket@yahoo.com), who was selling tickets for all the dance performances in the area. (He has no last name, which is common in Bali.)
Gusman knew what was going on where and could advise on the best places to sit. From him, I could buy tickets for performances that same day or later in the week. His “office” was a small table on the corner of Jalan Raya (main street) and Jalan Kajeng, next to the Lotus Café. I could call or e-mail him and he would deliver the ticket to my hotel or to a restaurant where I was having dinner.
I bought all of my tickets through Gusman and recommend him. Tickets cost $6 to $8 each.
The dances were performed for tourists; still, I felt like I was seeing a bit of the “old” and “real” Bali.
My favorite performances were those of the Kecak Dance, or Monkey Dance. A group of about 100 chanting men provided the “music” and background for a reenactment of the Ramayana story, an ancient Hindu epic. The evening performance at the Pura Dalem Puri temple, in central Ubud, was lit by torches. It was followed by an energetic Fire Dance performed to hypnotic drumbeats.
I also enjoyed the classic Legong, Baris and Barong dances on different evenings at the Puri Saren Agung, or Royal Palace, across the street from the public market and the tourist information office in the center of Ubud. Seeing these classic dances in such a richly ornamented architectural setting is an experience.
Be aware that there is no reserved seating at these venues and you must get there early for a good seat. Tickets often are oversold, so you might end up standing if you are late.
Esther Perica
Arlington Heights, IL