Happy New Year from India!

HAPPY 2013 everyone! Just a quick post before I head further south to start the long anticipated residency in Shoranur.

I am slowly getting used to the wonderfully full-of-colours-busy-topsy-turvy lifestyle in India. I arrived in Kolkata a week ago, and was met by my wonderful host Georgie from Sound Travels. I have spent most of the week acclimatizing, researching travel for the rest of my trip in more detail, and booking trains etc. In Kolkata I met up with some local artists, musicians, educators and creatives, who Georgie introduced me. I was lucky enough to meet Kutle Kahn (one of Sound Travels associate artists, pictured on the right of the photo). Kutle Kahn and his band played Rajasthani-folk music into the night, and dancing to it is a wonderfully magical experience! Also, I’ve been invited to give a talk about Shadow Puppetry in a school in Delhi, which I will do when I am there next month. Amazing!

Tomorrow I head to the southern state of Kerala, a long, sticky, overnight train journey away.