Himalayan Fair
www.himalayanfair.org
For
Immediate Release
Contact: Ralph Davies,
510.834.7435, rdavies@sbcglobal.net
Benefit for
Humanitarian Grassroots Projects in the Himalayas Celebrates 23rd
year
Shabaz , Chaksam-pa and Ancient Future join Mongolian Throat
Singers at the Fair
BERKELEY—(April 11,
2006) The Himalayan Fair Committee presents the 23rd Annual HIMALAYAN FAIR—A Benefit for
Humanitarian Grassroots Projects in the Himalayas. Award-winning dancers and
musicians will represent the great mountain cultures of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan,
India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mongolia while vendors of art objects and
savory food from as far as Kathmandu hawk their wares—on Saturday, May 20, 10
AM to 7 PM and Sunday, May 21 10 AM to 5:30 PM at Live Oak Park, 1300 Shattuck
Avenue @ Berryman, North Berkeley, CA, wheelchair assistance & facilities.
Requested donation at the gate is: $8 single, $15 couple, $20 trio, children 12
and under are free. This event is the only one, anywhere, that brings together all
the Himalayan cultures in celebration.
“The
entertainment at the fair ranges from Mongolian throat singers to Classical
dancers from the southern tip of India--and everything in between.”—Barbara Framm, entertainment co-producer.
One ambles among tents and booths scattered under the towering oak and
redwood trees of the park. There is the spicy aroma of food baking over
charcoal, vibrant colors in booths and whirling on dancers, sounds of bells,
singing, laughter and Tibetan long-horns and seeing those rare Mongolian Throat
Singers featured in National Geographic. It is one of the few places where
Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians and secular folk gather in peace,
to share and learn about cultures. The Fair provides a rare trip to a unique
Himalayan festival without leaving the Bay Area.
During the past few years the
Fair has raised over $180,000 from gate donations, which goes a long way when
you convert the currency. This year’s Fair is raising money for projects such
as Prism Bangladesh, building arsenic
free wells, Kham Aid Foundation,
providing educational scholarships, and The
International Women’s Sewing Group supporting education projects for
children.
“We live in a nation where the self is
isolated, and in Himalayan cultures the self is connected to other people, to a
larger force and landscape. It's important to help people who can benefit from
the basic things we take for granted: access to food and clean water, medical
equipment and treatment, school buildings, education, clothes to wear and
mattresses to sleep on.”
―Barbara Mercer, Himalayan Fair Director
Founded in 1984 by Arlene Blum, the first woman to scale Annapurna, the annual outdoor celebration grows larger every year. Vendors come from as far as Kathmandu. The HIMALAYAN FAIR offers a wide variety of award winning stage performers (for adults and children) produced by Katherine Kunhiraman Co-Director of the Kalanjali: Dances of India, and Barbara Framm Assistant Director of Odissi Vilas: Sacred Dance of India dance company. The entertainment features a range of international groups performing their traditional music and dance with vibrant ethnic costumes as well as some well known world beat groups like Shabaz and Ancient Future. New to the Fair this year, Vidya, with Prasant Radhakrishnan and his band giving
a new twist to Carnatic music, featuring South Indian saxophone!
This year marks the welcome
return of Chaksam-pa to the Fair. A
locally based Tibetan Dance and Opera Company, directed by Shurzur Tashi
Dhondup, Chaksam-pa presents authentic traditional dance, music, and costumes
from Tibet. In addition, fairgoers will be treated to classical Odissi dance by
Odissi Vilas: Sacred Dance of India, North Indian Kathak dance presented by
Chitresh Das Dance Company, “Bollywood Splash”, Bollywood-inspired film dances,
Mirage and Echo of Mongolia featuring awe-inspiring acrobats and throat
singers, local Nepali and Tibetan community groups presenting dance and music,
and the traditional offering by local dance schools of Bharata Natyam,
classical South Indian dance. Opera Company
The weekend event,
supported by The City of Berkeley, East
Bay Express, KPFA Radio 94.1 FM, The
Monthly and the North Shattuck Association, offers access to non-profit
organizations providing travel information, health reports, mountaineering
assistance, current news concerning the Himalayas and related charitable
organizations. As a benefit for Nepalese, Tibetan, Indian, Afghani and
Mongolian projects, the Himalayan Fair Committee carefully researches the recipients
to insure that the money raised by the gate donations and booth rentals goes
directly to children’s scholarships, medical equipment, clean water, nutrition
resources and other aid.
The
Fair's purpose is in sympathy with Milarepa the 11th Century Tibetan
Buddhist, poet and hermit saint who said:
To give alms
to the needy with compassion
Is equal to
serving Buddhas in the Three Times.
All the
happiness one has is derived from others
All the help
one gives to them
In return
brings happiness.
Barbara Mercer
fell in love with the Himalayas and its peoples when she accompanied her friend
Arlene Blum on the return trip to the Annapurna region in 1984. She has helped
organize the fair as part of the Himalayan Fair Committee since 1985 and has
been the Director since 1991. However by vocation she is a psychologist in the
Bay Area. She is also a writer and photographer. Barbara has returned to the
Himalayas many times to trek, for social/psychological projects, and has
studied the Nepali language for many years.
Arlene Blum
led the first female expedition, up the world's 10th highest
peak—Annapurna in 1978. She was part of the Bicentennial Everest Expedition in
1976, setting an altitude record for American women. Her climbing feats were
preceded by a career as a biochemist at University of California, Berkeley.
Arlene is a keynote speaker, leadership and inter-cultural trainer and her
recent memoir Breaking Trail A Climbing
Life was published in fall 2005 by Scribner. The paperback is scheduled for release soon. Arlene
"founded" the Himalayan Fair with a Tibetan teacher, Lama Kunga of
the Ewam Choden Center, when they decided to call a picnic gathering of Tibetan
and Nepali residents with their friends in Berkeley, creating the first
official Himalayan Fair in 1984.
Katherine
Kunhiraman
is the director of Kalanjali: Dances of India, based in Berkeley CA. Returning
from 12 years in India in 1972, Katherine and her husband, Kathakali-dancer
K.P. Kunhiraman, founded their dance school Kalanjali, dedicated to the
promotion of Bharata Natyam, the classical dance of South India. Kalanjali is
well-known in the Bay Area, and throughout the Indian dance world, for
producing world-class dancers and bringing renowned artists from India on a
yearly basis to perform in Berkeley and throughout the Bay Area. Katherine has
been associated with the Himalayan Fair for over 20 years, gathering the finest
local and international artists, both community-based and professional, to
perform at the Fair.
Live or phone interviews
with Barbara Mercer, Arlene Blum, or Katherine Kunhiraman the Entertainment Producer, rehearsal visits,
as well as photos can be arranged
by contacting Ralph
Davies at 510.834.7435
of interest:
http://www.himalayanfair.org/prism.htm
http://www.ektaonline.org/~shabazmu/music/
http://www.tibet.org/chaksampa/About/index.html
http://www.tibet.org/chaksampa/
http://www.ektaonline.org/~shabazmu/
www.ancient-future.com/
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Himalayan Fair • P.O. Box 7736, Berkeley, Ca. 94707 • tel:
510.869.3995