Habba' in Kannada means 'Festival'. The third edition of annual cultural event, Bangalore Habba which had to be celebrated from December 4 to December 21, 2008 had been rescheduled for Feb 15-23, 2009.
Over 2750 artistes from Karnataka and 250 artistes from acros India will participate in Bangalore Habba. Habba will spread the festival acros towns in Karnataka such as Dharwad, Chikamangaluru, Mangalore, Tumkur and Mandya to create awarenes about different performing artts and share euphoric experience of the Habba with people living outside Bangalore.
Golf and swimming was introduced in Habba 2007. Habba would be a platform to highlight all forms of art from Hindustani Classical Music to Jazz. Children from 25 government schools will be trained in dance and the best five will be given a chance to perform on stage. Each day children will participate in dance workshops from 9 am to 4 pm.
The Habba has been sponsored by the Airtel . Events will include music, dance, film panorama, stret theatre, adventure sports, a golf tournament, tennis ball cricket tournament, pulling race, vintage car rally. Apart from art, the Haba has eat outs, shopping and also film elements. The street plays will be held at 75 junctions in Bangalore.
To mark the sixth year Bengaluru Habba (2008) celebration, the state government has agreed to adopt the Habba as one of the flagship festivals of the state. This three-week-long festival promises to offer everyone an exciting cultural experience
Additionally the arts, crafts, theatre and literary genres of Karnataka will be given importance including the Karnataka Shastriya Pratibhe music ensemble. The S P Balasubramanyam night, a Bollywood night with Shreya Ghoshal, a performance by Strings, a famous Pakistani rock band, Mrigaya - an Indian band in the global village and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt with a Rajasthani music ensemble are the mega events.
The programmes will be conducted at public places like parks, temples, malls, Cubbon Park and Art Espresso to facilitate more people to witness them. Dance, music, theatre, fashion and interactive sessions re planned in malls and the Resonance and mega events at the Plance Grounds. This event aims to reinstate Bangalore as the culture capital and not just IT/BT capital.
The venue will not be MG Road in view of the Bangalore Metro Rail work. The new venues are,
* Kala Madhyam Crafts and Performing Arts Mela: Chitrakala Parishat
* Swim Meet: Bowring Institute
* Golf Tournament: KGA Golf Club
* Habba Visual Arts: St George’s Square, Cubbon Park
* Hindustani Classical Music: Ambedkar Bhavan
* Classical Dance and Music: JSS Auditorium
* Carnatic Classical: Gayana Samaj
* English Theatre: Chowdaiah Memorial Hall
* Kannada Theatre: Dr Rajkumar Auditorium
* Cultural Events: Gopalan Mall, Mysore Road
* Musical Nites: Parks and BDA complexes
* Jazz Music: Alliance Francaise de Bangalore
* Rock Music: Palace Grounds, Mekhri Circle
* Mega Events and Food Courts, Palace Grounds. Some of the other highlights are:
- JSS auditorium for Classical Dance featuring performances by Padma Subramaniam, Mohiniatam by artistes from Kerala Kalamandalam, Kathak by Aditi Mangaldas.
- Ambedkar Bhavan for classical music with performances by Kunnaikudi Vaidyanathan, TAS Mani, Shuba Mudgal.
- Shankara Foundation for varied arts foundation featuring Nupura, Usha Uthup, fusion band The Unknowns and Gerard Machado Network.
- Chitra Kala Parishat for Kannada theatre.
- Samsa featuring Rangasiri Theatre festival
- Palace Grounds will see some glittering action during Dec 9-11. Some events include jugalbandhi of Pandit Jasraj and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Dhol Foundation UK, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
- Parks for sufi music, magic shows, fim music.
- Temples for Carnatic and Hindustani vocals.
- Artiste's Walkway on MG Road.
