CHENNAI: The French Embassy in India and Institut Francais India launched Bonjour India on Thursday at Alliance Francaise Madras. The opening was announced by Catherine Suard, the Consul General of France to India in Puducherry. The function was also attended by Pierre -Emmanuel Jacob, executive director, Alliance Francaise.
Bonjour India is a four-month-long voyage across India, which starts in Chennai. The programme aims to cover 32 cities across 20 states. The motto of the programme is to enhance and celebrate the Indo-French partnership mainly in arts and culture.
“I am pleased to start my mandate in Chennai and Puducherry with Bonjour India. The idea is to involve arts and artists from India and encourage them to create unique projects with French artists. It’s the Indian counterpart of Namaste India, which was held in Paris earlier this year,” said Catherine Suard.
The Bonjour India committee had shortlisted few projects from the proposals they have received as a part of the programme. They will be done with the collaboration of both Indian and French artists for which they will camp together for few weeks for better work-coordination.
Some of the highlighted programmes for the project are: A play, ‘The water princess’, which already started its rounds around the country, was created by Theatre Nisha and produced by Alliance Francaise of Madras. Second is a poetry recital titled ‘Songs of the heart’ which features music by French and Italian composers and illustrated by poetry from the Renaissance and Baroque eras in dialogue with jewels of Indian Poetry. This will be held on December 17.
Another interesting project is ‘Heaven and Earth’, which is an encounter between traditional and vocal music. Famous Carnatic musician Aruna Sairam shares the stage with Dominique Vellard, an expert in Gregorian chanting and director of Gilles Binchois ensemble.
“There is one more purpose to this programme and that is to promote France as a destination for higher studies,” said Pierre-Emmanuel Jacob. The event was wrapped up after a brief Q&A section.
For details regarding other projects in the programme, call 28279803