For the second consecutive year FEA presented the legendary guitarist John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension in a sold-out concert as part of their Black Light tour. If McLaughlin's concert last year set the benchmark for quality live events in Mumbai, this year's performance surpassed all expectations of audiences who came from all corners of the country to experience this great musician's genius.

McLaughlin’s band The 4th Dimension has been his longest running line-up and it showed. The almost telepathic connection and communication between the band members, keyboardist/percussionist Gary Husband, bassist Étienne M’Bappé and drummer Ranjit Barot was an absolute marvel to behold. The wide scape of the material, their precision and complexity in playing as an organic entity was nothing short of brilliant.

FEA brought back the day-long format of Indian Classical events for this year’s Diwali Concert Series. The day long concert which began at 9 am and continued till 6 pm allowed for raags to be heard at their appropriate time and in keeping with the unhurried pace that is central to the Hindustani music experience. Beginning with a morning performance by Dhrupad exponent Pt. Uday Bhawalkar that lasted more than two hours, the artiste was able to present audiences with the complete range and depth of this genre of music. He presented Raag Bhairav and Gujari Todi.

After a short break he was followed by Vijaya Jadhav Gatlewar, a fine exponent of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. She has sadly very infrequently graced Mumbai performance stages. She performed two rarely heard raags, Kukubh Bilawal and Samant Sarang.

The event was concluded by an astounding performance by Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, one of the greatest classical artistes of contemporary times. Marrying the distinct artistry of Agra, Gwalior and Jaipur in his recital Panditji sang for more than three hours. He began with the Raag Bhimpalasi before moving on to Dhanashree. After a break he resumed again with Jaitashree before ending with a Bhairavi bringing the day-long musical feast to a fine end.

FEA will be doing many more of these day-long concerts in the coming months.

The internationally acclaimed Akshara project and Exhibition was presented in Mumbai by Dastkari Haat Samiti, a nationwide association of craftspersons and First Edition Arts in association with Mumbai’s oldest and most prestigious Museum, The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (CSMVS).

This was the fourth full Exhibition of Akshara after its inauguration at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi in 2012 followed by invitations to Hangar Arts centre in Cairo as part of the India on the Nile Exhibition and to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The Exhibition conceptualised and produced by Dastakri Haat Samiti and its founder President Jaya Jaitly in 2012, involves 70 artists in crafts, textiles and traditional paintings on a journey of discovery into the world of letters, scripts and calligraphy. It incorporates scripts in 14 languages and 21 different hand skills covering 16 states of India. The individual stories of these journeys and the resulting art works contributed to the multifaceted Akshara.

30 craftspeople from different parts of the country who had worked on the Akshara project were part of the Exhibition and the crafts bazaar of Akshara inspired products. They also presented daily crafts demo sessions at the Coomarswamy Hall.

150 exhibits created for the Akshara Exhibition combining diverse craft forms with the language scripts of India, were exhibited at the main PR Gallery. The programming also included two shows of the play Blank Page by Sunil Shanbag’s Tamasha Theatre in the PR Gallery. There was a music concert by Sudha Raghuraman and Wasifuddin Dagar on the Museum Lawns as well as a talk by Jaya Jaitly on her fifty-year journey in the Crafts sector.

A calligraphy workshop for the Museum Children’s Club, Calligraphy and Crafts workshops with architects and interior designers as well as for graphics designers were also organised. One of the most interesting sessions was the one between contemporary and traditional artists.

A seminar on Language, Cultural Expressions and Identity was organised on the last day of the Exhibition at the CSMVS Museum with Kiran Nagarkar, Devdutt Pattanaik, Sachin Ketkar and Ganesh Devy.