Photos: Kolkata Celebrates Heritage at Tram Tales

Underground Authority live at Tram Tales on day two.  

For all the times we’ve heard about Kolkata being ridiculed for loving its century-old heritage and holding on to history, they’ve found a way to celebrate the past, present and future of the city through art, film, drama and music. Tram Tales, a two-day event hosted at Gariahat Tram Depot in Kolkata on May 7th and 8th, converted trams into spaces for live music, film screenings, graffiti and plays. The idea was conceptualized by performance artist Kheya Chattopadhyay and filmmaker Aditya Sengupta after it became a winning shortlisted entry in Kolkata’s Future Media School’s art-specific project The Future of the Past, which aims at creating spaces for different art forms to interact.

Amidst the live graffiti and documentaries on air, Tram Tales hosted the likes of pop rockers The Ganesh Talkies playing a lot of new material ranging from “Rum and Coke” to “The Great Indian Freak Show” on day one to rap rock band Underground Authority closing proceedings with their signature energy. Other noteworthy performances included upcoming electro pop duo Adil and Paloma and a collaboration between two Kolkata acoustic acts – Freshword and the Red Staples.

The Ganesh Talkies live at Tram Tales on day one.

The city’s art-loving crowd turned up in good numbers at Tram Tales, considering this was the first time the private tram depot was opened to the public. The organizers roped in Nishit Arora, who also spearheads Kolkata’s weekly gig series Jamsteady, to program all Tram Tales lineup that ranged from acoustic to classical to rock.

Photos: Margub Ali

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