Arko Mukhaerjee, a trained North Indian classical singer and an urban folk artist from Calcutta, India, has been researching on the roots of Indian and Bengali folk and contemporary music. Formally trained in Indian classical music from his parents, Arko is equally versatile with European, African, Middle – Eastern, American and Indian folk songs along with blues, soul and several tribal music forms from India and Bengal in particular, which is what gives all his collaborations and projects, a unique blend of the tradition and the modern. He sings in more than 15 different languages and has been travelling all over Europe, collaborating with several other musicians in France, England and Germany and West Africa and has played in eminent music festivals in Europe, America, Bangladesh and Nepal.

BEYOND BARRIERS: A fundraising effort for a labour canteen in Bengal, India. Arko Mukherjee, an urban folk musician and Sandra Chatterjee, a dancer and an academician along with their friends have been running a community kitchen, a labour canteen in Howrah, one of the most marginalised areas in west Bengal, India. The initiative started in early 2020 during COVID Lockdown to feed underprivileged slum dwellers coming from the working-class families of the area, deeply affected by the lack of basic amenities for survival. The canteen volunteers and trustees have successfully run the initiative for two years, finally buying the bit of land necessary and beginning to construct an independent new building comprising of a fully equipped kitchen space, a recording studio for local artists, a little performance studio and a workout space. The vision in a nutshell is to have an independent black box art house, the first of its kind in suburban Bengal that will support the running of the kitchen, free from bureaucratic influences. It will be interesting to be a part of their journey so far through music, dance and stories celebrating solidarity, people, communities, and above all their resilience. Please get your tickets here: https://forms.gle/PjynYaZ3XRLyrzpX7 Since it’s a fundraising effort for a labour canteen in Bengal, it’s a ticketed event. Each ticket costs £15. We would also appreciate additional voluntary donations besides the ticket fee according to your convenience. All the funds raised from this event go straight into the official Priyonath Manna Bustee Community Kitchen fund.