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Section Synopsis
NEWS & NOTES
Kinkini turns 25
- SULOCHANA SARALAYA
Kinkini celebrated its 25th anniversary with a seven-day "Rajata Nrityotsava" in Bengaluru. The festival
was held from 9th to 15th January at H.N. Kalakshetra and a three-day Yuva Nrityotsava was organised from
16th to 18th January at Seva Sadan Hall. The main festival featured 13 performances while
the youth festival showcased six young dancers.
"Kinkini" came into being in 1983 with the aim of popularising and promoting local practitioners of classical dance,
especially Bharatanatyam, with a capital of 8,000 rupees collected by P.S. Narayanaswamy, a close friend of the
Gopinaths who launched Kinkini. From its humble beginnings, Kinkini has grown into a prestigious national level
dance festival in the last two decades. Almost all the senior dancers in all the classical dance styles of India
have performed at the festival.
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From martial art to dance
- ILEANA CITARISTI
The 7th Kalinga Mahotsav – a national festival of martial dances — took place at Dhauli Shanti
Stupa, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on 10th and 11th of January. It was organised by Art Vision in
collaboration with the Department of Tourism, Govern-ment of Orissa.
The festival showcased the different stages of transition – from purely martial disciplines
through semi choreographed forms of combat, to full fledged dance forms, both traditional and contemporary.
Every region in India has developed a system of exercises to be used as a technique of attack and defence in
war and combat. They involved a high degree of physical and mental concentration to achieve the complex
movements and the strength required for their execution. The martial techniques are also a storehouse
of information for studying the kinetics of body language from a sastraic point of view.
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COLLABORATION
Samyuktam – Confluence in Creativity
- SUNIL KOTHARI
Collaborations in creativity Samyuktam was the brain-wave of that indefatigable organiser and visualiser
Sanjeev Bhargav, who continues to delight Delhiites with Ananya – the annual festival of choreographic works
at the historic Purana Qila. Under the joint aegis of India International Centre (IIC), Seher, Power Grid
Corporation, First City monthly and others, the three evenings 16th to 18th March of Samyuktam will be long
remembered for the novel approach to bring together some of the best of Carnatic vocalists, musicians and
Bharatanatyam exponents to explore common ground in classical dance and music without losing their autonomy,
but to explore and embellish one another.
16 th March 2009: After listening to Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna two years ago at the IIC Experience
Festival, Sanjeev Bhargav expressed the desire that he should sing for Priyadarsini Govind, the Bharatanatyam
exponent. From then on started the journey towards Samyuktam. The programmes were held in the beautiful ambience
of Fountain Lawns of India International Centre, on a stage tastefully designed by Sumant Jaikrishnan, with
artistic lighting by Gautam Bhattacharya. Full care was taken of the sound system and other factors which
provided the rasika-s a rewarding experience.
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NEW PRODUCTION
Tagore's love: poetic licence
- MEENA BANERJEE
Rabindranath Tagore's covert longing for his first love glowed throughout his creative life. He was besotted with
the dusky charm of his 'Notun Bouthan' Kadambari Devi, the wife of his elder brother. Both Tagore and his Bouthan –
in their teens, shared common interests. She inspired him to compose songs in the Padavali style in which Tagore
emerged as Bhanusingh Thakur (synonymous of Rabindranath). It was composed in Maithili and had the immortal love of
Radha and Krishna as its subject. The portrayal of a desolate Radha was actually the portrayal of his
lonely Bouthan.
He called her 'Srimati Hey'. If 'Srimati' signified Radha, the goddess of divine love, 'Hey' was named after Hecate,
the Greek goddess of dark places, often associated with sorcery! This bond grew so strong that she could not bear the
pangs of their secret love and committed suicide soon after Tagore’s marriage with Mrinalini Devi but the fragrance of
her memory clung to him till his last breath. This fragrance inspired the bard to explore new vistas of literature
and music, to pen immortal poems, to compose unparalleled songs. Throughout this journey he chased the mystic
beauty of his muse.
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SEMINAR
Africa meets Asia
An international music conference and festival 2008 on the theme Africa meets Asia was organised by
Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha in collaboration with the Centre for Intercultural Musicology, Churchill College,
Cambridge, U.K., from July 11 to 15 last year at Purandarabhavana Auditorium, Bangalore. For a variety of
reasons, Sruti could not cover the conference earlier, but because of the size, range, novel theme and
international nature of the festival, we record it here, albeit extremely late. Following this report, we
reproduce excerpts from a lecdem by Carnatic vocalist Gayathri Venkataraghavan, as something of particular
interest to newcomers to Carnatic music, and hope to offer similar features in future issues.
The event began with a welcome speech by sabha president S.N.S. Moorthy. Former Chief Justice of India Justice
M.N. Venkatachaliah inaugurated the conference. Swami Harshanandaji of the Ramakrishna Mutt, Bangalore also blessed
the occasion. Dr. S.A.K. Durga, Prof. Emeritus, Music Department, Madras University and Director, Centre for
Ethnomusicology, gave the keynote address on "Confluence of melody and rhythm in the musics of Africa and Asia."
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COVER STORY
Ravindra Sangeet
Ravi Shankar: the man and his music
- V. RAMNARAYAN
Many of us of the 1960s generation easily identified with the sitar music of Ravi Shankar (sick and tired of the
number of Pandits in Indian music, he has renounced the prefix Pandit). We saw in him an iconoclast and a youth
icon, an advocate of protest — Make love, not war. We were easily swayed by the purity of sound of his instrument,
his fascinating collaboration with Ustad Allah Rakha, his tremendous success with the lotos eaters of the 20 th century who flocked to his concerts for all the wrong musical reasons. We didn’t know then that
they were the wrong reasons; we didn’t know that for all his dalliance with experimentation and
cross-cultural collaboration, even film music, he was a highly accomplished exponent of traditional music.
We didn't know then that among his contemporaries he was perhaps the one Hindustani musician who appreciated
Carnatic music, not to mention his respect for its practitioners.
Yes, he was a matinee idol among classical musicians. For perhaps the only period in its 80 odd years of existence,
the Madras Music Academy broke its own rules in the 1960s to accommodate the spillover of Panditji's New Year's
Eve concert into the New Year. He would pause at the midnight hour and offer his greetings to his audience to
thunderous applause. What could be more exciting for young people straining at the leash to be liberated
from the conservative norms of Madras by arguably the most charismatic of India's classical musicians!
Yet to listen to the lilting strains of the sitar, losing ourselves in the sensitive raga explorations of the
maestro, was a transporting, spiritually elevating experience. Even to the uninitiated, it was quite obvious that
this was no mere entertainment, not cleverly packaged razzmatazz. There was depth in the music, and the contours
of the raga-s were so brilliantly etched, whether in the elaborate alap-jod-jhala that opened the concert, the
shorter, brisk piece that followed, the Carnatic raga-s the maestro had made Hindustani music’s own, or indeed
one of the raga-s he had created. The mastery of the music and the instrument was so complete, it seemed
effortless, though we now know how much devotion, tireless practice and intelligent absorption of all his guru
offered him it took to make him a complete musician.
Strict teacher, loving mentor
Janardan Mitta turned 75 on 12th May 2009. His sitar was a permanent fixture in the music of films made in Chennai
for some 40 years. A disciple of Ravi Shankar, he has been focussing on classical music concerts in the last
few years. He has also been involved in fusion efforts, notably with Carnatic violinist A. Kanyakumari.
Excerpts from his conversation with V. RAMNARAYAN.
Belonging to a Telugu family from Hyderabad as you did, how did you become a sitar player?
My father, a successful lawyer, had a great interest in music. He could play the tabla and harmonium and used to
sing songs like Mohe panghat pe from Mughal-e-Azam. My elder brother Vidyasagar was a popular singer of Saigal
songs and won the first prize year after year in college competitions.
I picked up my sister's sitar after she got married and went away. For a girl of her background, it was considered
an additional qualification in the marriage market to be able to sing or play an instrument.
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HERITAGE
Sangeeta Sthalam-s
Mylai Kapaliswarar temple
- SRIRAM V
Mylapore is synonymous with Carnatic music. Long considered the heartland of culture in Madras, its residents can
be pardoned for their pride in their artistic and scholastic achievements. Once it was an area known to house rich
and famous lawyers. Today, all this may have faded considerably, with the once palatial residences now either empty
or torn down for high-rise, but Mylapore still exudes a charm all its own. To speak or write about Mylapore and
the contribution of its residents to Carnatic music requires considerable courage, for after Tanjavur, it must rank
second highest in per capita creation of artists, patrons and composers. It is a vast sangeeta sthalam, housing
many important sangeeta sthalam-s within it, the greatest of them the Kapaliswarar temple whose legend gives the
area its name.
It was once a grove full of peacocks according to local legend. Goddess Parvati is said to have taken the form of a
peahen (mayil or mayuram) and worshipped Siva here. Lakshmi at the neighbouring Kesava Perumal temple is referred to
as Mayuravalli Tayar. The area has been referred to as Mylapore or Mylai or Mylappu along with other variants since
time immemorial. It is one of the oldest settlements that later became a part of Madras, founded in 1639. Among
the various temples in this locality, the Kapaliswarar or Tirumayilai temple is the largest. Situated on an east-west
axis and fronting a large teppakulam or tank with streets running on all four sides, this shrine is the heart of Mylapore.
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CLASS ACT
In this series, K.S. KALIDAS picks his choice of musicians he likes or respects. They may be successful
concert artists, stars of tomorrow or musicians' musicians.
Jayalakshmi Santhanam
A veteran musician not properly recognised in Tamil country is seventy five-year old vocalist Jayalakshmi Santhanam,
who prefers to spend most of her time in Chennai while her family base is in Hyderabad. Years have taken their toll on
her physical strength and energy but not her spirit and passion for music. Many are the concerts of young musicians in
their teens and twenties that Jayalakshmi attends, seated in the front row of city sabha-s. For a person who has heard
plenty of music of Ariyakudi and Maharajapuram in her youth, she graciously takes in her stride the music of
today's youngsters. If and when a rare youngster asks for her comments on his or her performance she gently points
out certain shortcomings and suggests corrections while not forgetting to praise the positive aspects. Jayalakshmi
is a regular at kutcheri-s by many young and old musicians who rarely attend her concerts. It is but human that
she feels a tinge of regret but there is neither bitterness nor cynicism; her attitude is alway positive and cheerful.
For the first ten years of her life, her family had settled in Tiruvanantapuram, which during that period, was bustling
with musical activity – not merely concerts, but with musical institutions, guru-s and composers. Her second eldest
brother, V.V. Sundararajan and his talented wife Rukmini, who was a well known concert artist, played host to almost
all senior musicians visiting Tiruvanantapuram and were also close to resident musicians of the period like
Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. The youngest of eleven children, Jayalakshmi was
the pet of her tightly knit family.
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Serene, sensitive, sophisticated, composed, classical, unassuming – at some time or the other, critics
reviewing Savita's concerts have used one or more of these adjectives in their writings.
She is perhaps one of the most laid back among our young vocalists today. A 'no – gimmick', no 'melodrama' kind of
singer, she believes in under-statement. There is nothing flashy or ostentatious in her music, or even in her
personality. On stage, while exuding a quiet confidence, she is at ease with her pakkavadyam artists. She has
good stage presence, free of ungainly mannerisms. She has started attracting reasonably good crowds of late but not
the numbers that our most popular musicians do; and perhaps never will. And, she has gained visibility in Chennai
only during the past five or six years. Her warm and melodious voice and a vast repertoire of compositions are her assets.
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