Colourful Krishnanjali

Colourful Krishnanjali

“Krishnanjali” – a tribute to Lord Krishna through dance was presented by the Gramsci Foundation, under the leadership of Anand Srivastava, a visual artiste and promoter of arts.

Dancers from different parts of India – Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi apart from Bengaluru – presented dances in different styles. Bharathanatya, Mohiniyatta, Kuchipudi and Odissi – brought a variety and colour to the festival.

Krishna is the most colourful incarnation of Lord Vishnu. From centuries Krishna’s divinity has been expressed through music, dance, painting, folk and poetry by innumerable artistes. Some of them were brought on the dance stage now, successfully. Sweta Prachande, a disciple of Priyadarshini Govind, opened her Bharatanatya recital with a Mallari in the raga Gambheera Nata. To make little Krishna sleep, mother Yashoda narrates episodes from Ramayana, Krishna’s favourite bedtime story. Here, the dancer used verses from “Krishna Karnamruta.” Dramatising a few episodes like Seethapaharana, Maya Mriga, young Sweta with her charming Abhinaya performed impactfully “Kalinga Narthana” also.

Saji Menon (Mumbai), student of Dr Kanak Rele, with the customary costume of Mohiniyata, chose Jayadeva’s Astapadi. Radha urges the sakhi to bring Krishna in the astapadi “Sakhi He.” In the next item, Lord Krishna redeems Kubja of the suffering and bondage of Kamsa and Saji’s Abhinaya was also good.

T Reddy Lakshmi, from Delhi (Kuchipudi), chose a devotional of Swati Tirunal in which Dyutha, Vastrapaharana, were enacted in the “Sanchari”. In the Taranga naturally she danced on the brass plate with a variety of foot work. But the background vocal was poor and the sound of percussion was louder than vocal and the recording quality was also bad, robbing all her efforts.

Again, Astapadi “Geeta Govinda” was the choice of Madhulita Mohapatra for her Odissi recital. Radha’s search for her beloved on the banks of River Yamuna was enacted. In the next song, “Bajuchhi Sahi Bajare,” Meghna Das also joined Madhulita. In the Oriya song, the sakhi tells that the love of Radha and Krishna has become the talk of the town and their love affair is being trumpeted in the streets. Both the dancers performed with ease and good expression.

Ubhayker Sangeet Utsav

Smriti Nandan daughter of (Late) Lalitha Ubhayker is conducting young musicians festival regularly for the last 28 years.

Young vocalists and instrumentalists of Hindustani music, students of great Gurus, participate in the Devnandan Ubhayker Yuva Sangeet Utsav, every year. This year, flute, dhrupad and percussion ensemble, apart from vocal concerts, were held last week at the Canara Union Hall.

Opening concert of the Utsav was a percussion ensemble – solo tabala by eight students – all below 16 years. They are all students of Pandith Samar Saha and was conducted by Bivas Sanghai and it is their first performance outside Kolkata. They performed with abandon and their career is worth watching.

It was followed by a vocal concert by Swyamduti Majumdar of Bengal. She has been trained in the Kasur Patiala gharana and is a recipient of scholarship and is also a playback singer. In the current concert, the time-tested raga Purya Dhanashri received appealing airing. Starting slowly, she reached the thara stayee gradually, stage by stage. Touching the pivotal swaras gently, she tried her best to bring out “raga bhava”.

With her good voice, the next composition “Yadpiya Ki Aaye” was also delightful. It was pleasing though not outstanding and Swyamduti Majumdar can reach great heights with some more training and experience. Sumit Naik on tabala and Madhusoodan Bhat on harmonium – accompanied her.

Devotional music

One of well-known musician Dr Vidyabhushana gave an exclusive concert of Haridasa compositions, last week.

It was part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of RT Nagar Cultural Association, held in collaboration with Sri Vinayaka Temple, RT Nagar. Dr Vidyabhushan presented devaranamas of different Haridasas and was accompanied by J K Sridhar on violin, B S Purushotham on mridanga and Prasanna Kumar on morching.

The pada, “Kondadalallave” gave him a bright start. “Kanninolage Nodo Hariya” has a meaningful lyric and “Istudina Ea Vaikunta” is a popular devotional of Kanakadasa. He elaborated Mohana raga for “Pore Emma Swamy” neatly and presented with nerval (Maara Janaka Ninna) and swara prasthara. He sang a number of Ugabhogas which were well received. It was very apt and enhanced the impact of the Devaranamas. A large gathering enjoyed Vidyabhushana’s music, which he sang melodiously and with good feeling.