Spectacular performances of music and dance ushered in the three-day Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Sangeet Sattra, Guwahati and the Ninth Rasheswar Saikia Borbayan Sattriya Award Ceremony, 2017 at the Rabindra Bhawan, Guwahati. The award was instituted by Sangeet Sattra, the premier institution for imparting training of the Sattriya culture, to mark respect to the late Rasheswar Saikia Borbayan. As founder principal of Sangeet Sattra, he made exemplary contributions towards Sattriya. This year, Padma Shri Bayanacharya Ghanakanta Bora Borbayan and Odissi Guru Gajendra Panda received the coveted award from the Governor of Assam, Banwarilal Purohit.
Well-known artists from the State and outside performed in the annual festival. “Pushpa Arghya” (offering) by top dancers of Sattriya and other Indian classical forms opened the celebrations. Beginning with Vishnu Bandana and concluding with Guru Bandana, the exactitude and character of each dance form was maintained as the presentation moved towards a uniform composition designed in pairs incorporating one Sattriya dancer with those of other forms.
The artistic brilliance and expertise of Sattriya dancers like Ranjumoni and Rinjumoni Saikia, and Upasana Mahanta (Bharatanatyam), Rekha Talukdar (Manipuri), Ruparani Das Bora (Kathak), Anjana Moyee Saikia (Odissi) and Bobby Chakravarty (Kuchipudi), enhanced the choreography by Dhrubojyoti Pathak, Ranjumoni and Rinjumoni Saikia of Sangeet Sattra. After the Madhavadeva “Borgit” by female singers of Sangeet Sattra, Abhimanyu and Vidha Lal presented a captivating “Harihara”, followed by the gems of the Jaipur Gharana in Teentaal displaying taatkars, tihais, jugalbandi in chakkars with breath-taking footwork and the Gharana speciality “Gopuchha” paran, only with footwork.
The second day being Guru Poornima, all those teachers who were taught by Guru Rasheswar Saikia were felicitated. Senior dancers of Sangeet Sattra presented “Kuji’r Banchapuran” followed by an impressive item with Bortaal (large brass cymbals) integrating Sankeertan with Sattriya dance. Female dancers displayed their command over rhythm and grammar in Basant Pallavi. Bobby Chakravarty’s Kuchipudi recital on portraying the character of proud Satyabhama, her longing for her Lord and the final surrender was appealing. Saumitra Shankar Chowdhury of Silchar blended songs of Tagore with the folk dances of the North East in search of unity in his presentation of Sanhatir Khoj. The item set to “Ekkhana Megh bheshey” by Bhupen Hazarika was interesting.
Grand conclusion
The final day began with a vocal recital followed by an impressive Khol recital by young Arunabh Jyoti Malakar and Dhrubojyoti Pathak in Sutkala and Ektal. Two dance dramas, “Draupadir Bastroharan” and “Ekalabya”, were staged by seniors of Sangeet Sattra but the best of the festival with mature abhinaya, skilful dancing and good teamwork was the latter. Kathak dancer Hemanta Kolita from Nrityangan, Delhi showed amazing vitality in Shiva Stuti, “Nagendraharaaya” and Nritta in Teentaal. A group from Bangladesh gave a riveting recital of nine folk songs in Bangla and one in Assamese amidst thunderous applause.
