Natya Tarangini’s Parampara National Festival of Music and Dance, an annual event organised by Kuchipudi maestros Raja and Radha Reddy, endeavours to present the classical performance arts under the umbrella of a theme that changes with every edition. This year’s festival began this past Wednesday with Kuchipudi by Yamini Reddy (daughter and disciple of Raja and Radha Reddy) and a concert by the fusion band SubraMania featuring Ambi and Bindu Subramanium (son and daughter of eminent violinist L. Subramaniam). With a sarod recital by Ayaan Ali Khan (son and disciple of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan) and Kathak by Abhimanyu and Vidha Lal (son and daughter-in-law of Guru Geetanjali Lal) scheduled for this Thursday and a doubled billed evening by Bhavana Reddy (Raja and Kaushalya Reddy’s daughter) on Friday, this year’s theme could have been ‘famous children of famous artists’. But no, its actual name is “Bhavayami” — literally, “I think” — and, if you go by Bhavana, it’s all about expressing your individuality.
Perhaps the most challenging evening will be Bhavana’s. First she performs Kuchipudi — a dance form she has been known to excel at since she was seven or less — and then follows it up with a concert of her own contemporary music compositions. On stage with Bhavana will be young musicians from both the U.S. and India. Drummer Dennis Nilsson, bass player Krishnan Swaminathan, and fiddle player Dannon Rampton are flying in from America, while guitarist Vinay Kaushal is from Pune, and percussionist Rakesh Bhardwaj, flautist Kiran and keyboardist Rohit Gupta are Delhi-based.
Bhavana says that since 2008, when she was in college, she has been giving sporadic performances of songs in a contemporary expression she is experimenting with.
“They’re slightly off track. They’re not Pop, not even fusion. It has Indian influences. I’ve been training in Carnatic music since I was four years old. It’s become a part of me. My ear is tuned to it. And I used to have a lot of interest in western music since I was a kid. I like all the mainstream kinds of music: Pop, Blues, R&B, Rock,” she explains.
That’s why she enrolled in the Musicians’ Institute in Los Angeles in 2011. Here she learnt skills like sight reading and how to take control of her voice. She found that in Carnatic music she had been using mostly what is referred to as a mixed voice, whereas in contemporary music, “we use head voice and falsetto,” she notes. “I learnt lots of things about my own voice, about history and theory,” she says.
In the institute’s artists’ program, she was trained in “how to be an independent artist, write your own songs, produce,” she continues. “These days, everything is towards do-it-yourself. You’re the master of your own art and your own brand name. That’s a culture I am very interested in, I like to write my own lyrics, compose the chords, produce it. Later, I would like to do the engineering and mixing too,” she says, adding, “I’ve got a long way to go. But it’s a very interesting field.”
As to the stamina required to first present a Kuchipudi solo and then a vocal concert, she admits it’s tough, but the dance part is not full concert duration, and “music is not as tiring as dance.”
If the second part of the evening is Bhavana’s individual expression, the first part is a joint endeavour. The art is centuries old, the dance compositions are by Raja Reddy, and the dancer attempts to bring out the thoughts of the vaggeyakara (composer and lyricist).
“In dance, you get to play somebody else’s character. You step into somebody else’s shoes. But in music, I feel like you’re stepping into your own shoes. You’re not hiding behind a character, you’re exposed. It’s something I find very beautiful in music. It was very nerve wracking in the beginning,” comments Bhavana.
Of her collection of songs, three are collaborations, says Bhavana, while four are from her album and a few are new. “They’re all about heartbreak,” she says, “sadness and distress. I’m a happy thinker, but when you get me into deep thought I think sad things.”
Juxtapose that with the neutral expression of the classical dancer, who is taught to hold the ‘smitam’ — a smile reflective of inner peace — and what do you get? A generation gap? A pause, perhaps? Or Bhavana, uninterrupted?
(Parampara — 2014 on September 4 features Abhimanyu and Vidha Lal (Kathak) and Ayaan Ali Khan (sarod); and on September 5 , Bhavana Reddy in a Kuchipudi recital and then in a concert of ‘Indo-Western Rock’. Kamani auditorium, Copernicus Marg, Mandi House, New Delhi, 7 p.m.)
