All roads on Sunday evening led to India Habitat Centre (IHC) where Padmabhushan Bharatanatyam exponent Alarmel Valli and Oscar nominee Carnatic vocalist and composer Bombay Jayshri, a disciple of violinist Lalgudi Jayraman, paid a tribute to legendary musician, T. Muktha, celebrating her interpretations of two specific genres of musical Composition – the Padam and the Javali.
T. Muktha and T. Brinda, belonging to the bani style of that great veena player Veena Dhanam, the grandmother of Balasaraswati, had developed a unique style of singing. Valli was trained in music under T. Muktha, and in dance under Chokkalingam Pillai in Pandanallur bani . She and Bombay Jayshri selected two padams, two javalis and one virutm for the evening and cast a spell on the audience, who had come half an hour ago and there was not a single seat vacant.
Bombay Jayshri’s melodious singing filled the auditorium with raga Poorvi Kalyani, Aditala, nee mataley mayaruna, swami, balgara javali to which Valli enacted abhinaya, admonishing the truant lover who had promised her nose ring, ornaments, and various gifts. Employing unusual sancharis , improvisations, taunting him that were his promises written on flowing water, were so devious like the movements of the fish? Those promises flew away like birds, were his gestures of love play so empty? With knitted eyebrows, face wearing annoyance, anger and questioning him with sarcasm, the nayika, made it clear to the lover, she was in no mood to forgive him!
In quick succession followed the padam Yara kalum bhayama? in raga Begada, Mishrachapu tala, what do I have to be afraid of for my love for my Lord? The nayika with wave of her palm dismissed all who gossiped about her lover and she, the nayika with assurance of her beloved’s love for her, told those women that having sat on the elephant, she was not going to pass through the small doors, of gossipmonger women. Valli wore expressions of utter contempt and walked away with great pride of having a valorous man as her beloved.
But the highlight of the evening was Kshetrayya’s padam Payada in raga Nadanamakriya, in Tisra Triputa tala, echoing the anguish of a nayika. Her beloved had turned away from her. It tore her heart. One who constantly gazed at her, slept on pallu of her sari, could not bear for a moment to blink his eyes and even before the dark descended, he summoned the maid to bring a lamp so that he could continue to gaze at her face. Alas, what has made him discard me, and my love, like washing hands, a garland that has lost its fragrance and thrown away! Embellished by Jayshri’s heart wrenching singing and utterances of ‘Amamma’ as per the style of T.Muktha’s in place of ‘Ayyaiyo’, the music and dance merged into one entity.
Vasudevan on nattuvangam , Manoj Shiva on mridagam and Nandini on violin enhanced the impact with great finesse. And how Sanjay Gandhi, the lights designer, painted the canvass with gentle hues of colours.
Set to raga Khamas, Rupakam tala, Janaro saw Valli in portraying the nayika in complete command of herself, who asked her sakhi, confidante to convey the message to her lover to come unto her. The flowery arrows of Kamadeva and little prattle of her parrot upset her, nothing would soothe her except his embrace. Performed with delectable assurance one could see Valli’s vast range of expressions. Finale was virutam in ragamalika, dovetailing motherly love for the Goddess and when cajoling with all tricks to lure her failed, the devotee beseeched the goddess to bless her.
Organised by Aalap and IHC, the remarkable thing of their performance was neither the pace accelerated nor they flaunted its virtuosity. Slow, meditative, emotionally complex and atmospheric, they chose to explore the subtle nuances, the spaces between the words, the pauses between the notes, the subtle realms of the unspoken and the unspeakable.
A rare evening that celebrated Bharatanatyam as visual poetry and visual music. An evening in which the viewer was ideally able to ‘see the music’ and ‘hear the dance’.
