When Pt. Rajendra Gangani came twirling on to the stage at The Music Academy, to the chant of ‘Om Nama Shivaaya’ and suggestively described Siva with Ganga cascading from His locks, the snakes encircling His body and wide eyes denoting the all-knowing third eye, while performing fast footwork, you knew you were in the presence of a master of the craft.
Pt. Rajendra is a senior Kathak artist and teacher, hailing from a hereditary family of Kathak dancers. He is the son and disciple of Pt. Kundanlal Gangani and the grand-nephew of the celebrated Kathak guru, Narayan Prasad.
He went on to present the Shiva Stuti, Nagendra Haaraaya, in this evocative manner, where just one mudra or hand gesture conveyed so much. It ended with a full blown tatkaar rhythm as a veera Siva in teen taal. The invocation emphasised the strengths of the Jaipur gharana to which Pt. Rajendra belongs - virtuosity in rhythm and emphasis on devotional content in abhinay.
Post invocation, rhythm dominated the recital as Pt. Rajendra wowed the audience repeatedly with his absolute control over footwork and presentation. There are some unusual movements in his footwork - an additional sideways movement of the foot even during faster speeds, as well as the dragging of the big toe at the end of a rhythmic passage to reach sam , the first beat of the tala cycle. Sequences like ‘Choot ki Uthan’ using the offbeat and the ‘Journey of Dha’ paran, using intonations of the syllable dha to lengthen or shorten the beats to suit the gati changes, were arresting compositions by Pt. Kundanlal.
The play of numbers continued in the Chakkardar toda where the beat of the twirl went as 1-2-3- sam , and progressively increased with every twirl to 1-2-3-4- sam and so on; more chakkars followed in 3s and 4s, making the picture a kaleidoscope of numbers and chakkars.
One of the most exciting was a ladi that Pt. Rajendra titled ‘Chennai Express,’ when the fast tempo mimicked an express train. And when another train crossed, the sound and the speed slackened, while the other moved at superfast speed, all this seen in the tonal variations as the flat-feet footwork gave way to the soft heel-only.
The dancer performed a similar feat in the final jugalbandi as he silenced the 399 bells on his feet, to single out just one bell. The extremely dexterous tabla player (Fateh Singh Gangani) responded by playing with the finger tips. This was artistry of a high order.
If there was one drawback, it was that there was hardly any music heard that evening. Even the one Tulsidas bhajan, ‘Pavana manda suganda sheetal’ was muffled. Pt. Rajendra was also supported by Vinod Gangani (vocal) and Nafeez Ahmed (sarangi).
