The 29th Pt. Durgalal Festival, held for two days, was hosted by Sam Ved Society for Performing Arts, at the Sangit Mahabharti, Juhu, with a select synthesis of instrumental music concerts and classical dance.
Geeta Chandran’s Bharatanatyam began with a traditional Chokkanathar Kavuthuvam interwoven with crisp rhythmic patterns and dynamic sollukattus, invigorating the atmosphere and setting the tone for the repertoire to follow.
The central piece in Ragamalika and Misra chapu talam described various incidents of Krishna’s life. Ranging from Kalinga Mardana to the Geetopadesam, this piece was the highlight of the recital. She then moved on to a Surdas Bhajan in Raag Maand. Yashoda is narrating the story of Rama to baby Krishna. As the story moves to the incident of Sita’s abduction, Krishna for a moment is transformed to Rama and Yashoda is flabbergasted to see her baby demanding for weapons to fight. This sequence was communicated with clarity by Geeta Chandran.
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The concluding piece Chakar rakhoji, a crisp, fast-paced Mira bhajan was emotively executed.
Guru S. Shankar on the nattuvangam, Venkatesh on the vocal, Manohar Balachandran on the mridangam and Rajat Prasanna on the flute were the able accompaniments. The dancer embellished the performance with clear explanatory notes that communicated every bit of the choreography.
“Dancing in the open air ambience with greenery around was a sublime experience. I added some impromptu movements and used the trees around for augmenting the presentation. We always dance in theatres and closed chambers, this was so exquisite,” said Geeta Chandran. Same can be said of the audience experience.
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Pt. Akhilesh Gundecha and his two disciples Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh and Anuja Borude on Pakhawaj with Farooque Latif Khan on Sarangi accompanying for the Lehara, presented a rarely performed Taal Lakshmi, cycle of 18 beats. “Usually teen taal is taken by tabla and chautaal is taken by pakhawaj players. We took up this not so common old taal of Lakshmi. We presented all the three types of parans; sada, farmaishi and kamali chakradhars,” informs Pt.Gundecha.
Does a percussion concert have the same reach? “When I accompany a vocal, an instrument or a dance artiste, I am a support function, a sangat. I match my playing to the demand of the main performer. But in solo, I have creative freedom. There are some compositions specific to percussion that are quite long and not suited while accompanying.”
The second evening began on a melodious note — jugalbandi featuring Ashwin Srinivasan on the flute and Manas Kumar on the violin, with Vinayak Netke on the tabla for percussion support.
They played raga Maru Bihag, starting with aalap, moving to madhyalaya jhaptaal and ending with the bandish ‘Jagoon mein saari raina’ in teen taal. Talking of jugalbandi trend, Ashwin says it is like asking two painters to use the same canvas. “But Manas is a rare diamond. We enjoy the bond and similarity of style, as we share the same guru parampara of N. Rajam (my guru) and V. Balaji (guru of Manas). Rajam is the pioneer of the gayaki technique, which both of us follow. We sit together before our concerts which are quite frequent and plan the ragas and pieces. We complement each other.” says Ashwin.
‘While the temporary stage under the banyan tree was being deconstructed, Uma Dogra felicitated the dignitaries and the support functionaries like costume designer for the small embellishments, photographer and videographer Girish Nambiar and Suresh Muralidharan for making the artistes look more beautiful and capturing candid moods.
It was time for the host’s Kathak offering to her guru Pt. Durgalal. Uma Dogra is seen in silhouette slowly coming to view, thanks to the magical lighting. The Shivstuti extolled the param Lord, who is Brahmanandam.
‘Nagendra Haraya’ depicted images of the gory dance in the cemetery, the fire in his trinetram, the ash smeared body, holding the soolam and dumroo, all of them very dramatic.
Encouraging interactions with the orchestra on one side, reciting both the pre-composed and improvised bols, padanth on the standing mike, claps to show accented beats, fast, faultless footwork on floor mikes, presenting Siva poses and Kathak moves, while disciples were on the other end, waiting and watching the guru for cues, joining in and adding to the magic, Uma’s entire recital was energetic and animated.
She presented her guru’s Uthan in Teen taal Vilambit laya. “My guru could dance them for hours, covering the entire stage,” recalled the sishya. The ‘kasak masak’ of the chalans with graceful swaying and freezing was a delight to watch.
“Whatever is right in my dance is my guru’s and whatever is wrong is mine,” said this humble artiste while the avid audience soaked in the rhythm of both percussion and performance.
‘Sakhee he,’ Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi, music composed by Vinayak Netke, differently conceived and presented solo by Dogra had a novel flavour. Gradually building the imagery of longing through graceful movements, reclining on stage, she communicated the esoteric experience of physical and spiritual union with Krishna, got up in a jiffy to execute the swaras, all the while, weaving a quixotic web.
Manoj Desai on vocal, Vinayak Netke on tabla, Satyaprakash Mishra on pakhawaj, Sandeep Mishra on sarangi and Alka Gujar on sitar were vying with each other in adding to the vibrancy of the dance recital. Uma’s disciples Indrayanee Mukherjee, Sarita Kalele and Diksha Rawat, accompanied the guru and proved the meticulous training received by them.
“Each time I come on stage, I feel it is my first performance. I get butterflies in my stomach, more so when I see eminent gurus in the audience,” said Uma. “One life is not enough. I want to be born again and dance.”