Bangalore International Centre presented ‘Sunaad’, an evening of -‘Mandukya Sant Vani’, a confluence of the Mandukya Upanishad and Sant Vani - the poetry of saints across India - as a combination of Dhrupad music, theatre and movement. Inspired and guided by Shri M, conceptualised and directed by Tara Kini, the music for Sunaad had been composed by the renowned Gundecha Brothers.
With 27 singers and four dancers -- Arati Rao, Nandini Kamath, Parul Shastri, Sharada Pai -- provided the dance interlude to convey the spiritual truisms. Instrumental support was rendered by C.S.Balasubramanian, and Ramesh Chandra Joshi played the pakhawaj. Script and research were by Nilima Nayak, Radhika Chadha, Tara Kini etc. The choreography was by Nandini Kamath, Parul Sastri and Shreya Muthukumar.
Tara Kini opened the presentation with an introduction to their production. She said that Sant Vani will be presented in ten differenet languages along with 12 verses in Sanskrit from Mandukya Upanishad which will be sung in the Dhrupad style, in 16 ragas and 10 taals.
The theme of the presentation was to explain the significance of the syllable, A-U-M or Omkara, and how it connects to the three states of wakefulness, dream and dreamless sleep and the fourth state called Turiya, the supreme bliss, which underlies all the three as the witness. So, they commenced the show by singing ‘Om Bhadram Karne’ and ‘Om ityetat aksharam sarvam. The shlokas extolled the supremacy and potency of the syllable -OM or AUM.
Sunaad covered the poetry of some of the significant saints from the diverse religious milieu of this multilingual country of ours. They provided the audience with the ambrosial taste of ‘Sant Vani’, voices of saints that propounded axioms, words that were embedded with spiritual and esoteric wisdom. The saints whose poetry was presented were Lal Ded in Kashmiri, Guru Nanak in Avadhi, Shah Abdul Latif in Sindhi, Raidas in Braj bhasha, Kabir in Avadhi, Theragatha in Pali, Ramprasad in Bengali, Tukaram in Marathi, Akka Mahadevi in Kannada, Ramana Maharshi in Tamil, Bhadragiriyar in Tamil.
Rich in vocal presentation of singing and impactful with skillful narration, Sunaad’s presentation was soulfully elevating. Young dancer Sharada was a pleasure to watch with her nimble movements and a veteran dancer like Nandini Kamath’s prowess showed in her facial expressions and in her lissome steps. The group conveyed profound spiritual truths, interpreting the shlokas, giving explanation in English, explaining the socio- religious context. Dhrupad music presented in confluence with theatre and movement gave the audience an intense experience, as though the crude layers of ignorance were getting peeled off.
A deep commitment, a shared vision combined with exacting standards of the group resulted in an enormously inspiring offering by Sunaad. Sunaad was started in 2002, with the intention of demystifying Hindustani Classical music and make it accessible to the listening public.
“We are a self- funding group and to perform in other cities we don’t mind bearing our travel expenses as our main purpose is to spread these rich concepts and make them available to people in this lovely form. Our group is so dedicated and involved that Sunaad has become the main stay for each member,” explained Tara Kini.
The narrators, Nilima Nayak and Ravi Narayanan did a wonderful job with good articulation, right pacing and intonation to conjure the required mood. Theatrical inputs were by Sunil Shanbhag.
