Music was celebrated in its entirety as defined in our musical treatise as “Geetam Vaadyam tatha Nrityam, trayam Sangeetam uchchyate” at the Takshila Utsav, a three-day festival, held at the Fine Arts College in Patna. Organised by the Takshila Educational Society, visitors were entertained to a sumptuous variety of music from qawwali and classical vocal to instrumental and dance performances.
Rather than music, the festival concluded with an alluring Odissi dance recital by Madhavi Mudgal and her well-trained troupe. The greatest asset of Madhavi is her deep understanding of the art; hence the subtlety of expression enhanced by her aesthetic sense pervades her performance and choreographies remarkably. She opened with ‘Ganga Stavan’, an ode to the river Ganga, with the sonorous strains of Maanjh-Khamaj on sitar alternated by alaap in male and female voices creating the effect of the waves of the river also highlighted by the wavering arm movements of her disciples, before Madhavi illustrated “Har Har mukut Jata… Vijayati Ganga” and presented the group item like a Mangalacharan.
“Vaadya Vaividhya” danced by her disciples came next. It was based on the specific sounds of percussion instruments like Mardal, Khol, Ghantini, Jodi Nagada, Manjeera et al, each in different Taal-Chhand and changing ragas. The pure dance sequence sounded like a Pallavi, but with an imaginative difference. Music for both these numbers, choreographed by Madhavi, was composed by Madhup Mudgal.
Her solo “Nataraja” based on an Odia poem by the late Mayadhar Mansingh was composed by A. Maheshwar Rao in raga Ahir-Bhairav. Set to seven beats cycle, it was the prayer to the God of Dance to grant the dancer the beauty of a dancing peacock, the natural flowering and fragrance of a blooming flower, the depth of sea, et al. This was followed by a beautiful choreography on Jaydeva’s Ashtapadi “Lalit Lavanglata…”, “Haririha Muktavabhu nikare…” and “Chandana Charchit neel-kalevara…” presented by Madhavi along with her disciples.
The solo by Madhavi on “Prano sangini re…” was about Radha telling her friend how Krishna came disguised as the maid to put aalta on her feet and while making the design wrote His name on the sole of her feet. Madhavi’s understated subtle abhinaya on the Odia song was well appreciated. Madhavi and her disciples concluded their Odissi dance performance with ‘Madhurashtakam’ by Vallabhacharya composed by Madhup Mudgal in different ragas from Bhimpalasi to Bharavi, proceeding gradually from slow to faster tempo to reach the crescendo of Moksha, leaving the audience spellbound. The live orchestra comprised pakhawaj by Jitendra Kumar Swain, vocals by Manikuntala Bhaumik and Kshitij Mathur and sitar by Yaar Mohammed. Madhavi’s talented disciples were Sudha, Shalaka, Shobha, Deepika, Kritika and Yamini.
The festival had opened with qawwali by the famous Warsi brothers Nazeer Ahmed and Nasir Ahmed Warsi from Hyderabad on the inaugural evening. The heartrending Hemant on the sonorous Sitar by Kushal Das from Kolkata and the impressive Hindustani vocal recitals by Venkatesh Kumar and Jayateerth Mevundi from Dharwad were the other rewarding performances that made the Takshila Utsav memorable.
