The Rotary's seven-day My Madurai-Soorya Festival, held in September, provided a platform for musicians and dancers. Artists from all over India brought the unique flavours of their States and offered the Madurai audience a chance to savour them.
Sanjay Subrahmanyan , who opened the festival with his concert, took up popular ragas such as Sahana, Panthuvarali and Kapi and selected well liked songs by Papanasam Sivan, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, and Tyagaraja.
The elaborate treatment of Panthuvarali and Mohanam made a profound impact on the listeners, and even those uninitiated in Carnatic music stayed on till the end and applauded the artist on his superlative performance. S. Varadarajan on the violin and Nanjil Arun on the mridangam provided orchestral support.
On the second day, the audience was mesmerised by the synchronised movements of the Odissi dancers from Cuttack. Sashmitha , Pushpa , Lopamudra and Ananya , led by senior student Shivangi , wore identical peacock blue costumes and epitomised beauty and perfection. They struck simple poses to convey the idea of how musical instruments were played and also performed complex karanas, making it a very lively show.
Apart from portraying scenes from the Ramayana, they also danced to the invocation to Mother India, ‘Vande Mataram,' bringing on stage the country's vast beaches, flora, fauna and people. It kindled a patriotic fervour in the audience.
Focus was on abhinaya
Savita Sashthri from Delhi displayed her skills in Bharatanatyam on the third day. Abhinaya was her main focus. A pushpanjali was followed by Shiva Thandava sthothram, ‘Indragilum,' which was the main piece and a pada varnam highlighting sringara rasam. She evoked bhakti rasam in the final piece on Radha and Krishna.
Midhilalaya Dance Academy from Thiruvanathapuram focused on the superior qualities of Sri Rama based on the ‘Eka Sloka Ramayanam.' The majesty of Bharatanatyam adavus was brought out by the well trained dancers in their exquisitely tailored costumes. The dancers also used black, white and mauve shawls to indicate positive and negative traits.
The audience was lost in the tale which unfolded, as Rama wed Sita, went on 14 years exile, befriended Sugriva and killed Vali. The dancer who portrayed Hanuman, dominated the last scenes and depicted a true devotee's obeisance to Rama and Sita in all its grandeur.
A live orchestra accompanied the Nair sisters, Veena and Dhanya, who presented Mohiniyattom. The resonant voices of the singer and the nattuvanar, were accompanied by the violin and a chenda vadyam. Their vinayaka stuthi was followed by a supplication to Surya Deva, whose gifts to the earth are countless. The slow sweeping movements of the gorgeously attired dancers were graceful and rhythmic. The highlight of the programme was their prayer to goddess Anandabhairavi, requesting her to endow them with the power to show the navarasas. They enacted puranic episodes and the nine emotions described in Natya Sastra. Their depiction of Ardhanareeswara was unique, as one sister hid the other partially and together posed as the Lord.
Rama Vaidyanathan from Delhi performed to a live orchestra and danced in the Thanjavur style. She introduced each item with a translation of the lyrics and mentioned the name of the composer as well as the choreographer. Her adavus and jathis were creatively structured and each jathi impressed and surprised the audience, who cheered her repeatedly. She wore beautiful antique jewellery to match her costume. She emoted without inhibitions for the lines ‘Theruvil Varano' and her portrayal of mother Yasoda in the final, ‘Enna Thavam' moved the audience.
The final day's concert was a novel experience as it was a Hindustani recital by Ramesh Narayanan and his troupe of accompanists and students. The artist sang just three songs for the whole three-hour concert and astonished the listeners with his energy, concentration and creativity.
He began with ‘Mudhakarartha' in Panthuvarali and his disciples sang the chorus in a simple form while he continued to interpret the lines with complex variations of sangatis. This also provided the listeners with relief from the intensity of his singing. Further support was provided by the harmonium and the tabla. The singer sometimes got very involved with the percussionists and sang phrases of jathis that he wanted the latter to play. The other two ragas he dealt with were Jog and Darbari.
The festival ended with a promise by the organisers that they would make it an annual feature.
