Striking the right notes

Aruna Chandaraju

Performing Arts

Chaste classicism. Uncompromising adherence to tradition. Experimentation and innovation too. Lots of fusion, and some confusion. Collaborations between genres Indian and western. Crossover music, world music… Some surprises in the tone, timbre and tenor of music. We saw all this and more in the field of classical music and dance in 2011.

Navtej Johar However, it was classical music that ruled the scene. Tradition remains rock solid even as transition happens. Dr Pappu Venugopal Rao, secretary, Madras Music Academy, says, “Classicism survives. Adherence to tradition is still the benchmark by which classical musicians and dancers are judged.”

Pandit Jasraj also opines, “Classical music will always survive –––– our traditions, Hindustani and Carnatic, are so great, so strong.” The venerable Jasraj himself continued to enthrall with his golden voice. Other illustrious musicians also continued to wow critics and connoisseurs –– sarod player Amjad Ali Khan, flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, santoor player Shivkumar Sharma, vocalist Parveen Sultana and tabla wizard Zakir Hussain.
Celebrated musician duos, vocalists Rajan and Sajan Mishra, and Gundecha Brothers, cemented their reputation with riveting performances. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, Ajoy Chakrobarty, Shruti Sadolikar and Shubha Mudgal also impressed.

Even as the void left by the departure of icons like Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal continued to be felt in Hindustani music, the younger generation dazzled with their concerts –– like vocalist Sanjeev Abhayankar, flautist Ronu Majumdar, sitarist Shubhendra Rao and rudra veena player Bahaudddin Dagar.

Bharatanatyam’s three reigning divas — Alamervalli, Malavika Sarukkai and Priyadarshini Govind –– awed audiences with their outstanding talent. Shobana presented her latest creation ‘Krishna’, a musical which amalgamates film and classical dance, to widespread appreciation in Chennai. Teacher-dancer Anita Guha once again won praise for her choreography skills. Among the abundant talent of the younger generation, Mythilli Prakash once again garnered critical acclaim.

Kuchipudi’s doyennes like Shobha Naidu, Manju Bhargavi and Vyjayanthi Kashi also came up with impressive performances while the legendary Vempati Chinna Satyam’s son Ravi Shankar worked hard to keep his father’s great legacy going. Swapna Sundari presented widely appreciated performances of ‘Vilasini Natyam’. Kuchipudi dancer and scholar Alekhya Punjala released a full-length DVD presentation of the popular Kuchipudi dance-drama ‘Bhamakalapam’.

Interestingly, while Bharatanatyam is going ahead with more dance-dramas, Kuchipudi, which originally drew mostly on these items, began to head more towards solos, as Dr Pappu observed. Shobhana

In Kathakali, which is gaining increasing visibility in the past few years, we saw many an absorbing performances. The art which has gained from the Kalakshetra association also saw the highly accomplished Leela Samson and maestro Sadanam Balakrishnan star in a widely appreciated production, ‘Lavanasuravadham’. This was the year when that rare breed –– female Kathakali artistes –– also made their presence felt.

As always, we saw eminent Kathak dancer Shovana Narayan come up with interesting shows. A Kathak duet between Jyoti Manral and Seema Malhotra at Lalitarpan Festival in Delhi drew the praise of connoisseurs, including Shovana herself. Malabika Mitra, Aloka Kanungo and Prerna Shrimali also displayed their mettle as did other talents of this genre.

Odissi virtuoso Sonal Mansigh continued to draw crowds with one of her recently choreographed pieces, ‘Shiva Shringar’. And Ratikant Mahapatra, son and student of the late legendary Odissi guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, presented ‘Samsmaranam’, a tribute to his father.

It was gratifying for senior Mohiniattam artistes to see a growing number of youngsters take to the lasya-dominant art. “It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm. I also find that many artistes in this genre are exploring newer dimensions,” exclaimed Mohiniattam doyenne Bharati Shivaji. They even performed alongside dancers of other genres.

In fact, one noticed some interesting productions which presented an anthology of classical dance styles, though not all of them were harmonious or successful. Institutions like Kalakshetra, Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Academy, Kalamandalm and ITC Sangeet Research Academy, besides Nrityagram, continued to function as great support structures for classical arts.

Well-known annual dance festivals like Khajuraho, Konark, Delhi International Arts Festival and countless others spread the fragrance of our classical arts. TTD’s ‘Nada Neerajanam’ at Tirumala too continued to showcase the country’s greatest artistes and upcoming talent in classical dance and music.

Tagore was a hot favourite this year, considering this was his 150th birth anniversary. His poems, dance-dramas, short stories and lyrics found their way into several presentations of Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi.

The current queens among female Carnatic vocalists, Sudha Ragunathan and Bombay Jayashri, came up with dazzling performances. Among the female instrumentalists, while A Kanyakumari, Sukanya Ramgagopal and Emani Kalyani Lakshminarayana ruled, younger artistes like Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi and Veena Gayathri impressed with high calibre performances.

Music colossus M Balamuralikrishna continued to mesmerise audiences with his tremendous talent and awesome creativity. Staying entirely true to tradition and displaying to the world what the grandeur of pure classicism is all about were both stalwarts and young stars.

Thanks to the proliferation of mass media, we saw classical music and dance move beyond the usual platforms to television through reality shows. It is a good augury that classical arts are finding more mass appeal. However, as Bombay Jayashri said, “This increased number of platforms for the burgeoning talent among the youth is heartening. But we must take care that the identity of Carnatic music does not suffer in the process.”

Contemporary dance is a comparatively new phenomenon in India as compared to the West, but is evolving steadily and witnessing receptive audiences today. Specially choreographed creations in the contemporary idiom were presented by Navtej Johar, Aditi Mangaldas, Anusha Lall and Madhu Natraj, and groups like Nritarutya and Jayachandar Palazhi’s Attakalari.

It is a matter of pride for us that many of our classical dancers and musicians have found platforms for their art in foreign stages too. In New York, the Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance showcased three Indian classical dance styles –– Bharatanatyam by Rukmini Vijayakumar, Manipuri by Natya Academy artistes and Mohiniattam by Mandakini Trivedi. Indian artistes also played alongside artistes of other genres –– through fusion, crossovers and collaborations. While santoor player Rahul Sharma tied up with Richard Clayderman, violinist Jyotsna Srikanth collaborated with western greats Simon Thacker and Robert Atchison.

Well, as the year is about to end, many exciting things are still happening — the Chennai Music Festival being one of them. Let’s look forward to another great year.