Giving life to Tagore's works

Dance Recital

Srimoyee Mukhopadhyay is a student of Natyapriya and a disciple of bharatanatyam guru Padmini Ramachandran. She started her recital with the traditional Ganapathi Vandana followed by two Kannada items. The next three items were based on Rabindra Sangeet and the original Indian classical songs by which Tagore was influenced.

Srimoyee, through her dance, demonstrated how Tagore used the tune and raga of Indian classical music in his songs and took it to a philosophical level through the lyrics of his own unique style.

Since bharatanatyam is a well-appreciated dance form in South India, Natyapriya made an attempt to spread Tagore’s creative works through this popular form. It was a successful blend of traditional bharatanatyam and Tagore’s music, bringing in a variety of both abhinay and the more vigorous style of expressions.

The Tagore songs, which were chosen were Vipula Tharanga, Eki Labonnye and Shukhohin Nishidin. The song Vipula Tharanga expresses the restless dance of the universe and all life forms with the same rhythm — a philosophical one. But the original song, which had influenced Tagore,  is a very popular Hindustani classical song – Nachatha Thribhanga. It describes a completely different theme — that of Krushna’s Raashaleela.

The song Eki Labonye expresses how love blossoms in a young maiden’s heart at the onset of spring and how she completely submits herself to her beloved. The original song, Lavanya Rama, however has a similar theme. Through this popular Telugu song, poet Thyagaraja depicts the feelings of Sita at the first sight of Rama.

Both these recitals were done in very sensitive abhinay style. Srimoyee concluded her recital with a Thillana. This was also a fusion between Daradim Daradim – a Tharana, and the Tagore song Shukhohin Nishidin.

Srimoyee translated the words of Tagore beautifully through the vigorous bharatanatyam steps and mudras.

The Tagore songs and their original classical songs were sung by Anuttama Ghosh, a student of Shantiniketan who learnt Rabindra Sangeet from teachers like Neelima Sen and from gurus such as Santidev Ghosh and Sailaja Ranjan Majumdar, both of whom were fortunate to get their training under Tagore himself.