A DAILY FREE NEWSPAPER ON THE MUSIC & DANCE FESTIVAL

l December 28, 2017

DAILYSEASON’s

SEASON’s PHOTOSKutcheriBuzz is shooting photos of special events of the Season daily. You can see them at - www.kutcheribuzz.com/ december-gallery-2017

The intensity and interest one witnessed on Day One of the annual Natya Kala Con-ference was intact on Day Two, that is on Wednesday, December 27. The venue - the auditorium of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha - filled up as the curtains went up at 9.30 a.m.

The theme for this confer-ence is Sringaram.

First up on stage, were the Bangalore-based dancer couple, Nirupama and Rajendra. Kath-ak dancers who have made a name for themselves.

They focussed on ‘Hues of Sringara in Kathak’ and the duo chose to make short pres-entations at the mike and then demonstrate snappy excerpts from their dance productions of the recent past.

Nirupama, who did all the talking touched on their production, Sri Ramachandra. “We had combined the hasya aspects of romance with the sringara core which allows us to bring out the emotions of lovers who intend to meet and the shyness, the coyness, the delicate lightness in them at a first meeting,” said Nirupama.

She also said that while they chose to keep the music functional they preferred to express in dance what is deep inside people in love.

Nirupama said that they also chose to devote much time to studying the shastras

Intense talks, recital and debate: Day 2 of Natya Kala meet

. . .the texts and then “add our madness in creativity for the recital.” The duo chose to demonstrate a scene of Rama and Sita in the flight back from Sri Lanka. This excerpt was used by the duo to illustrate how the poetic lines of the story in context touched upon - on Rama and Sita’s little experi-ences in that flight - of the seas and rivers, the wildness and nature around - how these lines were employed to creatively choreograph the romantic mood of the couple during their flight back home.

Session Two was of the cele-brated poet and lyricist Vaira-muthu who has been a star in the world of cinema too.

Typical of him, Vairamuthu effortlessly spoke on ‘Kaadhalin Mozhi’ - Exploration of Tamil Love Poetry.

He touched on the verses of Avvaiyar, saying that her voice expressed her feelings of love in a world with nobody to express them to - Vairamuthu used this example as one of the earliest known Tamil poetry on love. He went on to talk about similar verses in Sangam-time litera-ture and in the epic, Silapadhi-karam, while explaining the social context of that time and the condition of lovers.

He also presented excerpts from the verses of Andal, say-ing that her bold expressions cracked the suppressive atmos-

phere that existed in the Tamil region at that time. “Hers was a puratchi kural,” he said.

Vairamuthu spent much time to highlight some verses in the Thirukkural, saying that some of the couplets were intense and unique expressions of relationship and romance and suggested that dancers study them and create dance based on them.

He also referred to the verses of poet-writer Bharathi-yar, saying his verses were the thoughts and voices of women who expressed themselves boldly, refusing to be cowed down or retire to solitariness in unrequitted love.

He also said that through dance, artistes too had a role in sustaining the Tamil language, its heritage - hinting that

works based on Tamil poetry and texts must be the subject of dance productions. The large audience cheered Vairamuthu often and gave him a big round of applause at the end.

The final session of the morning was a debate-discus-sion by dancers on ‘Is Sringaram Relevant Today?’. On the stage were guru Bragha Bessell, guru Sheela Unnikrishnan, scholar-dancer Swarnamalya, dancers Aniruddha Knight, Rajeswari Sainath and Christopher Guruswamy. This was moderated by Srinidhi Chidambaram, who is also the convenor the Natya Kala Con-ference. The sessions continue up to Dec.20, 9.30 am onwards and are open to all.

Follow the buzz at the FB page at natyakalaconference.

SEASON’s DAILY

Katha kutcheri is yet another recent addition to the December Season calendar. It attracts people too. Just as musical religious discourses held early in the morning do - at some sabhas.

Young Dushyanth Sridhar who is a busy speaker and katha-kutcheri artiste has a busy December, being hosted by many sabhas across the city.

One such recent katha-kutcheri was held by Brahma Gana Sabha at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium and Dushyanth was joined by the Carnatica Brothers, Shashikiran and Ganesh. The theme was ‘ Sri Ramanuja’.

KATHAKUTCHERI

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Sabhas began to feature a few Tamil plays in their Season festi-vals when theatre groups suggested that it would add to promotion of theatre and also provide visiting rasikas to enjoy some laughs and some serious plays.

So you will now find plays of Y G Mahendra, S V Shekher and Crazy Mohan besides others staged at sabha halls.

Rasika Ranjani Sabha ( R R Sabha) which opened in its new avatar some months ago is running a plays fest every evening at its hall in Mylapore. Admission is for sabha members and special invitees only. The past few days, Dummies theatre company has been staging its plays.

Info at www.rasikaranjanisabha.org

n This is about keeping to time for lectures at The Music Academy - this Season many lec-dems do not finish on time.

Vidwan Udayanallur Kalyanaraman went on speaking for more than the time which was given to him. The president was speechless and Trichy Sankaran had to shorten his talk. I was keen to go for Urmila athyanarayanan’s dance at 11 am at another venue hoping this lecture would be over at 10 am and I could go for this dance.

Sometimes, the lec-dems start a tad late. Why is this happening at the Academy? It has always been

‘on time’. When Mr Papu Venugopala Rao was the president he put his foot down and straight away asked the speaker to finish on time. Nobody seems to understand the predicament of the rasikas who travel to Chennai to make the best of this Season. - Reported by Kalyani Suntharalingam

RASIKAS’ NOTES

SPACE FOR TAMIL PLAYS

Ranjani-Gayatri perform at Metro rail station

On December 3, the Vadapalani Metro station in Chennai resounded to Carnatic music.

This event was part of the celebration of 20 years of the Mohan Foundation, an NGO that promotes deceased organ donation.

Mohan Foundation in the city this year completes 20 years of its existence. It has grown to become a national NGO with offices in Mumbai,

Hyderabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Nagpur.

To celebrate the lives of those that have received a new lease of life, and those that have donated their organs, Mohan Foundation decided to organise a Carnatic music concert and got the very popular vocalists, Ranjani & Gayatri sisters to perform that.

Being a Sunday, besides guests to the event, a number of commuters at the station

stopped to listen. The NGO said that such a concert was happening for the first time in India in a Metro rail station.

The NGO said that this concert also cele-brated Chennai’s listing as a City for Music under the UNESCO Creative Cities network.

The Metro rail is a massive transport project for the city; some sections of it has been operational now, some more will open in 2018

while major work is still on in areas like Anna Salai and in north Chennai.

Dec 29 - 4.00 p.m - Sudha Ragunathan (Vocal) / at Narada Gana Sabha

Dec 29 - 5.45 p.m - Brihadeeswara - Form to Formless thru’ the eyes of a Devaradiyal by Baladevi Chandrasekar & group / for Kartik Fine Arts, venue: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Dec 29 - 6.30 p.m - ‘Srikrishna Vaibhavam’ by Sheela Unnikrishnan’s group / for Mudhra, venue: Infosys Hall, T.Nagar

Dec 29 - 6.30 p.m - Unnikrishnan P (Vocal) / at Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha

Dec 29 - 6.45 p.m - Visakha Hari (Harikatha) / at The Music Academy

Dec 29 - 7.00 p.m - Priyadarshini Govind (Bharathanatyam concert) / at Narada Gana Sabha

Dec 29 - 7.00 p.m.- Bharatha Nrityam & Krishna Thulabaram by Padma Subrahmanyam & group / for Brahma Gana Sabha, venue: Sivagami Pethachi Hall

Dec 29 - 7.00 p.m - Sanjay Subrahmanyam (Vocal) / at Tamil Isai Sangam

Dec 29 - 7.00 p.m - Sikkil C Gurucharan (Vocal) / for The Indian Fine Arts Society, venue: Ethiraj Hall, Alwarpet

Dec 29 - 7.30 p.m - A Tribute to Dr. Balamuralikrishna by Shobana Compostions of Balamuralikrishna / for Kartik Fine Arts, venue: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

CHECK THIS!

Have you checked out the Archives Centre in campus of The Music Academy?

If you are keen to listen to the masters of yore drop in here. The archives, supported by the TAG group now has recordings of all the concerts at the Academy during the 2016 Season.

Concerts are recorded inside the main auditorium round the clock - morning to night - and a team edits the recordings and adds each concert to the archives at this centre.

It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.You can also watch videos of concerts here.Much of the old recordings have been donated by various peo-

ple. Admission is free.

ARCHIVAL RECORDINGS. LISTEN.