Calling the Tune Tor Dance Followed by An
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• •• . Pallavi line 'Sri Krishna paatl9ushma Kamaneeyauatara', Calling the Tune tor Dance followed by an. elaborately dramatized Krishnakarnamritam scene of elders, each section in a CONCERT: Samyukta - A Festival of Carnatic different raga, saw music/dance elaborations. .Vocal and Bharatanatvarn Priyadarshini's abhinqya was challenged by Krishna's Collaboration: Seher, March 16-18 mesmeric singing of the two purely interpretative items in Gauli Pantu and Behag. Samyukta's music/dance encounter featuring top Leela's mar;gam-faithful recital the next day with Jayashri- Carnatic vocalists T.M. Krishna and Bombay Jayashri, saw the varnam in Natakuranji 'Chelamekgeseva&Jd evolve interacting with Bharatanatyam dancers Priyadarshini into a quiet, reflective journey expressing the nqyika's Govind and Leela Samson, was a once-in-a-lifetime yearning and devotion for the Lord. The Muttuswamy experience. One cannot remember in the recent past Dikshitar Kriti'Ardhanareeshwaram' in Kumudakr!Ja carried renowned vocalists agreeing to interactive performances, the same quietude. Ganga's descent was a meditative even with the best of dancers. The festival was a meeting point for both music and dance. The jauntily complement of contrasts-Jayashri's internalized confident 'swadheenapatika' heroine in the Dharmapuri meditative singing against Krishna's delightful virtuosity; Subbarqyar Javali in Paras 'Smarasungarangunl was offset and Leela Samson's restrained dance, totally anchored by the anguish of love-in-separation in the Poochi to the orthodox format, against Priyadarshini's Srinivasa Iyengar Javali 'Janaro ee mohamu sahimpalene' in adventurous physicality. Kamas; Jayashri's stirring' singing inspiring Leela's felt Characteristically innovative, Priya and Krishna began abhinqya. Both dancers had excellent accompanists. with a Mallaf7 visualizing Ijagesa, the main Tiruvaroor The vocal concert saw J ayashri and Krishna in joyous temple deity,in a procession within the temple complex, interaction, each deriving inspiration from the other, The with halts offering homage to shrine deities: Vallabha Bhairavi Sf?yama Sastry Swarqjati and the Ashtapadi, (the Ganapati, Achaleswarar, Neelotpalamba and Kamalamba (one singers creating a free-flowing interwoven tapestry) a Bhogini and the other a Yogini), despite keeping to individual ragas Nandikeswarar and Sundara Murry of Mukhari and S biuararfani, was a Nayanar. Krishna's evocative masterpiece. singing set each in a different raga, The combined Leela/ the varied rhythmic pacing Priyadarshini varnam on the indicating the location of the concluding day was an interesting procession. The music concert type interaction, each sticking to format had the ragam/ tanam/ individual interpretations and pallavi centrepiece in rhythmic interludes. Despite muted S hankarabharanam, the dance response to Krishna's brilliant tanam physicality, Leela's relaxed improvisations being tight expressions triumphed over Priyadarshini's virtuosity. rhythmic sequences in different arithmetical combinations. The Leeia Jamson • LEELA VENKATARAMAN :, " > . .:. ......' .:"C .•.. '. diClry '~ .•. ... • t' . - _ .•. ~ .: . ~ • . , ctS the 1962 war, Barbara Crosette's eyewitness account "0 A Foreign Window on India of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, and Peter Foster's ID prophetic story on 'Why the Tiger's Future is Fat E BOOK DISCUSSION: Fifty Yearsof Reporting from Bright'. Bernard Imhasly too commented on South Asia, Edited by John Elliott, his favourite stories, such as 'Goodbye to India' Bernard Imhasly and Simon Denyer, by Robert Simson, and Gerald Priestland's New Delhi, Penguin, 2009 'Goa Showdown'. Speakers: John Elliott, Bernard Imhasly, March 5 S. Nihal Singh spoke of James Cameron's moving tribute to Nehru, and Peter Cairn's despatches on the In a stimulating session chaired by S. Nihal Singh, Bangladesh war, among. other memorable pieces. journalists John Elliott and Bernard Imhasly spoke There was animated discussion among the panellists and within the audience on the differing attitudes of of the choices and constraints involved in putting British and American journalists to reporting on South together the anthology Foreign Correspondent: Fifty Years of Reporting South Asia. Compiled to celebrate Asia. Bernard Imhasly then spoke of the value judgements implicit even in neutral reporting, and the the fiftieth anniversary of the Foreign contrasting styles of Anglo-Saxon and European Correspondents' Club, South Asia, this unique collection of representative writing was correspondents. There was also discussion on the omissions and gaps in the anthology, such as on co-edited by John Elliott, Bernard Imhasly and Simon Denyer. Mrs. Gandhi's assassination. 'We were not trying to cover every major event,' It was, thus, a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of John Elliott explained 'but we searched for a range how this definitive anthology of 'the first drafts of of good writing on historic events'. These included history' was compiled. classic journalistic pieces such as Nevile Maxwell on • NAMITA GOKHALE Wealth. Their witty roles gave an interesting context to Film Festival life in the city of Mumbai. Sharp and clever, the film was brilliantly paced. FILM: Dialogues in Diversity: TheFifth IAWRT At twenty-nine minutes, Rehana: AQuest Jor Freedom also Asian Women's Film Festival seemed just right in length. Gargi Sen and Priyanka Collaboration: International association of Mukherjee's pnr ait of Rehana Adib, a crusading mother Women in Radio and Television, India Chapter of six from Muzzafarnagar, in western Uttar Pradesh, with the support of PSBT; JDCA and Magic is worth remembering. A social worker dedicated to Lantern Foundation, March 7-8 the cause of women's literacy,Rehana's struggles to bring self-esteem to women in a region notorious for its male nc was yet again the venue for the fifth Asian Women's intransigence, is worthy of respect. Film Festival.Twenty-one documentaries and shorts were Women Behind the Camera had an unusual subject: it screened over two packed days, some of which are focused on women cinematographers. Most of these worth remembering. were from Hollywood, though there are a few from View.from a Grain of Sand by Meena Nanji was both Europe and one from India. Its ninety-minute length sincere and sensitive in its depiction of the struggles of is covered by probing interviews with women behind three women who try to build themselves a new life in the camera who have to constantly struggle in a war-tom contemporary Afghanistan. However, at eighty- profession almost entirely dominated by males, and two minutes, it was a wee bit long. have to work twice as hard to prove their merit. And yet they often do not receive their due! Director Alexis Paromita Vohra's short fourteen-minute film, Cosmopolis: Krasilovsky deserves high praise for this thought- Two Tales of a City, is full of droll wit and humour. Vohra provoking work. played a portly Annapoorna, the Goddess of Plenty, while Renuka Shahane was Lakshmi, the Goddess of • PARTHA CHATTERJEE draw attention to himself. The melodic section, the six 3 wind instruments, managed to keep the sound c harmonically rich,and each musician did his solo in turn. Cl) They initially played songs composed by various o people, including Blackbird by the bassist Tony Overwater. The Calefax Trio played their version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, skimming over the original melody just under the surface of their version. Presented by a combination of two bands, the Calefax Reed Quintet and the Tony Overwater Trio, the evening featured the Far East Suite by Duke Ellington and BillyStrayhorn, written after Ellington's 1963 tour of the Far East. The reed quintet, comprising the oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon, is an interesting combination, creating a very lush, textured, almost tangible weave of sound. Combined with the Tony Overwater Trio, featuring a saxophone, double bass and drums, it created a very mellow yet jazz Concert powerful sound that was clinical in its approach, The Far East Suite was performed in its entirety, and without for a moment losing soul. Bluebird ifDelhi, inspired by a bird call Ellington heard, was especially beautiful, the clarinet doing wonderful They began with Caravan in Sryle, a piece composed for things to recreate its sound. The band played a strident the band. The drummer and bassist were brilliant at version of Aqj ki Raat from the film Don, creating a keeping the rhythm very sharp in a band with other fantastic big band sound to end the evening. instruments that were melodic. The drummer, Wim Kegel, was extremely subtle, and made it a point not to • SHYAMANT BEHL of verses, without the distraction of too many Musical Homage camera shifts. In the sect) d half, and in a delightful change from the HINDUSTANI CLASSICAL .vOCAL customary practice of verbal offerings, it was veteran by Pts. Rajan and Sajan Mishra maestros Pandits Rajan and Sajan Mishra who did the Collaboration: Pandit Amarnath Memorial honours in a concert in the ragaMarwa, with their choice Foundation, March 9 for a viiambit, madbya and drut khqyal, followed by Maharaj Bindadin's bori composition. An eminent exponent of the Indore Gharana, the late The duo were mesmerizing with their uncanny ability Pandit Amarnath was known, for his vast repertoire of pre-empting each others' singing moves, contrasting of musical forms, ranging from purist to semi- soft and vibrant stretches, vivid akaar taans, making the classical to film traditions. To commemorate