Sawai Gandharva Fest – A first timer’s experience
December 15, 2008 | Filed Under Poetry, Point of View, Theatre & Movies, life's answers | 1 Comment
And I almost missed it. Thankfully there were friends around who kept talking about it and it generated enough curiosity for me to experience it. To confess I hadn’t heard about the festival before, there had been passing mentions of it in my life earlier, particularly by a friend called Vishakhadutt, but nothing had prepared me for it. I was amazed.
For those who don’t know: Sawai Gandharva is a music festival started by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi as a dedication to his guru – Sawai Gandharva. It’s now a 56 year old tradition. The greatest of musicians perform here. The genre is purely Indian classical. About 15000 people attend the festival every year, but it could be much more. The festival has grown to be larger than life. It’s also interesting to hear the conversations of people around you, they know their artists and talk about their idiosyncracies, they also know their music. It’s an experience worth taking and revisiting.
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Thank you A & H for introducing me to this.
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While there, i wrote a few music scapes. Haven’t edited them much. So execuse the mistakes.
Here they are:
During the performance of the brothers Rajan & Sajan Mishra (vocals)
The casual droning of the tanpura muffles the voices of a soulless melody that emanates from the heart and reaches the Fingertips.
God lets man supersede him at times. Reluctance of being a man falls apart. Bit by bit it becomes the beats of a tabla. Accompanying the tanpura they leave the man they occupy. They become what lesser mortals will never be.
Ants – They Crawl over what remains, releasing a sigh that grows into a moan. A moan that slowly grows wings and flies. And in its flight it meets another bird, another bird that’s emanated from dead skin, a hint of desperation and a rhetoric gone mad.
Together they fliy over a sea, a sea that has been thirsty for years. They are the bashirs of a never ending rain. But it is still far – the droplets will take their own time to come. For now there is only hope. But unlike before, this hope comes with a promise. The birds Slowly land on to the parched land. And wait in peace.
For only when war is over, will man see who he really is.
The rain will come.
During the performance of the brothers Rajan & Sajan Mishra (vocals)
The dust gathers dust
It’s been a while since someone has even been here
Centuries may be
Seth was last seen here
May be this is what he saw
And decided to be the progenitor of mankind
He too had seen hatred
brother killing brother
He Foresaw The bleakness
he also foresaw the beauty
A Beauty that
Even Methusaleh couldn’t have managed to see in all his llfetime
A beauty that would need at least a billion lives
And yet
The eyes would be hungry
The ears unsatiated
He would have to risk a hundred Kanes
Killing a billion Ables
For the few SethS
Who would assimilate this beauty
And use it
To recreate paradise
The few Seths who would die a billion times
And a hundred More…
And Survive..
During the performance of Ronu Muzumdar (flautist)
The bird soars high
Slowly but surely
Sure of What it’s doing
Sure of the eventuality
Sure of its proximity to the sun
Sure of its descent
Sure Of its eXtraordinary fate
UnKnowing of the outcome
the higher it flies
The lonelier the illusion
The emptier the arena
What it seeks?
A desert in the sKY
For its death is foretold
But its life still a mystery
During the performance of Pandit Jasraj (vocals)
An opening in the sky
A ray of light passes through
Banished from the Kingdom
It seeks to find a meaning
A meaning so ordinary
So simple
That
The puzzle is solved
But what mystifies the man whose eye it enters is the need for demystification
Thus the puzzle is passed on
Only its form changes
an incessant cooing of the cuckoo catches the man’s ear
In an attempt to find the beholder
The ray of light leaves his eyes.
It travels thru the branches of a tree
Who embraces its very being and breaks it into a million pieces
Thus the puzzle prospers
It blooms and bears pollen
Travels on the back of a bee
And discovers honey
For what it thinks is sweet death
Is but humiliation
A theft of freedom
It desires to break free once again
It counts a million moments
And then jumps into a cup reluctantly
Trying to enjoy its freedom between two cages
The last it remembers is hot water flowing over it and the gentle aroma of camomille
Which picks its burnt soul
And rises
And resuscitates it
The awakening-
The cloud opens up…
An angry demeanor hides the wisdom
And lets A ray escape
Another puzzle bears wings
A potter awaits,
the clay is wet …
Rock -ed On
October 7, 2008 | Filed Under Theatre & Movies | Leave a Comment
I don’t think I have had a warm feeling towards a movie and at the same time felt extremely disapointed with it. I fear that if I attempt to make a movie, it will turn out something like this. And then I will fret for the rest of my life.
The movie fails for me because it is a piece of fiction. I wish it had touches of an Indian rock band. Say a Parikrama or an Indian Ocean, even if it was loosely based on them. But it wasn’t and then it became more a hindi movie than a movie based on rock music.
The music itself was disappointing. Making a hindi rock song is probably as difficult as writing a ghazal in english. So I feel for the crew. To expect Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy, Farhaan Akhtar and the likes to aspire to be Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, or Led Zepp and to even come remotely close to them is probably harsh. I did that and I was disappointed. I was also disappointed with Javed uncle’s poetry. (Javed uncle has heard me read at Oxford bookstore and I have high regard for him. My usage of the term uncle is a mark of respect and I don’t attempt to make fun of him. He has written great poetry and will continue to do so.) My disappointment ofcourse was the music and the lyrics weren’t going well together. I actually liked everything that other bands were singing than Magic themselves.
Also the name Magic for a band is exceptionally lame. And it’s reasoning is a very hindi movie reasoning. What the director forgot is probably the meaning of a ROCK Musician. Rockstars have auras about them, the only person who manages that faintly in the movie is Arjun Rampal. A hindi movie on a rock band is a disconcerting thought. By Hindi movie, I mean the mainstream movie makers like the Chopras and the Johars. They know it as well as me that they are not making movies, they are doing business.
And yet I liked the movie. I am a weird person. There are reasons for it. The intentions were good. Debbie played by Shahana Goswami stole my heart. She was the true rockstar in the movie. The rest of it didn’t quite come together. We need to take lessons on making movies on music having influences like rock and rock and roll – That thing you do, Almost Famous, Across the Universe are good movies to start with.
This movie was half baked but probably served with love.
Chaitra – The Advent of Life
September 1, 2008 | Filed Under Theatre & Movies | 5 Comments
Happened to see a play today. It was called Chaitra. My first play in Pune. It was performed by students of National Center of Performing Arts in association with National School of drama. The play was directed by Mohit Takalkar. It was announced that he was leaving for London soon to work with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for a few months. I hope he comes back, he is an amazing talent and theatre in India needs him. The two plays (his) that I have seen and he has directed seem to be inspired by the theatre of the absurd. Waiting for Godot by Beckett is the best example of such plays.
Chaitra is based on Tagore’s lyrical play and has sufi touches to it. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was performed in two acts. One act was in the lobby and the second was in the theatre. The play was being shown inside Pune University at an auditorium called Namdeo Sabhagriha. The theatre was packed on both days and it just tells how beautiful an audience Pune has. Pune is probably culturally at par with Calcutta. Both the cities have an intellectual audience and love art. I am glad to be in this city.
In the first act I particularly liked the character of Kavi Rakhshasi Bhushan, played by a girl, playing man in a moustache, who for her dimunitive frame had a great throw of voice. In fact most of the students showed talent and the play was entertaining as well as thought provoking – like theatre of the absurd should be. Great team effort and it’s an absolute must watch.
Earlier in the day, I woke up from my afternoon siesta because of a loud bang. It almost felt like a bomb had exploded. But it was probably a cloud burst. Pune had heavy rainfall in the evening. I had bicycled to the auditorium. Oh! yes I have bought a bicycle 
. On the way back, I had to bicycle back in the rain.
As I was bicycling down a gentle slope of the university campus on a dark road with lots of rain splashin on my face, I wondered if that was what happiness in its purest form was. I was smiling and breathing through my mouth. Chaitra, which means Spring seemed to have paid a personal visit to me in another form.