Review of Prahalada Natya
Roopakam held at Music Academy on 2nd May 2015.
From the point of view of a
novice Prahalada a Natya Rooppakkam held at Music Academy on 2nd May
2015 on the occasion of Narasimha Jayanthi was a very difficult but deftly
presented program including injecting humor. I shall write about this
particular program in detail in part two and three with both appropriate
appreciation and calculated criticism of certain aspects which needed some
improvement, modification etc.
But
what this particular program did was to force me to delineate the design of the art form, its
role, relevance etc through some general observations to clear the air of
confusions created among youth with regard to the milieu of south Indian culture
and art especially classical music and Natyams. All the more because as a
matter of serendipity on 2nd
May 2015 there was a detailed article in BBC titled ‘Can culture save
cities?’ [ http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140502-can-culture-save-cities]
In the write up there will be
some intentional repetitions as they are meant to reiterate and remind the readers.
Wherever the word tradition is used it is used in the sense of ‘activities
which have lived through times as an intrinsic part of a culture with certain inherent
attributes’
Part-I
Narasimha Avatar for me is a
concept which explains that anything done with immense and involved dedication,
focused concentration, conviction with courage, executed and performed with
total intensity and intense totality will definitely bring out the desired
result and reveal the truth, hitherto hidden from our purview and perceptions
symbolically breaking open the well cemented preconceptions which protect the
edifice of ignorance imbued ideologies within which and identities with which we
live.
Today we face the harsh
reality of the more difficult art of carrying out the necessary transition from
tradition into transformation in classical music and Natyams of India.
First our traditional arts
and culture are mostly imbued with and/or embedded in Bhakthi orientation with
lot of religiously venerated mythological, historical, and theological; some
esoterically conveyed philosophical concepts and scientific aspects as well.
Most aspects of Indian culture are multifaceted splendors with each facet
revealing itself according to the frame of reference and scale of observation
of the individual. A very important but unfortunately often ignored short
coming of our perception [1]
At the same time most of
these traditional cultures and arts were neither constrained by these aspects
nor confined to these aspects but rather used them as a medium to convey
through different art forms certain emotions; in some cases high philosophical concepts; in some cases
social mores; in some cases appealing to the aesthetic sensitivities of human
beings; in some cases portraying the sensuous and natural aspects of life; in
some portraying and appealing to the various senses at different levels; in some
individual morals and principles for enhancing one’s inherent potential ,
embellishing one’s character etc.
So, in a way most of the
traditional arts and cultures of this land permeated almost into every aspect
of life and society and therefore they had to manifest the many human emotions.
But as vast and varied it may sound. The traditional arts and cultures, like
all traditional arts and cultures, is at the same time very difficult to depict
or handle because any aberration anywhere can hurt the sentiments of purists as
well as those who are sentimentally or ritualistically attached to those
sources [religious bakthi orientation ] wherein they are embedded as indicated
in the sixth paragraph above.
At the same time art and
culture cannot be allowed to become too stereotyped, trite, redundant leading
them to be fossilized or ossified but they have to evolve, like everything
else, by wading through the tides of trends –which could be contributory,
complementary, contrasting, conflicting, contaminating etc- with the oars of
compulsions and compromises and sail smoothly and safely to ensure the
fundamental and basic principles or inherent aspects of the art form are kept
intact and appropriate doses of
innovations are introduced to ensure that there is a subtle
transformation through a smooth
transition from tradition but not away from or apart from it. Because culture
is an important part of life and creates a very powerful impact through various
forms of artistic expression the multiple meanings of life as journey of the
souls experiencing, acting and interacting with all its tools like body, mind,
emotions etc. [2]
Purist kill art and tradition
by sticking on to classism too much like sticking on to King’s English and
Chaucer’s spelling and end up petrifying all traditional arts and cultures.
There is another brigade which creates lot of noises, mostly to seek attention,
by taking on a very radicalized and diametrically opposite stand of breaking into pieces everything that is part
of tradition and end up putrefying the arts and cultures, unaware of the fact
that the new scheme that they are creating will become a new tradition,
forgetting two important facts that life has no permanent trends or taboos and
that we can neither defy nor deny the importance of anything or anyone, as
everything is interrelated, interconnected and interacting constantly as pieces
in the unsolved jigsaw puzzle of life.[3] Denying and defying things which have stood
the test of time, either with reason or irrationally, is all the more difficult
task and before denying their importance we need to first understand what has
contributed to their survival through long periods of time.
I would like to reiterate
from the first paragraph ‘necessary transition from tradition into
transformation’ because every classical vocalist knows that he or she cannot
render a better ‘Radha samedah Krishna’ than the great GNB or a better
Bhahudari than the great Madurai Mani Iyer’ but that need not make them run
away from performing nor they need to avoid rendering those songs or ragas but
listen to those stalwarts, learn properly, enjoy them thoroughly and then
engage in embellishing it with one’s own imprints within one’s limitations both
physiological and talent wise. Similar is the scenario in Natyams. Who else can
maneuver the rhythms in movements of every nerve in the feet as minutely as the
great Briju maharaj? Or produce a vast repertoire of abhinayas as the great
Padma Subramaniyam.
The greatness of predecessors in any field is not meant to weigh
down on the avid learner or the performer but make their perspectives,
perceptions and preparations wider, wiser and wonderful. As the great Sir Isaac Newton used to say, “If I have seen further it
is only by standing on the shoulders of giants”.
We are able to witness this
particular welcome trend - I mean evolutionary advancement [like evolutionary
biology, evolutionary sociology, evolutionary philosophy, evolutionary politics
etc] - in most domains of life.
Of course there are domains
where it is caged in narrow walls like in certain ritualistic and religious
observances which have refused to allow evolutionary trends and instead opted
for verbal vindications to sustain the status quo and therefore are likely to
gradually move away from the radar of involved participation and move into
diminished interest and then saunter around for attention before finally fading
away through indifference into the inevitable bin of insignificance and
oblivion.
For any art form to survive
it must ensure to manifest its inherent aesthetic and artistic appeal and
relevance to the human body, mind and soul. Themes can change but must ensure
commercial support for the artist to at least survive and lead a normal life
with social acceptance and respectability. Only when art fulfills all these
important aspects it will remain in radar of involved participation, interest
and public attention.
This is proving to be true
even in the realm of sports, let me confine to cricket, where five day test
matches [which are undoubtedly still the best form of testing a skill of a
player] have given room to one day matches and to T-20s of all hues and colors
to make it more interesting and commercially successful. But one ever wrote
about playing cricket without 11 players or without a ball or without a bat or without
a boundary line etc because you cannot dissociate cricket from these factors.
Similarly, I have listened to
5 to 6 hour concerts with two to two and half hour Ragam Thanam Pallavis, but
nowadays we have artists who render the similar items very nicely within ten to
fifteen minutes, quality need not be determined by length. After all we had the
pioneers of SMS and Twitter in Aviayyar and Tiruvalluvar.
I have launched on to this
lengthy preamble of general perceptions to put in right perspective the
inevitable positions and avoidable perceptions in the minds of young rasikas of music and dance, who were
swinging like a pendulum between some
purists, critics and elders who treated
most new performers/performances with condescending comparisons [ I am
not passing any judgment as to whether it is right or wrong] with very high
standards and some street smart artists who used their PR machinery well enough
to propel into realm of popularity [again I am not passing any judgment as to
whether it is right or wrong]. This scenario was fair enough and expected but
what is worse is now they are being confused and swayed away by irrelevant and
incorrigible comparisons far removed from art. I shall explain about this
[again I am not passing any judgment as to whether it is right or wrong].
Art and the cultural milieu
and context where it has evolved have to be evaluated only with these
parameters. We can adopt and effect necessary changes to embellish it, but to
create controversies to confuse the general public with arguments as if it is a
socio-political phenomenon to be approved and sanctified by some particular
political ideology is totally wrong and misusing the fourth pillar for
propagating such views is still worse.
Let us get it clear that unfortunately music is not made for the deaf,
canvas painting is not made for the blind and dish antenna is not made for
frying vegetables.
I wish Narasimha, breaks such bad mouthing
fourth pillars too.
All that is required is as simple
as making relevant and proper evaluation. As grown up people we must also grow
out of some unflinching loyalty to any prejudice or person if not through
knowledge and wisdom, at least, through experience and the realization of the
fact we cannot carry on like that forever in life.
Otherwise involuntarily we
all become a prey to certain conditions as Eric Micha'el Leventhal says,
“Everything changes as you
move through three stages of awareness:
First, that beliefs are the
result of conditions;
Second, that beliefs are the
cause of conditions;
And third, that beliefs are
themselves conditions.”
And “Across planes of
consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that opposite things can be
simultaneously true.” ― Ram Dass.
We cannot analyze art through
ideological fixations or subject art to satisfy socio- political
justifications.
We must also know that
everything has its own inherent attributes, intrinsic values, internal
mechanism and logic for its existence besides, beyond, exclusive of and
unmindful of human intellectual justifications, acceptance, acknowledgement,
social approvals, political support etc
I would like to give a link
for everyone to understand what I am trying to stress here.
[1] The scale of observation depends on man; it is he who creates it. In
nature, different scales of observation do not exist. There is only one
immense, harmonious phenomenon on a scale which, in general, escapes man. The
structure of man's brain necessitates dividing into arbitrary compartments and
cutting up into isolated pieces. With the aid of several instruments science
creates more phantasmagoria: "on our scale of human observation, as
pointed out before, the edge of a razor-blade is a continuous line. On the
microscopic scale, it is a broken but solid line. On the chemic scale we have
atoms of iron and carbon. On the sub-atomic scale we have electrons in
perpetual motion which travel at the rate of several thousand miles per second.
All these phenomena are in reality the manifestations of the same basic
phenomenon, the motions of the electrons. The only difference which exists
between them is the scale of observation" -Lecomte du Noüy in Human
Destiny.
[2] I am tempted to quote from this excellent
speech of a great soul and to know about what culture is in brief read his
lecture, the transcript which I have reproduced in the link given below.
“Man Status of Advancement:-
Mankind is entrenched in the egoistic notion of
his primacy. In the right sense, his pre-eminence is his ability to develop and
apply the salient tools of his mind, such as rationale, compassion etc to aid
his intellect for the global or at least non-invasive individual benefits.
Man has two dimensions; personal and its
extensions. His skill includes the art of designing a single way for
multifarious goals and multiple ways for a single destination.
For accessing the utmost goal of liberation,
freedom from the precincts, infringement and depletion, the human race is being
gifted with the tools for molding personal nature through the forms of
literature, culture, religion and philosophy.
Man begins with literature, behaves with
culture, believes in religion and builds himself through philosophy.
Development of society, political society,
science and technology are the extensions and expansions of personal
enrichment.
Personal enrichment fashions ways and goals for
sustenance and progress.”
[3]
David Crystal, a leading linguist explains through his programs in BBC and
through his books many interesting facts. In fact in one of his books titled
‘words, words, words' in the chapter on etymology he writes with historical,
linguistic, lexicographical evidences if we trace back a few thousand years all
the following words along with another dozen more have a common root the words
are NICE, SCIENCE, CONSCIENCE, SHIT etc for those who are interested I shall
type half the chapter when I find time. So tracing the history, ancestry,
heritage , antiquity of anything when we dig up we may come up with many things
which may throw light on many more things. How we interpret them depends purely
on our own sense of aesthetics, concern for others' sensitivities, our own
intense or intolerant reactions, our own cultural and psychological makeup etc. But the fact is everything is at least in
some remote way interconnected and interrelated.
to be
continued part –II
Prahalada – a Natya Roopkam staged on 2nd May
2015 at Music Academy
Part -II
There are various types of creations in art. We shall
confine to a few of them as prevalent at present in arts, especially classical
music and natyams [dances].
There are creations that are
consumer centric where productions are tailor made to suit the tastes
and trends of consumer and the marketing
channels that cater to such consumers like television channels , films, certain
auditoriums etc;
There are also creations wherein the creations follow just
the flow of creative instinct of the creator unmindful of anything else,
sometimes including the rules, grammar, and basic structures of the medium of
art;
There are creations where the emphasis on themes wherein
everything is made to project a particular theme in shining colors even if that
involves forgoing great creativity, consumer interests etc;
There are certain creations that manifest the mastery of the
techniques of the medium by the creator;
There are certain creations which
make a delicate balance of most of the different kinds of creations mentioned
above [without messing around too much in the name of innovations which take
the sap out of the theme, context and culture] through a well knit team which thinks,
trains, dreams and delivers with a well synchronized sense of purpose a passion
filled production which impels consumers to become connoisseurs of that piece
of creation.
It requires a conscious
delicate combination of certain amount all types and aspects of creative
activity because very often even the best of the creators put their whole heart
and soul in a production but leave their mind out which results is lack of
sustained response. Such balanced productions emanate from experiments with
roots in traditions and limitations of license that one can take with various
parameters of culturally entrenched themes and art forms. This does not mean
that these tradition freaks need to insulate themselves from what is happening
in the field of dance internationally.
What these types of productions do
is to break the art from the shackles of stereotyped confines of classified
creations; they may not scale up quantitatively in terms of additional number
of consumers but sets the scales up for quality to a totally different level
and thereby set a new trend of expectations from lovers and rasikas of art.
This is precisely what Prahalada –
a Natya Roopkam staged on 2nd May 2015 at Music Academy, Chennai
did.
I have been consciously refraining
from using the word dance, though that is a universally understood term,
instead preferred the term Natyam. Because it is not mere dance, which could be
any type of movement of limbs, body, jumping etc. whereas, Natyam- the
preferred term for referring to most of the classical dances of India- as Pavan
K. Varma writes in his wonderful book ‘Becoming Indian’ writes, “is by
definition a complex form of creative expression, encompassing within it not
only pure dance but theatre, mime, music, poetry and, above all rasa. [Requires
the knowledge of the language, mythology, symbolism, philosophy etc underlying
the compositions]. It cannot be ‘simplified’ without killing its soul. …..An intrinsic part of dance is abhinaya,
the portrayal of emotion. Only a dancer who has studied the poetry that is at
the heart of a dance composition, and has a knowledge of the music and the raga
in which it is being sung, and is, over and above this, familiar with the
philosophy and mythology underpinning the composition can make the authentic
emotional investment that abhinaya requires.” …. “All cultures have a specific
context; they may be open to outside influences, but cannot be substituted with
another...”
Continued in part –III I shall cover details of
Prahalada – a Natya Roopkam staged on 2nd May 2015 at Music
Academy,
Prahalada Natya Roopakam held
at Music Academy on 2nd May
2015 on the occasion of Narasimha Jayanthi.
Why it was unique and aesthetically
excellent.
The compositions of this program
were penned down by Ashwin Kumar Iyer who like an architect conceptualizes
certain themes ensuring an appropriate place for everything through lyrics
packed with lot of meaning giving not only a complete portrayal of the
character, events but also brings out the important concepts behind the
characters and because of this architectural conceptualization which is the
seed and script of any dance drama mostly everything else fall in its place. The
25 songs were beautifully tuned with a garland of ragas by P.B.Srirangachari
which were appropriate to each and every sentiment expressed in the lyrics.
Ghatam V. Umashankar as music director has ensured to weave excellent patterns
with many classical instruments without using any electronic instrument. Dr.R.
Ganesh as a lead singer along with a host of other senior singers rendered the
songs excellently. Mahalakshmi Ashwinkumar as Choreographer , with a team of
excellent dancers including many senior dancers like Shri.V. Balagurunathan,
Shri S.Shivakumar gave a wonderful presentation even deftly handling humor in a
very serious classical dance drama.
The presentation was further
enhanced by the back drop of relevant artistic shadow puppetry on giant screen.
This particular presentation
managed to overcome the difficult art of carrying out the necessary transition
from tradition into transformation in classical music and Natyams of India.
It was one of those creations which made a delicate balance and careful
combination of smooth flow of creative instinct, thought provoking thematic
clarity, artistic dexterity, technical perfection, consumer interest through a
well knit team of artists who all seem to have thought, trained, dreamt and
delivered with a well synchronized sense of purpose a passion filled production
which impelled the rasikas to become
connoisseurs of that piece of creation.
Very often even the best of the creators put their whole heart and soul
in a production but leave their mind out which results is lack of sustained
response. But these types of balanced productions emanate from experiments with
roots in traditions and limitations of license that one can take with various
parameters of culturally entrenched themes and art forms. This does not mean
that these tradition freaks need to insulate themselves from what is happening
in the field of dance internationally
