June–July 2007 - Sangeet Natak Akademi

Chairman SNA meets PresidentOFFICERS OF THE AKADEMIChairmanSHRI RAM NIWAS MIRDHAVice-ChairmanSHRI KAVALAM NARAYANAPANIKKARFinancial AdvisorSHRI R.C. MISHRASecretarySHRI JAYANT KASTUARShri Ram Niwas Mirdha, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi presents a set of Akademi Publications andcompact discs (CDs) of Master Musicians of India to Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India atRashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 31st July 2007.A Note from thePublisherSangeet Natak Akademi under itsscheme of ‘Assistance to YoungTheatre Artists’ conducts a trainingprogramme in which 30-dayworkshops are organized in statesand after completion of theseworkshops in each state of aparticular zone, a 75-day workshopis held for participants chosen fromthe 30-days workshops. Till date theAkademi has organized fifteenworkshops in various States sincelaunch of its first pilot project inMarch, 2000 and imparted trainingto 373 participants. Two intensivetraining (phase II) workshops havealso been held in which 51 artistshave been trained. This issue ofBulletin opens with a brief report onfifteenth workshop held atKhairagarh, Chhattisgarh from the3rd of July to the 1st of August2007.Nritya Pratibha is a festival of dancefocusing on young dance talent. It isorganised by Sangeet NatakAkademi as part of a well establishedprogramme to promote danceamong a new generation of artists allover India helping them to find afoothold on the national platform.The Pratibha programme is notconfined to dance; over the years,festivals of music and theatrefeaturing young artists have alsobeen held as a part of the series indifferent parts of the country. Areport on a Nritya Pratibha heldfrom 21 to 24 July 2007 atDehradun focusing on young dancetalent in Northern India forms a partof the Bulletin.The Akademi started organizingperformances of traditional puppetryprevalent in India from August 2005with the object of bringing to the foregroups in remotest of villages and totake stock of the status of the art inthe region as well as to provide it aperformance platform. Nineperformance of traditional puppety,representing various states of thecountry have been held in Delhi tillnow. An account of KalasturiBahulaya of Maharashtra performedat Meghdoot Theatre in RabindraBhavan, New Delhi, on 27 July2007, also finds place in theBulletin.Jayant KastuarSecretary

Young theatre artists’ workshop, KhairagarhA month-long workshop wasorganized for the benefit of youngtheatre artists of Chhattisgarh atKhairagah from 3rd of July to the1st of August, 2007. The workshopwas held in collaboration with IndiraKala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya andcovered first phase of theAkademi’s programme by providingbasic training to the theatre artists.As many as 23 young theatre artistsbetween the age of 21 and 35 years,including two female participantswere selected through interviewsheld at Raipur, capital ofChhatisgarh. Participants camefrom various parts of the State suchas Jashpur, Korba, Rajnandgaon,Durg, Raipur, Raigarh, Bilaspur,Khairagarh and Jangir-Champa.Shri Satish Anand, well-knowntheatre director and Akademiaward-winner was the campdirector at the workshop. He wasassisted by the local coordinator,Shri Yogendra Choubey, analumnus of the National School ofDrama, New Delhi.Well-known theatre personalitiesimparted training in differentaspects of theatre. The facultymembers included Satish Anand,Delhi (Acting: Voice & Speech / TextReading & Analysis); YogendraChoubey, Raigarh (Acting); GyandevSingh, Khairagarh (Yoga &Movement); Probir Guha, Kolkata(Improvisation & Movement); P.Gopinath, Thiruvananthapuram(Kalaripayattu); Suman Kumar,Delhi (Scenic Design & CostumeDesign); Lokendra Trivedi, Delhi(Theatre Music); Mirza Masood,Raipur (Creating PerformanceText); Niranjan Goswami, Kolkata(Mime); Rajkamal Nayak, Raipur(Theatre of Poetry); A.N. Roy,Khairagarh (Theatre Management);Badri Singh Kathariha, Bhopal(Make-up); Dinesh Thakur, Mumbai(Production Process); SureshBhardwaj, Delhi (Lighting);Devendra Raj Ankur, Delhi (AnOverview of World Theatre andIndian Theatre and Kahani kaRangmanch — Theatre in Storyformat); and Dr Om Prakash Bharati,Deputy Secretary, Drama, SangeetNatak Akademi.To give the participants a fair ideaof the folk traditions ofChhattisgarh, performances ofdifferent regional folk theatre formswere organized. The performancesincluded Nacha by Dileep Tarak,Balram Tarak & Party, Bans Geet byNakul Yadav and Party, DevarKarma Songs and Dance by ShantiDevar and Party, Folk Music by P.C.Lal Yadav and Group, and Chandainiby Ramadhar Sahu and RakeshTiwari. Dr Kaptan Singh, DrMandavi Singh, Dr I.D. Tewari andDr Bharat Patel gave detailedlectures on Yoga, Dance,Shakespeare’s Theatre, and FolkSongs and Dances of Chhattisgarh.Video / CD screening of thefollowing plays were arranged forthe benefit of participants:Anveshak (Hindi), written by Pratap Sehgal,directed by Satish AnandMrichchhakatikam (in Bidesia style),written by Shoodrak, directed by SatishAnandTop: Make-up practice session at workshop. Above: A glimpse of Kalaripayattu.Daaku (Hindi), written by Mudrarakshas,directed by Satish AnandKhul Ja Sim Sim (Hindi), by ChandrasekharKambar, directed by B.V. KaranthTughlaq (Hindustani), written by GirishKarnard, directed by Dinesh ThakurRani Dayee (Hindi), written byNandkishore Tiwari, directed by YogendraChoubeySome scenes from films of CharlieChaplin were also screened.The valedictory function wasorganized on 1 August. Prof. GeetaPental, Vice-Chancellor, Indira KalaSangeet Vishwavidyalaya was theChief Guest and gave awaycertificates to the participants. TheWorkshop Director, Shri SatishAnand, read out the workshopreport to the gathering of theatrepersonalities and artists from theState. The chief attraction, however,was the dramatic presentation gotup by participants in the workshop.2 Sangeet Natak Akademi News Bulletin: No. 19, June–July 2007

Nritya Pratibha, DehradunSangeet Natak Akademi organizedNritya Pratibha, a festival of youngdancers, at Dehradun, from 21 to24 July 2007 in collaboration withRural Entrepreneurship andCultulral Heritage (REACH) and Oiland Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC). The festival focused onyoung dance talent in northernIndia; the dancers featured camefrom the States of Jammu &Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi. Forwider representation of dance stylesin this all-India event, a few dancersfrom States other than the abovewere also included. The festival wasinaugurated by Shri Harbans LalKapoor, Speaker, LegislativeAssembly, Uttrakhand, on 21 Julyat IGNFRA Auditorium and thefestival was held at AMN GhoshAuditorium, Dehradun from 22 to24 July. The festival was wellreceived by the audience ofDehradun. The programme follows:Saturday, 21 JulySumelika Bhattacharyya, Delhi: OdissiNamrata Rai and Shyam Kartik Mishra,Dehradun: KathakProgressive Artists Laboratory, Imphal:Pung CholomArchana Tiwari and Kumar Gaurav Sharma,Lucknow: KathakSunday, 22 JulyManjula, Delhi: MohiniattamSujneet Kaur, Jalandhar: KathakAparajita Sarma, Delhi: BharatnatyamProgressive Artists Laboratory, Imphal:Ras LeelaMonday, 23 JulyRangamandali, Guwahati: Gayan BayanJolly Moni Saikia and Punkaj, Guwahati:SattriyaAshwathy K. Kumar, Delhi: KuchipudiHimachal / J&K: KathakTuesday, 24 JulySudha Mallik, Ghaziabad: OdissiPavithra and S. Vasudevan, Delhi:BharatnatyamShubhra Galhotra, Kurukshetra: KathakArtists of Akademi’s Chhau Project: Chhau(Mayurbhanj)Right: Kathak performance byArchana Tiwari andKumar Gaurav Sharma.Virasha performing Kathak.Bharatanatyam by Pavithra and Vasudevan.Sangeet Natak Akademi News Bulletin: No. 19, June–July 2007 3

Traditional Puppetry /Theatre / Video ReportsAKADEMI’S FORTNIGHTLYPERFORMANCES IN DELHIKalasutri Bahulya: StringPuppetry of MaharashtraKalasutri Bahulya, literally ‘dollmoved by thread’, presents storiesfrom Ramayana from the birth ofRama to the killing of Ravana. Theperformers are also good chitrakathitellers and narrate tales from theepics. The performance begins withan invocation to Lord Ganesha bythe singer and his accompanyingmusicians who sit in front of thestage. The musical instruments usedare the tabla, tuntune (a stringedinstrument), cymbals and conch.The puppets are small, with bodiesmade of wood and joints at theshoulders. They do not have legsand wear long skirts. There is onepuppet with moveable jaw. Thepuppets are manipulated fromwithin a box-like stage by pullingthree strings that are attached totheir hands and the top of theirheads at one end, and a triangularcontrol at the other end.A performance of Kalasutri Bahulyawas held on 27 July 2007 at 6.30p.m. at Meghdoot Theatre-II, NewDelhi. The group, Lok Kala Bhavan,Pinguli, presented a story, ‘Ahiravanaand Mahiravana’. The group is a wellknowngroup of Maharashtra andhas earlier performed on theoccasion of Swarn Jayanti 2003 atthe invitation of the Akademi, andagain in 2005 in Mumbai and 2006in Lucknow.The director of the group, GanpatSakharam Masge, is an eminentpuppeteer belonging to a traditionalfamily of puppeteers adhering to theKalasutri Bahulya tradition in Pinguliin Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra.His family has been practising thisart for some 300 years, adhering tothe original style. Ganpat Sakharamlearnt this art from his guru andfather Bhikaji Sakharam Masge. Hehas received the Sangeet NatakAkademi award for his contributionto the puppetry of Maharashtra.Shivdas K. Ganpat Masge was ontabla, Eknath P. Masge on Jhanjh,Sakharam V. Masge on Tuntune andPandurang B. Sawant on Jhanjhari.Lights were taken care of byDattaprasad C. Rasankute. He alsomanipulated the puppets along withSagar B. Gangavane and GanpatMasge.Progressive use of HindiHindi WorkshopIn pursuance of the recommendationsof the Parliamentary OfficialLanguage Committee the Akademiholds quarterly Hindi workshops, atwo-day Hindi Workshop wasorganized on 25-26 June 2007 inMeghdoot Theatre II. TheWorkshop was conducted byProfessor Ganga Prasad Vimal ofJawaharlal Nehru University, NewDelhi. Translation, noting, draftingand correct sentence formationwere the topics of discussion.Sixteen employees of the Akademiparticipated in the workshop, whichwas meant to enable the staff to useHindi in their day-to-day officialwork.DocumentationNritya Pratibha, Dehradun, 21 - 24July, 2007; 8 hours video; 300photographs.In MemoriumS.V. ParthasarathySangeet Natak Akademiand its associate bodiesdeeply mourn the saddemise of Shri S.V.Parthasarathy, an AkademiAward-winner.Shri S.V. Parthasarathywas born in 1917 atThiruvannamalai in TamilNadu. He received histraining in Carnatic vocal music under ShriT.S. Sabesa Iyer, Shri K. Ponniah Pillai, TigerK. Varadachariar and Shri Krishna Iyergerduring the 1930s and subsequently learnt toplay the veena. Shri Parthasarathy started hisprofessional career as a Lecturer in music atAnnamalai University in 1954 but for thebetter part of his working life was producerof carnatic and light music at All India Radio,Trichy, He resumed teaching at AnnamalaiUniversity as Professor of Music in 1985 andbecame the Dean of the Fine ArtsDepartment in 1988.Shri Parthasarathy had performed vocal musicsince the late 1930s and had distinguishedhimself as a composer of light music and amusic broadcaster. For twenty years at AIR,he covered the Thyagaraja festival inTiruvaiyaru and continued to perform overradio. Shri Parthasarathy wrote on music inThe Hindu and produced recordings of songssung by himself. He was bestowed withseveral honours for his work by Sabhas inTamil Nadu.Shri S.V. Parthasarathy received the SangeetNatak Akademi Award for his contributionto Carnatic vocal music in 2005.Shri Parthasarathy passed away in Chennaion 25th July 2007.For private circulation. Published by Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, Feroze Shah Road, New Delhi 110 001. Tel: 23387246/7/8.Fax: 23381621. E-mail: sangeetnatak@bol.net.in. Designed and produced by stetdelhi@gmail.com