Priyadarshini Govind 14-01-11, Bangalore

[keerthi]

Priyadarshini Govind – Bharatiya vidya bhavan, Bangalore
Hosted by Surya Cultural organization
14-01-11, Sankranti


1. stotra medley including a verse from ardhanArIshwara stotra and annapUrnAshtakam.
2. Kunitta paruvam in Ahir bhairav
3. nAtakuranji varnam - PApanasam sivan
4. jagadOddhArana – kapi – purandara dAsa
5. kUdi kUsE – saurAshtrA padam - kshEtragna
6. Niriniri - pUrvi tillana – tirugOkarNnam VaidyanAtha Bhagavatar
7. kantamAm kadirgAmam danil – Sindhubhairavi

Priyadarshini G excels in her choice of good pieces, traditional and otherwise; and also is a virtuoso in AngikAbhinaya and nRtta. She had to use taped music, but that didn’t affect the quality of the performance.
It is good that she chose to introduce the items herself; and did it very well.

1.It is very difficult to take different verse and make a smooth, organic medley out of them. This one was no exception and had some rough transitions, with a lumpy combination of rAgas and gati-s. The singer sang the ArdhanAriswara stotram as ‘cAmpEya-gaurArdha-sharIrakAyai karpUra-gaurArdha-sharIrakAyai’; making it a pUrnanariswari stotram. It was supposed to be sarIrakAya in the second half, indicating Shiva.

While performing the lines ‘bhikshAM dEhi’ from the annapUrnaSTakaM, PG mimed handing out several spoonsful of bhiksha, which seemed a bit funny. This action reminded me of a parent serving ghee at the dining table, or a paricAraka serving food at a wedding pankti; but not with the universal mother giving bhikSa.

But, that is just my opinion.[one may say, in rebuttal, that annapUrNA is after all using a vessel and a ladle, I'm not convinced]
Using both hands, cupped, in an action of offering bhikSa would probably be more seemly, as the matrons do, during bhikSa in any upanayana ceremony.

2,3. The abhinaya for kuNitta paruvam was appropriate, and brought out the meaning of the verse well, while my only grouse is that it was sung as a prelude to the nATTakuranji varNam, in Ahir bhairav. Yes the two rAga-s share 6 notes out of seven , but the rAga bhAva to me, seemed grossly inapproporiate, both for the viruttam and as a precursor to nAttakuranji.

The clash of kunitta paruvam, nAttakuranji varnam and Ahir Bhairav was like seeing a chola bronze in t-shirt. It is not like nATTakuranji suffers from any deficit in terms of scope for elaboration!

The varnam was performed very well, and had the interesting use of the pancAkSarI mantra instead of the pATAkSara-s (solkaTTU). This is a very intelligent innovation. Kudos, to whoever did it first, and kudos to those that use such aesthetic innovations.

The depiction of vipralambha-sRngAra through the conventional mimes of thinness and languor was accentuated, by PG’s armlet which slipped down a couple of times, and she slid it up her arm with great nonchalance, and very few would’ve realised that it wasn’t part of the act!

4. JagadOddhArana (second time that evening, Sreevalsan menon sang it once) was probably the highlight of the performance. PG introduced it as Kalanidhi Narayan’s interpretation. They see it as yashOdA playing with KRSNa, despite knowing him to be the supreme being; rather than making the song an account of yashOdA’s naiveté in treating the apramEya as an infant.

This is a very original interpretation, and the abhinaya was top class and very engaging. There were some very natural sancAri-s depicting the mother-child play. yasOdA performing dRSTi-nivAraNam for her child, and her psychological denial of him being godhead, while knowing in heart of hearts that he indeed was god, were all translated into very neat abhinaya. This was art at its highest, with good music and abhinaya being alloyed into rasAnubhava, that was accessible even to someone who doesn’t know about the artform.
The enactment of vAmana for aNOraNIyana was appropriate and clever, but wasn’t followed by the depiction of trivikrama for mahatOmahIyana; which would have made it complete, and brilliant.

5. SaurASTra padam – The nAyika is irked by the cockerel calling out, leading to the disappearance of the lover. She says how she had placed flowers in his head, put bangles on his arms, and was about to kiss him, when the cock called dawn, and he disappeared.

She had welcomed him, applied perfumes, given him paan, and was about to clasp him, when the rooster called out and made him leave.The abhinaya was all good. The padArtha as well as bhAvArtha were represented with fidelity. Grief, anger, annoyance, pouting and finally chucking a stone at the rooster all made for a good portrayal.

During her introduction, PG repeated referred to the rooster as ‘stupid’ which jars on the ears. She could have said ‘wretched’ or something similar.

6.tillana – the pUrvi tillAna (called a dhrupad by the composer?) was well-presented.

....udAttAnudAtta svarita pracaya praNavAkAra
nitya nirAmaya nirmala nigamAnta......

The abhinaya for transcendental terms like ‘nitya niramaya nirmala’ which is traditionally a hamsAsya mudra used to mark a top-downwards diminishing wave , was segued into the next sangati of the same two lines, where the downwards diminuendo movement of the hamsAsya transmuted into the tamil representation of Om.[for praNavAkAra]

This was another one of those super-subtle AhA! moments. I hope I have described the movement well enough for those who are familiar with abhinaya to comprehend. This was the absolute highlight of the programme for me.

7.kAntamAm kadirgamamtanil - sindhubhairavi

This piece was performed well, and again had a cogent abhinaya translation of the lyric. Depictions of the kAvadi etc, were good. However, caught up in the buzz of the nirmala and pranava abhinaya, I wasn’t really in a position to appreciate any details of this piece.

Overall, it was a very, very good performance, well attended by several dancers from Bangalore, which is more than can be said for music concerts here.

[rshankar]

Superb review, Keerthi. Smt. Govind's technique is impeccable, which makes the nRtta segments a joy to behold, and allows for the elevation of the performance into a true bharatanATyam one. Otherwise, some of the performances where the dancer uses the nRtta segments as dramatic punctuations alone seem awful to me; superlative abhinaya alone does not a bharatanATyam performance make, IMO. If abhinaya has to be appreciated just for its own sake without nRtta, I recommend the vilAsini nRtyam dancer, Smt. Swapnasundari, where she sits down and perfoms abhinaya alone for some pieces. I think some of the khoTe-vAlis also did that.

The idea to use pankAshra, or bIjAkshara mantra instead of solkaTTus for the trikAla jati is, I think Smt. Govind's innovation. She also uses 'sa ra va na bha va' in the ANDavan piccai (murugan) varNam, 'nI manam irangi'.

jagadoddhAraNa must have been truly fabulous.

The annapUrNa depiction does sound odd, but I think she may have tried to remain true to the depiction of annapUrNa in both kASi and kuzhikkarai - as you point out, with the ladle. As an aside, I wonder how many ladle-fuls it would have taken to fill up the kapAla that Siva used as bhikshATana mUrti - did it take just one ladle-ful to release him from the curse of the brahmahati dosha? I wonder!

We in NJ were given a choice between an abhang and kAntamAm kadirkAmam tanil, and the crowd (!) went with the abhang (they must have been Harimau's secret bosom buddies). I would have loved to see that one!

By the way, I think the rooster was probably called 'stupid' because that is what the nAyika must have felt when she heard it crow!

[keerthi]

I agree that good abhinaya alone doesn't make good BharatanATyaM.

There is a larger aesthetic value at question here, and this not just about Priyadarshini Govind or any other performer of music or dance.


The claim of bharata muni, which we all purportedly try to stick to is some kind of rasa-niSpatti. If we choose to demonstrate a certain rasa, we clothe it in a certain melody which hopefully highlights the emotion and mod of that rasa, choose a kAlapramAna that is amenable to the exposition of that rasa, and it's auxiliary bhAva-s; and then take a lyric that is conducive to the same rasa.

If it is a singer, they use their melodic virtuosity to bring about rasAnubhava as intended and if it is a dancer, they use the various elements of dance to create that emotive atmosphere.

I hope we are in agreement this far.

But what has happened as a result of the sabhA concert, or the extant version of dance programmes, is that you sing a soulful song that goes 'without you, will I manage to be sane' [ninnuvinA nAmadendu] like it were some ragtime tune; and append it with ridiculous several-speed swarakalpana; which is absolute rasabhanga.

When an instrumentalist does it, it is conscionable, we only use the lyric, often the first words as a tag to identify the piece; but a vocalist doing it jars on the nervous system, and contradicts the bharata-vAkya.


Similarly, the tradition of bharatanAtyaM has been to intersperse abhniaya-dominant elements with nrtta elements. So, the varnam has two Avarthams of 'O dear friend, Go beckon my swAmi, I can't survive without him' etc. which are faithful expositions of the rasa, and then you launch into a thaLAngu-kiTa-thaka-taka-tadhingiNatOM!

Where virahotkaNTita nAyikA??

Further, the ettugada caraNams, have the most soulful lyric about how the moonlight is scorching, the cuckkos calls make one faint, and the pathos of being lovelorn is immediately followed by a string of nRtta elements. This Dr Jekyll-Mr Hyde musican/ Dancer puzzles me.

We are all doing this, and seeing this. I am not asking that we turn into eikonoclastes, But we can think about it, can't we??

There must have been some wisdom, when tanjore kAmAkSi's family chose to not sing swarakalpana till her greatgrandchildren, Mukta and Brinda went to nAyana Pillai, and broke the tradition.

The delicacy of the lyric in the Tanjore Quartet swarajati-s and varnam-s is amazing; especially the ettugade caranams, but these are drowned in haste, percussion and adavus. I am asking that we try and protect the ettugaDe sAhityam's rights!

[mohan]

I am asking that we try and protect the ettugaDe sAhityam's rights!

Good point keerthi. I feel that dance varnams could be better composed with the ettugaDe swarams having jathis (like in a daru varnam) instead of sAhityam.

[rshankar]

The delicacy of the lyric in the Tanjore Quartet swarajati-s and varnam-s is amazing; especially the ettugade caranams, but these are drowned in haste, percussion and adavus. I am asking that we try and protect the ettugaDe sAhityam's rights!

Wasn't it the tanjavUr quartet, the very ones who composed these lovely padavarNams, who also gave them complete (not just musical) form? The svara sections (muktayi, eTTugaDe or caraNasvara segments) were always choreographed - it is not a new idea. Similarly, jatis in the pallavi and anupallavi are not new either. Now, some question the length of these jatis arguing that they were not meant to be long virtuoso expositions, but short, crisp and pointed segments. In any case, the first time the sAhityam is sung, there is usually no abhinaya to it - it usually follows the jati sections, to prevent the very segmentation you speak about - and it is usually after a complete interprettation of the sAhitya segment with or without sancAris, that the next nRtta interlude begins. All padavarNams are composed with the knowledge that they will be split with jatis, usually in the pUrvAngam, and with svara passages from the muktAyi svara section. So, it is not as if the express purpose of the composer is being destroyed with the choreography, unlike the situation with kalpanAsvara insertions in vocal concerts, regardless of the speed.
I for one am conditioned to appreciate a padavarNam in the current format. The jatis/nRtta segments increase the beauty of the piece for me. I like the dramatic change in the pace that comes on with the caraNa sAhityam and svara passages. I can't tolerate the lack of, or inadequate nRtta segments. Like I said, if the need is for uninterrupted abhinaya, then a 'sitting down presentation' can be adopted - but, hopefully, it will not be called bharatanATyam...

[parimalphadke]

A very interesting discussion indeed. Thanks to Kirti , Mohan and Shankar

I remember during my Masters in Bharatanatyam @ University of Pune , there was this discussion we had with our teacher Dr.Sucheta Chapekar (http://www.kalavardhini.org) regarding the structure of the varnam . She belonging to Kitappa's style , felt that the jati-s should NOT overpower the main character of the varnam and the character within the varnam ( which may be the virahotkaknthitA nayika or Nayaka) . That is the reason she never agrees to the Post Modern changes ( thats the term I use) which have indeed taken place in the Varnam. Which also means she abhors jati-s longer than One and a half minute except the trikala jati which is bound to be the longest( but even here we find that the latter jatis at times longer than the trikala in the post modern version of Padavarnam) . After a lot of survey and discussion I came to the final conclusions

1) Padavarnam is like a SKILL SHOW ( both on the level of Nritta and Abhinaya)

2) That some of the rasika-s first refer to the DURATION of the varnam than the actual aesthetics which keeps the character of the Padavarnam intact and others prefer to analyse the AESTHETIC aspect of the varnam first and then the duration.

3) That the jathi-s for some dancers act as an interlude to change the emotional tone from say "sAmi aZhaitodivAA" to the next "mA madi mukhamO" and for some dancers the jathi-s become an independent act within the structure of the padavarnam which might or might not be linked with the overall structure and the overall character of the padavarnam.

If we objectively look at the musical structure of the padavarnam, I think it is very evident that though it emanates from the varnam ( of the carnatic music format) it has been specifically crafted with jathi-s in the purvAngam and svara sahityam in the uttarAngam . We must also look at where the padavaranam has been placed in the Margam , at a juncture where the Nritta has been established ( alaripu and jatiswaram) and the padArtha aspect of sahitya has been explored thru ( kauthvam and shabdam) . It is just natural the the varnam will have both ( Nritta and Abhinaya) in its interwoven complex format.

Though the Post Modern Margam omits alaripu , jatiswaram , shabdam and directly jumps to the padavarnam with a prelude ( in the case of PGovind's performance a viruttam precedes the padavarnam) as the second composition in the performance.

As for whether the character of the jathi-s should or should not be influenced with the emotional character of the pada varnam , I feel that is a matter of individual choice.

I also feel Bharatanatyam NOW is maturing as a solo style for the proscenium theatre which in the post independent era and during 1980-s it was still in the middle stages of transition from a temple dance style of Sadir to a style for proscenium theatre . The post bharanatyam dancer has limitations of time to present the FULL Margam , and thus the finest musical and dance aspects are cleverly packaged. So , the best dancers are not just the ones who dance well , but cleverly package the aesthetic elements in a short duration of one and a half hour.

[madhan]

an article related to this discussion is here.. http://www.thehindu.com/arts/dance/article1089627.ece Ms. Leela criticizes Ms. Rama's long nritta passages which spoiled the sthayi bhava of the varnam and made mood building difficult..

[rshankar]

Parimal - thank you for adding your perspective to the discussion. I agree with you that these days, as with everything else, packaging, marketing and ultimately 'selling' are very important, and the succesful dancer doesn't just know how to blend the esthetic highs of the music and choreography, but knows how not to let go of their feel for the rasikas' pulse.

Madan - looks like Keerthi and Ms. Leela are on the same page! As an aside, I think that an experienced and knowledgeable critic like her should know the difference between 'sAmini rammanAvE' and 'sAmi nee rammanAvE'!

While performing the lines ‘bhikshAM dEhi’ from the annapUrnaSTakaM, PG mimed handing out several spoonsful of bhiksha, which seemed a bit funny. This action reminded me of a parent serving ghee at the dining table, or a paricAraka serving food at a wedding pankti; but not with the universal mother giving bhikSa. Using both hands, cupped, in an action of offering bhikSa would probably be more seemly, as the matrons do, during bhikSa in any upanayana ceremony.

Keerthi - I was thinking some more about this point - it is even more relevant, because, Sri Adi Sankara's ardent plea to the lOka mAtA is 'gyAna vairAgay siddhyartham bhishAm dEhi ca pArvati' - so, the bhikshA transcends the plea for food.