Birju Maharaj and Saswati Sen, Chennai, December 2009.

[Nick H]

Saswati Sen, Birju Maharaj, Hamsadvani, 27 December evening.

Poor Saswati (who I have never seen give a poor performance) got off to a bit of a rough start, with growing irritation at the inadequacies of the sound system. I wouldn't have liked to have been on the receiving end of some of the looks she gave them! Eventually, things fell into shape, and the highlight of her performance came after she asked Birju Maharaj to sing, and subsequently, to play tabla for her.

The second part of the conference put Pandit Birju Maharaj at the centre of the stage, or rather, at the centre of the platform, for he did not dance, but presented, seated, a mixture of vocal recital and abinhaya performance. I've said before that he can tell more of a story with one finger than most people can with their whole bodies. It was absolute, pure, magic.

The program was well received by a much larger audience than I expected, including Mrs YGP, abandoning her own Sabha for the entire evening, and whose request resulted in one of the items performed by Maharaj-ji.

How I envy you Nick! By the way, regarding the finger, I would go as far as to say, 'one eyebrow'....

I wouldn't disagree .

He is dancing tonight at BVB, and singing on 31st at Vani Mahal.

BVB is usually packed full in the evenings, but, as this is ticketed, I have hopes of getting in.

[Nick H]

Birju Maharaj, Saswati Sen, Kartik Fine Arts, BVB, 28th December

Paid Rs.2,000 for Mrs N H and I to be able to sit in the second row from the stage for this performance!

The titles of these two posts indicate the order in which the main performances were given. Although Sashwati Sen danced beautifully tonight, with none of the problems of yesterday, this was Birju Maharj's night!

I could just say that I was moved to tears by a substantial amount of his performance, and leave it at that. There is no way that I can even approach doing it justice, even in an entirely subjective report, as opposed to a review.

The evening was introduced by Shobana, who told us that Pandit BM would present the evening partly in the form of a lec dem with demonstrations, and, I suppose that that is what he did. However, any dry connotations associated with the word lecture can be dismissed out of hand. Birju Maharaj is the Master Story Teller, and this is what he did.

He told us stories of many things --- of the wind in the trees, of different kinds of birds and other creatures, of different kind of people, of different kinds of meetings, comings together and movings apart. All of this was conveyed through numbers, through bols, and through classical kathak dance. He kept our hands almost continuously together in applause, and often had us laughing too. His portrayal of a class, with one sleepy, dull pupil and one enthusiastic one, was particularly hilarious. So was his mother hen, annoyed by her chickens.

He captivated and enthralled us with what we might, in much of our life, consider to be trivial things. He showed us magic in those things.

You may ask, where is the religion in this? Where is Krishna, that ever-present kathak god? I don't know, but I suspect that if one were to ask BM this question, he would reply that, simpy, Krishna is in everything, whether as a person or in the dance of a telephone number. I suspect that BM's devotion to Krishna, and its influence on his creativity, is perhaps (please don't throw things at me) the equal of Thyagaraja's devotion to Ram, and that it is never far from anything that he does.

Among his longer pieces was a depiction of Krishna asking for the moon to play with. If I understood correctly, his mother, after proclaiming that this is impossible, gives him the moon, reflected in a bowl of water. Of course, as soon as he tries to touch it, it disappears, only to reappear when the water settles. Perhaps, in his seventy-two years of youth, Birju Maharaj has never lost the innocent magic of childhood. Perhaps this is why he can portray the child Krishna with such feeling and reality. Perhaps it is how he can find music, rhythm and dance in everything and anything.

Sashwati Sen gave us set pieces in 14-beat taal. She also gave us a beautiful dance of the story of Radha impersonating Krishna, and being found out, because she has Krishna, not Radha in her eyes. Much as I love Sashwati's dance, I think, and hope, she will understand and forgive me for having all words tonight for her great teacher.

This is not at all an item list. There was far more than I have mentioned from both performers. I have just written of one or two things that stick in my mind just now.

Rs2,000? Just ten minutes of this wonderful evening would have worth twice that.

[mahavishnu]

thanks, Nick. That was the review of the season for me.

[rshankar]

Thank you Nick! How beautiful!

[vasanthakokilam]

Nick, thanks for sharing your experience and joy with us. You make us wish we were there! Well written.

[cienu]

Lovely Nick. Thanks a lot for a wonderful depiction I almost felt I was there.

[Nick H]

Thank you for your kind remarks.

No objectivity here; my love and admiration of both of these performers is well known, and with Birju Maharaj, it verges on the feeling some might associate more with a spiritual teacher than with a dance teacher.

However, I think the only thing wrong in what I said was its incompleteness. I wish we had a rasika there who could write of each section and each piece.

[rshankar]

Nick, no need to apologise - you have captured very succinctly how Panditji elevates the mundane to the sublime, imbuing it with a simple yet clear divinity in the process apparent for all to see. Panditji's performances enthrall both the lay and connoisseur alike, and words are probably inadequate to describe the sum total of the emotions he invokes (one of the few artists who invoke rasAnubhava in toto, the goal for any performer according to the nATyaSAstra).

[Nick H]

Birju Maharaj, Saswati Sen, Kartik Fine Arts, BVB, 31th December

Well, I've run out of words... but I couldn't miss this concert too, and the blessings of Pandit Birju Maharaj are the best thing to take into the new year!

Another "mixed bag" presentation, more like the first evening. It was billed as a Hindustani concert, but I don't think it is possible for BM to actually sit still on stage for an extended period. He said that he felt all the music as movement, that dance came first for him, that he understood the music as dance. Accordingly, he performed abinhaya, asked Sashwati Sen to dance to one or two of his songs (a difficult task with a platform taking up most of the stage), and even took to the floor himself to perform a few short pieces. One new snippet from his "Natural History" selection was the mother bird fetching food for her chicks in the nest. He seems to have a great thing about birds, about the rhythms in their songs and in their actions. Of course... he did also sing!

His voice is probably one of the easiest to listen to that I have ever heard. it reminds me of a book that gave me the thought, "this book is so well written I don't notice the writing!".

One interesting snippet from his comments (and there were many about his life, his family and other things) was that, at one time, he had just danced the movements, then one day, he began to feel it, and then the dance started to come from his heart. I paraphrase, and badly: I do hope I get to hear him speak about this again in the future.

It has been a glorious highlight, not only of the season, but of the year.

Generally, I don't much follow the dance world, and I beg anyone who hears of Pandit Birju Maharaj and/or Saswati Sen coming to Chennai, whether it is for performance, lecdem, seminar, or whatever, to let me know. If it is open to the public, I will be there.


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[Nick H]

Nearly eight months later, I am revisiting this thread, and reminding myself of the joy of those three evenings. It's a wonderful tonic

I hope they come here this year...

[Nick H]

Their December 2012 visit: Pandit Birju Maharaj and Saswati Sen, Krishna Gana Sabha

[Nick H]

Pandit Birju Maharaj-ji passed away on the 17 January 2022, aged 83.

[vasanthakokilam]

Heard the news. Quite sad. I thought about your writings about Pandit Birju Maharaj here.