WORLD NEWS

School textbook by textbook, quote by quote, and performance by performance, Shakespeare wended his way to a prominent cultural sofa around which India’s conversations take place. Indian classical forms, for their part, have been winning the world’s devotion one baithak at a time. Women are among the most feted ambassadors of India’s arts. We profile two of them.

Hindustani ragas: With love to USSR, US & UK

Dr Viraj Amar, a Banaras Gharana diva from Ahmedabad, carries ‘apricity’ in her voice — it means the pleasing warmth of the sun in crisp winter. The word occurred to me when she told me that one of her earliest forays as an envoy of Indian classical arts took her to the Soviet Union in 1986.

Back then, that vast country would still have been the frosty, foreboding landscape painted by John le Carré, with spooks juggling their identities in buildings smudged by snow and suspicions.

But for Dr Amar, the trip yielded an important souvenir: an expanded artistic horizon. “I was travelling with a dance group to sing for it at an Indo-Soviet festival,” she told TOI. “It was a great learning experience — to sing as part of dance recitals, to stay with a team, and to perform out of my comfort zone. But that was precisely why I had gone. It was a prestigious programme and we performed at the Olympic stadium for the finale of the festival.”

The large throng presaged Dr Amar’s tranquil ability to hold learned audiences in her thrall. I have been luckier than I can say to have watched her live on several occasions. For instance, in 2013 I saw her present Raga Bihagada at Saptak, India’s longest classical music festival held annually in Ahmedabad.

Bihagada engraves its beauty on the mind with its grand fickleness — it rises in contemplation, isolates itself in some secret rapture, and just as suddenly embraces listeners in its tarana. In about 40 minutes scheduled for her, Dr Amar recounted the full story of Bihagada, her supreme flourishes softened by her sadhana.

Her gurus Pandits Rajan and Sajan Mishra, the grandees of Banaras Gharana, would have been proud. Pandit Rajan Mishra passed away during the pandemic, but she continues to be mentored by his younger brother.

After the Soviet sojourn, Dr Amar has taken her gharana’s gifts to several centres of culture. “I have toured the US and the UK several times as a solo artist,” she said. “Many programmes have been memorable. I have always chosen to perform with local accompanists.”

The hallmarks of her gharana — uncompromising exactitude, but wholesome freedom of imagination — were sometimes too daunting for her accompanists abroad.

“I specifically remember one baithak in Cleveland in 2000 in which I had to change my entire presentation, right on the stage, because my tabla accompanist could just not cope and I chose to sing the raga’s alaap without the taal!” Dr Amar said. “In another concert during that tour, in San Francisco, I was told that my tabla artist was a Westerner. I planned to sing very basic taals. But it turned out that he was a very accomplished exponent and Zakir bhai’s student! We developed a rapport on the stage and I could sing without any limitations.”

Dr Amar referenced Ustad Zakir Hussain who recently got another Grammy for India. Between award ceremonies, India’s classical stalwarts offer the world a glimpse of the country’s trophy cabinet — it stores laurels of artistic purity. Dr Amar is among such notables.

“A special baithak was organised in London in 2002. I was not in a great frame of mind to perform,” she said. “I did not know what I was going to sing before I took the stage. Then I surrendered to Shuddha Kalyan. I don’t remember opening my eyes throughout my presentation. I got a standing ovation for that performance! So, I think as musicians we should focus on presenting unadulterated art without worrying about how we can connect.”

I am not even a trainee rasika yet, so my comment on Shuddha Kalyan will only languish at the edge of the raga’s mood.

But I can imagine Dr Amar retreating into the Hindustani sanctum from the London stage, transmitting notes of sacrament to the audience. I also imagine the world closing its eyes in meditation when Indian classical stars rule the stage.

Bharatanatyam in New Jersey: In step with zeitgeist

These days, “resilience” is hustled on webinars as a chic personality trait that can be drummed into you merely by the flair of a professional motivator. In real life, “resilience” is the austere light of personal dignity which leads humans away from their traumas, each agonising step forward relieving their pain, affirming the fragile beauty of their will.

Somdatta Pal, an interdisciplinary artist based in the US state of New Jersey, choreographs this authenticity of courage using Indian classical forms, which can present the most intense impulses as elegant and even pious actions.

“We Rise”, a dance performance, is Pal’s solemn musing on domestic violence and survivors’ capacity to vanquish their tormentors, defeat despair, and emerge as inspiring forces for society.

The presentation (available on YouTube) opens with two performers, dressed in red, seemingly condensing rage in their spartan movements: it appears as though violence is limbering up to strike in a household.

Then a single performer expresses the loneliness of a woman facing assault — warding off an attack, wincing from a blow, but rising again with her grace intact. Eventually, Pal appears on the stage, with her Bharatanatyam recital evoking the triumph of Shakti. It seemed to me that her gestures, poses, and turns showed the ascent of confidence in a survivor to say, “I will fight back.” The assertion is not shrill, but it still contains the splendour of righteous defiance.

“At a recent screening of ‘We Rise’ in New Jersey, the audience members found the confluence of movements, rhythm, and melody representative of the journey of a survivor which includes memories of trauma and the subsequent flowering of hope, leading to the protagonist’s empowerment,” Pal told TOI. “For some audience members, the performance recalled their memories of trauma and reminded them of their own resilience.”

As for the forms used in “We Rise”, Pal said, “The recital harnesses authentic movements, choreographed modern dance, and Bharatanatyam.” She added, “The narrative styles resonated with the audience, as did the juxtaposition of original Bangla and Sanskrit lyrics.”

But for the US audiences, Bharatanatyam was the pièce de résistance.

“The dominant style of Indian classical dance infused in this production is Bharatanatyam. It encapsulates symbolism through hand gestures (mudras) and is a powerful medium to communicate a story,” Pal said. “In the production, the choreographic patterns of Bharatanatyam were introduced during the empowering moments of the narrative in coordination with hallowed Sanskrit lyrics. The percussive rhythms of the pakhavaj could be best responded to through the movements of Bharatanatyam.”

Pal said that repressed emotions, which often cannot be articulated verbally, were expressed through Bharatanatyam.

The project has won two bronze medals at the Global Music Awards, conferred by an American organisation. The recognition was accorded in the categories of female vocalist and music video.

“We Rise” is headed to festivals around the globe and Bharatanatyam’s healing potency is likely to show the world the genuine resilience of humans. That is what great art does — speaks unchanging truths to every new generation.

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