Had the good fortune of attending Vishakha Hari’s Hari Katha Kalakshebam titled ‘Krishna Leela’ a few months back, on 3rd
Feb 2013. Muruga Krupananda Warriyaar and Needamangalam Krishnamurthy
Bhagavathar are the only other artists I have known who performed this
art form. Eons ago when I was about 9 or 10 yrs old, I remember to have
attended one such session in Tirunelveli.
Back to the present- the artist of the evening is a Carnatic vocalist, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, a certified Chartered Accountant and as if all these are not much, is an exponent of the dying Iyal Isai art form of Katha Kalakshebam! She could have chosen to pursue any of the first mentioned three as her profession, but kudos to her for opting to keep the uncommon, traditional (and the least glamourous of the four) art form alive. That she dons the conventional 9 yards saree in the Iyer style on stage, at an era when Brahmin bashing is deemed stylish and intellectual, in my opinion, is daring and worth a standing ovation and a few whistles as well.
As for the evening’s performance, what can I say… with songs and slokas sourced from every nook and corner- Andal, Jayadev, Surdas, Purandaradas, Narayana Pattadri, Vallabhacharya( Madhurashtakam), Adi Sankara (Govindashtakam)and Lalgudi Jayaraman were all in attendance hailing the Lord’s Leela. She took pains to give credit to the composers by name and their region with no harm to the interest in the narrative. As a true mark of a seasoned artist, she struck a chord with the audience with subtle humour and had us eating out of her hands in no time. Each leela had a particular raga presiding over it- Yaman, Bhairavi, Sindhu Bhairavi, Kapi, Nattai, and Dwijavanti. The crowning glory came in Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Kaliya Narthana Tillana in Raga Nagaswaravali. One could visualize Krishna dancing all over Kaliya’s heads with the tempo building up to the final annihilation. To say it was engrossing is an understatement. She made her Guru Lalgudi Jayaraman and her Maker proud, I swear. May her tribe increase!
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1513527
Back to the present- the artist of the evening is a Carnatic vocalist, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, a certified Chartered Accountant and as if all these are not much, is an exponent of the dying Iyal Isai art form of Katha Kalakshebam! She could have chosen to pursue any of the first mentioned three as her profession, but kudos to her for opting to keep the uncommon, traditional (and the least glamourous of the four) art form alive. That she dons the conventional 9 yards saree in the Iyer style on stage, at an era when Brahmin bashing is deemed stylish and intellectual, in my opinion, is daring and worth a standing ovation and a few whistles as well.
As for the evening’s performance, what can I say… with songs and slokas sourced from every nook and corner- Andal, Jayadev, Surdas, Purandaradas, Narayana Pattadri, Vallabhacharya( Madhurashtakam), Adi Sankara (Govindashtakam)and Lalgudi Jayaraman were all in attendance hailing the Lord’s Leela. She took pains to give credit to the composers by name and their region with no harm to the interest in the narrative. As a true mark of a seasoned artist, she struck a chord with the audience with subtle humour and had us eating out of her hands in no time. Each leela had a particular raga presiding over it- Yaman, Bhairavi, Sindhu Bhairavi, Kapi, Nattai, and Dwijavanti. The crowning glory came in Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Kaliya Narthana Tillana in Raga Nagaswaravali. One could visualize Krishna dancing all over Kaliya’s heads with the tempo building up to the final annihilation. To say it was engrossing is an understatement. She made her Guru Lalgudi Jayaraman and her Maker proud, I swear. May her tribe increase!
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1513527
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