200 films for Kerala festival
About 200 films will be screened in the fifth International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) to be held at Kozhikode from March 31 to April 7.

AUDIOSCAN

SIGHT & SOUND

Extravaganza of classical music, dance
By J.P. Garg

THE bountiful spring has arrived and this year again it brings along with it the classical extravaganza of music and dance being offered by Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh, at the 30th All-India Bhaskar Rao Nritya and Sangeet Sammelan from March 24 to 26 at Tagore Theatre in the city.

This celebration of music and dance festival has been organised every year by the kendra since 1971 to pay homage to Bhaskar Rao Bhakhle, a giant among the finest exponents of classical music. This icon of music handed down to posterity a cultural heritage that music lovers all over the country shall feel proud of for all times to come.

Mr M.L. Koser, Secretary-cum Registrar of the kendra, avers: “There is hardly any stalwart of music or dance in India who has not performed at this conference. They include Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, Girija Devi, Bhimsen Joshi, V.G. Jog, Pt Jasraj, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Amjad Ali Khan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Sitara Devi, Roshan Kumari and Lachhu Maharaj, to name a few. Moreover, the kendra has provided a platform to budding artists, many of whom later turned into top-notches.”

The ensuing conference also features a galaxy of artistes. To be inaugurated by Lt-Gen, J.F.R. Jacob (Retd): Governor of Punjab, the festival opens with a vocal recital by Rajan-Sajan Mishra, the well-known singer brothers of the Banaras gharana. “When we sing together, we become a single unified soul even though we are two different persons”, they say. However, each brother retains his stylistic individuality in a perfect symbiotic relationship with the other.

They will be followed by Rajendra Gangani and his troupe, who present the Kathak. Born in a family of hereditary dancers of the Jaipur school of Kathak, Rajendra received his training from his father, the great maestro Pt Kundan Lal Gangani. He has enriched this traditional dance form with a contemporary approach. Gangani is also an accomplished musician and an expert choreographer.

The next evening March 25 brings to stage Bharatnatyam dancer Debjani Majumder, vocalists Dr Sarayu Kalekar and Sulochana Brahaspati, and Kuchipudi dancer Swapnasundari. Besides her technical mastery of Bharatnatyam, young Debjani is blessed with natural beauty, grace and a captivating ability to communicate with the audience.

Dr Sarayu Kaleker hardly needs an introduction to the music lovers of Chandigarh. A former Head of Music Department of the Government College for Girls and Principal of the Government-College for Boys, she has also been the Vice-Chancellor of Khairagarh University of Music. She will be accompanied by her Delhi-based sister Sulochana Brahaspati in a vocal jugalbandi. Both learnt music from Sulochana’s husband, the late Acharya K.C.D. Brahaspati, an illustrious musicologist and composer. Rendering of dhrupad, Khayal, thumri, dadra and tappa are their forte.

Swapnasundari is a leading female artiste of two traditional dance styles of Andhra Pradesh —Kuchipudi and Vilasini Natyam. She enchants and conquers the audience with her melodious voice, emotive expressions and an arresting stage presence.

Rupak Kulkarni and Shovana Narayan exhibit their dexterity in flute and Kathak recitals on the closing evening March 26. Rupak Kulkarni is a disciple of the legendary Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. His superb control over his breath and fingers produces a powerful melody.

Graceful Shovana Narayan has a passion for fusing different styles and loves blending the elegance of the Lucknow gharana with the precision of the Jaipur school. Intricate footwork, evocative gestures, vivacious layakari and eloquent abhinaya are Shovana’s speciality.

All these star performers at the conference have many records, cassettes and compact discs to their credit. They are regular artistes of All India Radio and various TV channels and have been bestowed with many awards and honours. Besides holding concerts in different cities of India, they have carried the torch of Indian music and dance throughout the length and breadth of the globe.

Their accompanists include well-known artistes like harmonium maestro Mahmood Dhaulpuri, Sarangi player Sabri Khan, and tabla players Fateh Singh Gangani, Akram Khan and Subhash Bhagwant.

On this occasion, Pracheen Kala Kendra will also honour musicians Dr Shankar Lal Mishra and Baldev Singh Balli, theatre stalwart Gursharan Singh, and journalists Nandalal Bhattacharya and Avinash Chopra with cash awards and citation for their services in their respective fields.

Programme at a glance

March 24, 2000 (i) Rajan-Sajan Mishra Vocal recital

(ii) Rajendra Gangani Kathak dance

and his troupe (Jaipur gharana)

March 25, 2000 (i) Debjani Majumdar Bharatnatyam

dance

(ii) Sarayu Kalekar and Vocal jugalbandi

Sulochana Brahaspati

(iii) Swapnasundari Kuchipudi dance

March 26, 2000 (i) Rupak Kulkarni Flute recital

(ii) Shovana Narayan Kathak dance

(Lucknow

gharana)

200 films for Kerala festival

About 200 films will be screened in the fifth International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) to be held at Kozhikode from March 31 to April 7.

State Cultural Affairs Minister T.K. Ramakrishnan and Chalachithra Academy Chairman Shaji N. Karun told newsmen that the festival would give a chance to the public as well as the cine artistes to understand the changes happening around the globe.

Fifty films from Asia, Latin America and Africa would be featured during the festival. The best picture would pocket Rs 10 lakh cash prize.

World-famous Italian director Pasolini’s films would be the main attraction in the festival, besides a one-day seminar jointly organised with the Pasolini Foundation. Another attraction would be four films of Yu Hyun Monk, three films of Japanese director Nagisha Ohshima, three of Brazilian director Hector Libenco, two films of Sophia Loren and four films of M.T. Vasudevan Nair.

Five Malayalam films, “Chemmeen”, “Nirmalyam”, “Piravi”, “Chidambaram” and “Elipathayam”, recognised by the cheftains in the film field, would be specially screened in addition to seven other state award-winning films of last year. — UNI

Audioscan
by ASC
Jagjit Singh impresses

SAHER (T-Series): Most of the albums of Jagjit Singh have had English titles. Of late, he has started going in four Urdu names. The switchover may not be deliberate but does marks a milestone in his singing. These new cassettes show a far better selection of lyrics and yes, even the singing has scaled new peaks.

All eight ghazals included here have a graceful serenity and melancholy about them. So it is almost impossible to have favourites. The mood is set by the opening ghazal

of Meraz itself, Tere baare mein jab socha nahin tha, main tanha tha magar itna nahin tha....The instrumentation in this one is simply superb.

Bashir Badr’s Mujhse bichhad ke khush rahte ho, meri tarah tum bhi jhoote ho...is simplicity itself. Jagjit’s voice does full justice to its melancholy. Setting it to music must have been a challenge for Jagjit.

Another ghazal which impresses you equally is Tere anne ki jab khabar mahke, teri khushboo see sara ghar mahke...by Dr Nawaz Devbandi. The others are by Iqbal Azim, Rahat Indori, Nazir Bakri, Faiz Ratlami and Rajesh Reddy.

As is the trend these days, the lyrics of all ghazals are given on the jacket, along with the meaning of some difficult words.

The jacket also features some fabulous sepia photographs of Jagjit Singh clicked by Gautam Rajyadhaksha.

Desert Visions (Music Today): Let it be said at the very outset that this is not a cassette of religious music. That confusion may come from the slogan, Music from the World of Osho, that appears on the album. Perhaps it is there because the album is dedicated to Osho, who, says Joshua, has “always been like a spring in the desert to me”.

Prem Joshua is a multi-instrumentalist and has combined with musicians from India and Europe to create this blend of what he calls World Music. So there is soparno saxophone, bamboo flutes, tabla, darbouka, sitar, santoor, along with keyboards and drums. It incorporates many styles like Arabic folk, ancient Indian ragas and African Music. The effect is soothing and disturbing at the same time. Joshua produced “Tales of a Dancing

River”, way back in 1993. “Hamsafar” followed a few years later. The present cassette is a logical culmination of the experimentation.

In some of the compositions, he has collaborated with Rishi Rolte. Sounds recorded at railway stations, streets, jungles and deserts of India have been dextrously incorporated.

Sight and Sound
by Amita Malik
Lalloo, Lalloo superstar

DURING the general election some time ago, my colleague Andrew Whitehead from the BBC and myself were on a panel anchored by Vir Sanghvi and the topic got around to politicians as performers on television. Andrew pointed out that some politicians, even when they have it handed to them on a plate, just mess it up. He quoted an occasion when he was flying to Srinagar with then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. Andrew naturally hoped to get some important statements on the Kashmir problem from the PM. But Mr Rao remained tight-lipped throughout, refused to be drawn and confined himself to monosyllables. Then we both came to the conclusion that, as far as TV goes, the most effective politician on Indian T.V. is certainly Laloo Prasad Yadav. He does not even have to be persuaded, he just takes off as soon as the cameras appear and treats us to a turn which is not half as comic as it seems.

One of the main reasons Laloo is so effective with different sections of Indians for different reasons is that, first and foremost, he is an entertainer, some would say a consummate actor. There is never a dull moment when Lalooji is around. His dramatic gestures are studied, particularly the way he uses his arms, the way he stands, like a fighting cock, his language a homely, earthy rustic patois which everyone can enjoy. The way he throws in lots of English words nowadays, keeps those who do not switch off, riveted, a kind of anticipation of “What will he say next?”. In fact, Laloo is such fun that one watches his antics in a much more relaxed way than say, the awful shenanigans in Parliament, which create disgust, anger, frustration, and at times shame about what our legislators have come to.

It is debatable if Laloo would have aroused so much interest, and at times grudging admiration for what he gets away with, if it had not been for TV. Because while his bush telegraph works very well in Bihar, it is television which has given him an all-India audience, if not exactly a following. He is a TV personality in his own right and TV would be much the poorer and very dull indeed without the periodic Laloo jatra. His histrionics on TV after Nitish Kumar’s resignation was a star performance, no less. All this proves, all over again, that TV can be a very powerful weapon in the hands of those who know how to use it.

NEWS CHANNEL UP-DATE: There has been much speculation down the years about who exactly does the spelling of the captions for Doordarshan, some think it is the poor fellows who move around the props. Anyway, last week we had “Mauritious”, “abandounment” and “Caterpuri” for Carterpuri (what I suppose is called catering for all tastes). Meanwhile Big Sister has been busy issuing written instructions to women newsreaders to let down their hair “to look contemporary,” and asking correspondents (a) To confine their interviews to 15 seconds and (b) not to ask questions. Well, you couldn’t ask even a question in 15 seconds, could you? And (c) asking them verbally, to interview only those sympathetic to the government.. DD happens to be the only channel, where its news staff is given large credits at the end of the news, when they should be in hiding for their bad scripts, appalling technical quality, out-station despatches which do not match the studios in colour or sound level, VIP’s at the mike with voice-overs by the newscaster, frequent breakdowns between the regions and the newsroom, while seasoned correspondents like Sudhanshu Ranjan from Patna bravely cover the up gaffes from Delhi. While other channels have sports correspondents for major bulletins DD, “the biggest news network in the world” (one must check on that one) has sent them packing.