Cultural fiesta
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`Sangeetikam,' Kerala Kalamandalam's five-day festival, has pride of place in Kerala's cultural calendar, says V. KALADHARAN
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Poetry in motion: Alarmel Valli
SANGEETIKAM, AN annual five-day-long music and dance programme held at Vallathol Nagar Campus of Kerala Kalamandalam started on February 1. The event is financially supported by the South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur, in association with the Kerala Government. The Minister for Culture, A.P. Anil Kumar, inaugurated the programmes. He also presented the Kalamandalam Fellowship and awards to distinguished artistes in the various classical performing arts.
Dance performance
Dance performances by young dancers of Kalamandalam followed the function at the Koothambalam. New choreographies in Mohiniyaattam were striking in terms of the purity of lines and systematic presentation. The concluding programme of the evening was `Naadan Chinthukal,' a folk dance-music by a group of artistes from Alappuzha. Although its presentation appeared to be a synthesis of elements from traditional arts like Theyyam, it turned out to be a thumping success in view of the fervent participation of the audience.
Nagaswara concert
The highlight of the second day was a nagaswara concert by Vettikkavala Sasikumar. The areas bordering south Malabar have for long not been very familiar with the nagaswaram and the thavil. Sasikumar enchanted the audience with his skilful rendering of a host of ragas and kirtanaas. Around the same time, the Chakyarkoothu of Painkulam Rama Chakyar, with his characteristic satire and thematic-grip, mesmerised the audience at the Koothambalam. Krishnanaattam by the Guruvayur Devaswom Troupe presented scenes from `Raasakreeda' as the final programme of the evening. The foreign students of Kalamandalam, among others, were intrigued by the fecundity of this dance-tradition, mostly confined to the Guruvayur temple. Sans interaction with the audience, does Krishnanaattam tend to be mechanical in its narrative aspects?
Kathakali owes a great deal to Kalaripayattu for the supple body and limbs of a performer. For this and other reasons, a Kalarippayattu demonstration staged by Vallabhatta Kalari Sanghom, Chavakkad, on the third day was a visual feast.
Beats of Panchavaadyam
Thayambaka by Pookkattiri Divakara Poduwal.
There was then a spontaneous shift from the `visual' to the `audio.' Panchavaadyam under the indisputable captaincy of Kalamandalam Parameswara Marar and Chottanikkara Vijayan captivated the listeners with a poised performance of `pathikaalam' progressing into a terse `thriputavattom.' Kunisserry Chandran on the maddalam and Thichoor Mohanan on the edakka wove unusual patterns of swaras to bewitch the audience.
Chavittunatakam by Kripaasanam, Alappuzha, was the last item staged there and that too drew a large crowd.
At the Koothambalam, Kalamandalam Eswaranunni and Hariharan played Thayambaka on the mizhavu and enchanted listeners with their deft fingering and improvisational competence. This was followed by Gayatri's Hindustani music recital that drew a packed audience. Later, Mannur Rajakumaran Unni did a Keralasangeetakutcheri, singing some of the major kritis written in Malayalam.
The lamp was lit for the ensuing Kathakali. Purappad and Melappadam by master performers were a rare treat. In the first play, `Subhadraharanam,' Kalamandalam Gopi appeared as Arjuna and announced his physical and mental acumen to hold on to Natyadharmi when and where it is inevitable. In the second play, `Uttaraswayamvaram,' Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair donned the role of King Duryodhana. His discipline and restraint were evident to a discerning audience while Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan's Thrigartha was seen revelling in Lokadharmi. Hyderali's vocal music, Unnikrishnan's chenda and Narayanan Nambissan's maddalam were exclusively devoted to the visual rhythms of the stalwarts in Kathakali.
Chau and Thayambaka
A scene from `Uttaraswayamvaram.' Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair as Duryodhana and Arun Warrier as Bhanumati.
On the penultimate day of the festival, Chau dance by Pandit Gopal Prasad Dubey and Thayambaka by Pookkattiri Divakara Poduwal enthralled the viewers. Dubey's showcased the distinct grace of north-Indian folk traditions. Poduwal's performance carried an innate discipline that was coupled to artistic imagination.
Both Tholppavakoothu and Mudiyett that followed engrossed the public with their ritual and theatrical panache. At the Koothambalam, Kalamandalam Geethanandan's Seethankan Thullal and Sharmila's Ottan Thullal were the crowd-pullers.
Neena Prasad's Mohiniyaattam recital appealed to the audience for its spontaneous visual lyricism.
The finale of the day's event was a Carnatic music recital by Ranjani and Gayatri. `Mohanam' was the main raga chosen for delineation and the Thyagaraja kriti `Nannupaalimbu' followed. Elegantly supported by Kuzhalmannam Ramakrishnan on the mridangam and Edappilly Ajith Kumar on the violin, the two singers displayed uncommon devotion and discipline in their presentation along with chiselled phrases and eloquent gamakas. The concluding piece was an Abhang in raga Chandrkhons that was filled with a whirlpool of manodharma.
Poetry recitation
The morning session of the final day of Sangeetikam was set apart for poetry recitation. The venue was adjacent to the Vallathol Samadhi alongside the Nila. Kaithapram inaugurated the poets' meet. Balachandran Chullikkad in his commemorative speech quoted profusely from the renowned kavyas of Vallathol to uphold the poet's deep attachment to worldly concerns. "He was an icon of the renaissance movement that stood for national self-identification and his was a stiff resistance to the British cultural imperialism in the early decades of the 20th century," Chullikkad observed. The meet concluded with `Saptanaadam,' a new ensemble choreographed by Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan.
In the late afternoon, Kalamandalam Hyderali presented a fusion music that combined Kathakali, Carnatic and film music.
In the valedictory function that followed, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, the veteran actor who won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship this year, was honoured.
Alarmel Valli presented Bharatanatyam to a packed audience at the Koothambalam. The traditional Thodi Varnam `Swamy Ninne' proclaimed her stylistic purity, expressional calibre and angikaabhinaya. The accompaniments were remarkable especially the violin by Akkarai Subbalakshmi. Shylaja's Kuchipudi recital, staged subsequently, was disciplined, graceful and neatly choreographed. The second stage on the campus reverberated in the evening with folk songs by Vayali, a group from Aarangottukara village.
As artistes from Kerala Folklore Centre Trust in Kannur emerged as Theyyams from the growing darkness, the festival began heading towards its grand finale. The ritual resonance of the songs, the drums and the dancing gods declared their detachment from the sacred space of all the stylised arts.
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