The curtain falls
NARESH GULATI
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The Jaipur Heritage International Festival came to an end this week with its share of bouquets and brickbats.
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The 10-day Jaipur Heritage International Festival ended this past Monday with a musical finale chipped in by the Tourism Department of the State Government. Held on the Janapath here with the Vidhan Sabha, the Peoples' House, forming the backdrop, the finale featured playback singer Abhijeet, even as the end came amidst a sense of multiple achievements for the organisers.
For, they not only tried to relate to the existing heritage in all its manifestation, they also added a newer one to the landscape of the city at the Central Park for the generations to come, thanks to Tabs India, sculptor Christian Lapie and the dozen-odd unnamed stone artisans. A permanent 13-piece giant installation in stone named In the path of the Sun and the Moon, its human figures in stone betray from a vantage point a gaze on the deeds of the city folk!
So as the mini-metro witnessed the fluid grace of classical dancer Malvika Sarukkkai in the precincts of the historic Ramchandra temple, the sufi mysticism encapsulated in the Kathak recital by Manjari Chaturvedi at the ramparts of the historic Amber Fort, the classical notes of the Gwalior gharana flowing on a winter afternoon, the bluegrass singing of Alan Ward and Etienne in the elegant baithak in Diggi Palace and the numerous dusk-time folk performances at the Chaupal, what would remain etched for a long time in the minds of the people is the Nav-swar Sangeet Symphony, two plays by Manipur's Chorus Repertory Theatre under the direction of Rattan Thiyam and a session of Dastangoi by Mahmood Farooqui, all of which came here for the first time.
Presented at the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) this past Saturday and conducted by Krishnamohan Bhat, the Nav-swar Symphony proved the grand finale of the Fest's folk repertoire . After a round of individual performances by Manganiyars, Bhope, Terah-tali dancers and the rest, the ensemble comprising the drum, algoza, mashak (bag) piper, chung-dhap, dholak, tabla, harmonium and the sitar took off to a 10-minute symphony that swept the audience off their feet!
The two plays "Nine Hills One Valley" and "Uttar-Priyadarshi" staged earlier by Thiyam's group left the audience awe-struck, for, here they saw the grand spectacle that Thiyam is capable of putting up on the stage with the physique of his actors and the traditional props he uses. Even as the text in Manipuri was incomprehensible, the aural power with which the actors delivered it was communicative enough to rivet a spectator.
The huge itinerary of the Fest was mostly executed by JVF members that included several theatre workers led by Vasudev and Ashok Rahi. It ended by receiving some bouquets from William Dalrymple, among others, who defended the organisers against brickbats about `elitist approach' to late night concerts, the parties and the Literature Festival.
Some flak
The Fest also drew some flak for selection of artists and writers. There were complaints about inadequate representation of the city that lent its name, manpower and most of the resources to the Fest. While a few of the `ignored' artists were hardly in riyaz for any performance worth a name, some writers were left out to accommodate seniors even if they were not from Jaipur. Yet, the bias in favour of the English authors and certain artists was visible at the Fest, for this `highbrow' stance also left art connoisseur and the first DG of the JKK, Vijay Varma intrigued even as he wasn't a first-hand witness to any of this. Varma though called the Fest a huge success
Ironically, at the finale, the `jana' of the town sat in a distant enclosure far removed from the huge stage erected at the end of the Janapath. The two enclosures nearer the stage were typically reserved for the VVIPs. The event may have given the festival a huge finale in terms of scale, yet, neither the art form nor its demeanour made it befitting for an event that will vie for comparison with the Edinburgh Festival in due course.
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