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Kathakali moves in to Taiwan

Jeffery Wu, from Taipei, who was in the city, is fully into promoting Indian art, culture and tourism. He tells PREMA MANMADHAN that he has big plans for Kathakali in Taiwan

PHOTO: VIPINCHANDRAN

CHINESE WHISPER The beats of the tabla brought Jeffery Wu to Indian shores

The tabla played an unforgettable role in the life of Jeffery Wu of Taipei. This businessman from Taiwan was a frequent traveller and once, while in Andalusia, Spain, he chanced upon a good-looking percussion instrument. Thinking it was a Spanish instrument, he bought it. He took it along with him to Auckland where his daughter lived. And there, Dr. Boos, an American, teaching in the university, told him it was an Indian instrument and taught him to play it. Wu took to it, and there began his love affair with India, in 2000. "I read up everything I could find on Indian music, art, films and heritage," says Wu who has a collection of more than 1,000 CDs on Indian music and dances. He has seen more than 500 Indian films, `mostly Bollywood', but he loves the Apu trilogy.

Kerala India fete

This lover of Indian art and culture is in Kerala, preparing for the Taipei Kerala-India festival scheduled later this year. Wu founded the Indian Music and Culture Organisation in Taipei a few years ago and with sponsorships from the Cultural Ministry there, three India festivals were conducted in Taipei. "I stopped playing the tabla in 2003 when I realised I was not good enough. I had seen and heard many of the masters and then I thought I must promote Indian music and art in Taiwan," says Wu, who is combining tourism and culture in his master plan.

Of the more than 60,000 Taiwanese who visit India, only a handful come to South India, because they know so little about the south and its culture. They have heard only of the Taj Mahal and they go there, and see a little of North India, before flying off to another country, he says. Moreover, the flights are from Taipei to Delhi and domestic flights are so expensive, he muses.

The three India festivals conducted there drew a lot of interest and audiences, he says. Shiju, a kathakali exponent who participated in the festival, says, "We had planned only a few shows, but eventually, I stayed on for more than a month, performing in about 20 places, where the response was very good. It was just a scene from Narakasuravadhom But now, Jeffery wants me to present a kathakali of the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet where a rich lady loved a poor boy and in the end, they turn into two birds. It is a legend there and he feels people can relate to the story." There were Odissi and bharathanatyam recitals too. The second festival was on Indian weddings, `so colourful and in different ways, complete with shehnai'. Wu has big ideas about popularising kathakali in Taiwan. All his brochures on the festivals have people in colourful kathakali attire. Log onto the website of Indian Music and Cultural ORG (www.indianandworldmusic.net) and you find kathakali pictures everywhere, nestling amid Chinese characters. When Wu found that there were no books on Indian art or culture in the local language, he simply wrote one! "The first tabla was imported to Taiwan by me for someone who wanted to learn it," he says proudly, and keeping his palms in `tabla playing' mode, chants, "Dha dhin dhin dha", the first `bols' a student learns.

Wu lectures on Indian culture in the universities there and his computer business has taken a back seat now. He is fully into promoting India related art, culture and tourism.

`Learn English in India'

Jeffery Wu, India lover, has big ideas. Taiwan is in the grip of an English learning phase, like other Far East nations, which looked askance at the English language earlier. "Going to Europe to learn English is very expensive for us. So, I have plans to bring students to Bangalore, where there are many institutions teaching English to young people who work in call centres. They have an American accent when they are in the office and an Indian accent when they come out, so it will be good for our students to learn here. It is good and cheaper than going to Europe, " he reasons.

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