Rhythm divine

The idea of Devayatan (October 14) was based on exhibiting the similarities and minute differences between the bols and styles of presentation retained by two schools of tabla — Lucknow and Benaras. The young enthusiasts refrained from the beaten track and selected Nasrut, a rarely heard, complex, nine-beat tala. Roy’s technical finesse was evident in Lucknow’s uthan, baant, kaida, tukra and chakradhar. Mishra, too, was easy with Benarasi peshkar, kaida and the rest with more emphasis on the baayan but both had to adjust constantly with the uncertain naghma played by Ratin Majumdar’s harmonium. Their teental , sated with neat padhant, varied layakari and tihais, was more relaxed.

Meena Banerjee

Earnest enthusiasm

Shinjini presented an evening of dance under the guidance of Manjusree Mukherjee at Rabindra Sadan on October 23. Divided into three parts, the programme began with Ganesh Vandana, a traditional invocatory Odissi number. The pure dance numbers based on raga Basant and Shankaravaranam were performed by the students of the institution with earnest enthusiasm. Bichitra started with a choreography based on the Tagore song, Ananda dhwani jagao, followed by Chandi stotra. The youngest dancers stole the show with their spontaneous performance in Little Birds with the song Bulbul pakhi mayna tiye. The programme ended with Shree Radhikar Manbhanjan, a dance drama based on Radha-Krishna lore.

Sharmila BasuThakur

Stating the truth

An old village artisan, who sculpts figures of gods and goddesses, is nevertheless barred from entering temples which houses idols made by him because he is a lower caste. Now his son, who had been sent to study in a city art school, returns and protests. Incensed upper caste villagers arrange to sacrifice him to the gods for this act of blasphemy. Brechtian Mirror’s Kaheka (named after the now banned tradition of human sacrifice) explores the intricacies of manipulative village politics which has the power to render totally useless modern education or value systems that question superstition. Though there is little noteworthy about the production in terms of stage craft, director Amitava Dasgupta is able to successfully bring out the sense of utter helplessness that permeates societies still in the grip of caste politics.

Dola Mitra