Song, dance, and a medley of filmy tunes

Posted on 09/01/2015 in The Times of India

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  IIT Madras's annual festiIval, Saarang 2015, brought to you by the Times of India, hosted the inaugural event -the Classical Night. It was an evening characterised by wonderful music and dance, by eminent local artists. This year, Carnatic vocalist Aruna Sairam and National Award-winner and dancer, Shobhana were the main attractions. The Open Air Theatre witnessed crowds like never before, with professors, localites and students flocking the venue.

  The evening began with Padma Shri Aruna Sairam's performance, a composition of Mysore Vasudevacharya, in the raga Hindolan, followed by a song composed by Thyagaraja, in the raga Chandrajyothi. She charmed the audience right from start -especially when she referred to IIT-M as a `temple of learning'. She completed the classical section of her repertoire with a composition by Gopalakrishna Bharatiya, in raga Dhanyashree and finished with an alaap by Bhadrachala Ramadasa. This was followed by a robust mridangam solo, after which it alternated with the ghatam, producing a fast-paced beat, which the audience loved.

  Next up was Bharatanatyam danseuse Padma Shri Shobhana's performance. She began with a solo performance to a song composed by the violin duo Ganesh and Kumaresh, in Adi talam. “It's lovely to see the arena packed,“ she said. She demonstrated some common mudras, and explained what they meant, drawing laughs from the crowd with her inventive explanations (`Tamil ponnu', for the mudra used for depicting a girl and expressions of shringaram, used for attracting men).Following the solo, her students performed a bhajan and then Shobhana and her students then performed a sequence based on the Dasavatharam, showing the transformation of deities from Mathsya, Vamana and finally, Krishna avatar.

  The audience loved the well-coordinated and graceful dance where the dancers performed Bharatanatyam to a composition by Bach. This was followed by the final section, a tribute to AR Rahman, which was a fusion of all his Bollywood tunes.

   

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