Crossing boundaries

This year when the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) hosts the annual Anubhuti festival,be ready to keep an open,accepting mind. “We want art to be taken seriously,not simply as entertainment,” explains Dr Suvarnalata Rao,the programming head of Indian Music at NCPA,“It is,of course,entertaining,but it should be something that touches you not just emotionally,but also intellectually.” In keeping with this spirit,the festival,which starts today and is on till Sunday,has been themed ‘Boundaries and Beyond’. It will have renowned artistes like Zakir Hussain,L Subramaniam and Kishori Amonkar looking beyond the conventional delineations of their art.

The first day of the festival will see a performance by masters of percussion,Zakir Hussain,V Selva Ganesh and Trilok Gurtu called ‘Confluence’. It will be an interesting amalgamation of Indian and non-Indian percussion styles,with Gurtu’s jazz-fusion style,Hussain’s tabla and Ganesh’s kanjira. “It’s a fantastic opportunity not just for the audience,but also for musicians to play on such a platform. To be playing with talents like Zakir bhai and Selva is a big honour. Our excitement for being here will come through for the audience,” stresses Gurtu. Saturday will see Violins for Peace: Global Music Fusion,which will have violin virtuoso Subramaniam performing with eight other violinists from around the world. The festival will conclude with a recital by Amonkar where the singer will be performing her original compositions for the first time. She will also be receiving NCPA’s very first Lifetime Achievement Award on the first day of the festival.

The big names will certainly draw audiences,but the smaller items on the schedule promise to be just as interesting. On the first day,Subramaniam will host an interactive session on various traditional styles of playing the violin. “This will be so that the audience can better appreciate the concert next day,which will feature styles as varied as Russian Gypsy,Arabic,Carnatic Classical,Jazz and Western Classical,” explains Rao. There will also be a screening of The Speaking Hand,a documentary about Hussain,that charts the tabla maestro’s growth as an international artiste and features snippets of his performances with legends such as Ravi Shankar,Alla Rakha and Birju Maharaj.

One of the most interesting performances,however,will be Crossings,a play that explores the facets of Lady Macbeth. This experimental piece,according to Rao,truly fits in with the theme of Boundaries and Beyond because of its use of theatrical idioms,along with elements of music and dance. Director and creator of the play,Vikram Iyengar,explains,“It should not be mistaken for a musical. What we’ve done is use live music to heighten the impact of the performance.”The play has four dancers — Anubha Fatehpuria,Dana Roy,Debashree Bhattacharya and Jayati Chakraborty — enact the different moods and facets of Shakespeare’s immortal femme fatal,Lady Macbeth.