Sufi Kathak By Manjari Chaturvedi: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR SUFI KATHAK BY MANJARI...

On the occasion of the 35th Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroha 2007, The Department of Culture, together with Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj, is organising a 4-day grand music festival, from 29th November to 2nd December, at the Nizam College grounds.

Young and upcoming artistes will share the dias with some senior ones during the festival, such as flautists Rakesh Chaurasia and Shashank, vocalists Pandit Jasraj, Pritam Bhattacharya and Sanjeev Abhyankar, Hariharan, vainika Jayanthi Kumaresh, sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez, Sufi Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi, and tabla player Vijay Ghate.

Today, the last day, the first performance of the evening is by the Sufi Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi. A danseuse representing the Lucknow gharana of Kathak, Manjari was trained in classical Kathak by Guru Pandit Arjun Mishra. She developed the detailing of abhinaya (expressions) under Kalanidhi Narayan and Priyadarshini Govind, and has worked at Nrityagram in association with Protima Bedi and Kumudini Lakhia.

In her efforts to rediscover Kathak from its classical form, Manjari has introduced the mystique of Sufism. Akin to the moving meditation of the whirling dervishes in the Sufi tradition, her unique dance style called Sufi Kathak is representative of the great Sufi traditions of the sub-continent.

Manjari has performed at the International Sufi Festival in New Delhi, the Taj Mahal Celebrations in Fatehpur Sikri, the Viraasat Music Festival in Jaipur, the Mudra Festival in Trivandrum, the Ganga Mahotsav in Benares, the Lucknow Mahotsav in Lucknow, the Maheshwar Music Festival in Maheshwar, the Qutub Festival in New Delhi, the Yoga Mahotsav in Haridwar, the Taj Mahotsav in Agra, the Kathak Mahotsav in New Delhi, and the Kathak Samaroh in Lucknow.

In addition to her performances in India, she has also performed overseas at the Sydney Opera House, the Melbourne Art Gallery and the Judith Wright Centre for Performing Arts in Australia, Belgais and Castelo Branco in Portugal, Elphinston Theatre and Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo, Kuwait, the Festival of India in Tashkent, the Osh Festival For Peace And Respect in Krygztan, and the Festival of India in Turkmenistan.

Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj has been organising music festivals every year at the Nizam College grounds, in memory of his late father and brother Pandit Motiram and Pandit Maniram respectively, since the last 35 years. His father and brother were both music professors at the Nizam College. The entry to the concert is free.

Please contact the Department of Culture at 2324-2482 for further details.