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TRIBUTE TO KATHAK GURU
To pay a tribute to kathak guru Lt Pt Arjun Mishra, a classical programme was held at Valmiki Hall, Sangeet Natak Academy (SNA) recently. The event was organised by
Kathak Academy, Lucknow. Pt Mishra got trained under kathak legends Pt Birju Maharaj and Pt Ramnarayan and has been internationally acclaimed as kathak dancer and choreographer.
The chief guest at the event was Rumi Foundation founder Mumtaz Ali Khan. Pt Mishra’s son and kathak guru Pt Anuj Mishra gave the opening remark. He is director of Arjun Mishra Kathak Academy and Anuj Arjun Mishra Das Company (AADC The students of AADC performed at the event and the main attraction was the performance by world famous kathak dancer and the president of Kathak Kendra, Prayagrajm Urmila Sharma. She paid her tribute to the late singer. The program started with a prayer dance, which was performed by children and was followed by Shyaam Murat, performed by the senior kathak artistes and their students. The third performance was by
Urmila Sharma, who won the hearts of the audience. The programme ended with a kathak performance on Sufi music. The senior students who performed on the occasion included Neha Singh Mishra, Smriti Mishra Tandon, Ekta Mishra, Astha Mishra,
Suman Bharti, Shubham
Tiwari, Piyush Pandey, Shailja
Sahu, Archana
Singh, Monika, Seema Pal, Anamika Vats, Simran and Swati Savita.
In the landscape of thumri, Siddheshwari Devi is located at a crucial junction: She bridges the gap between the classical ‘tawaif’ line and the modern line of singers who came from a non-tawaif background.
With Badi Moti Bai and Rasoolan Bai, she formed the formidable triumvirate of thumri which ruled the scene from the early forties to the early seventies of the last century. These women formed the grand structure of the purabang thumri (a thumri style prevalent in Lucknow, Benaras and Gaya). Born and brought up in the family of the renowned Maina Bai and Rajeshwari, she trained with stalwarts like sarangi wizard Siyaji Maharaj of Benaras, Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas, Inayat Khan of Lahore and Bade Ramdasji of Benaras.
An outstanding singer of the ‘baithaki mehfil’ (the performer sat and sang occasionally gesticulating to elaborate the meaning of the phrase, she did not dance), she often performed at the royal courts of Benaras, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Baroda, Gwalior, Patiala, Mysore, Kashmir, Rampur and at elite soirees in Calcutta and Lahore. Her status can be gauged by the fact that in days when a silver rupee got one about 35 kilos of wheat, she was paid a thousand silver rupees per day by the court of Orchha.
At one point her popularity outsoared the appeal of a super star! Both she and KL Sahgal were scheduled to sing at a music conference in Lahore. Sahgal was a movie star and a star singer to boot. The audience demanded that she sings first. Sahgal graciously invited the young woman to sing. By the end of her performance Sahgal, had turned into an avid admirer of her singing.
As a devotee of Krishna, Siddheshwari immortalized bhakti poems like ‘Baithee sochay brijbaam’ (kajari); ‘Jhapak jhuki aayee...’, ‘Jhoola jhule Nandkishore’; Jhula dheere se jhulao Banwari’ (jhula); ‘Jabse Shyam sidhare’, ‘Kahe karat mose raar’, ‘Jao vaheen tum Ghanshyam’ (thumri); ‘Mere to Girdhar Gopal’ (bhajan); ‘Jae na paio hamari gali ayake’ (dadra). She explained that the desire and longing in her song is not for a flesh and blood lover, it is for the divine. Like Bharatanatyam doyenne Balaswarasthy, she too was an exponent of ‘sringara bhakti’ which is centered on an unfulfilled desire to be one with the divine and lends an exquisite pathos to music, dance and poetry. Her contemporaries were unanimous that her ‘pukaar kee taan’ was peerless.
Siddheshwari’s mindset was reflected in her singing which had a serene nobility and discipline. In her hands thumri, otherwise directed by lyricality, took on the philosophical precision and clarity of khayal.
Late in life she turned guru, training a number of disciples including her daughter Savita Devi in her unique styles of thumri, kajri and dadra. Savita Devi says that if she makes a mistake while singing, her mother appears in her dream to correct her. Her day began with her favourite ‘Sharan mohe rakhi le Raghurai’ in Raga Jogiya. The end for her came appealing to the divine to be her heaven.
(The writer is an award
winning author)