The ancient Trigart kingdom which included present day Kangra has references even in the Mahabharata, and the 12th century Rajtarangini by Kalhana. Remnants of the tradition of art they patronized have filtered down to recent times in the world famous Kangra miniature paintings. A series referred to as the Ragamala paintings, as they depicted Ragas visually were lauded at the recently held Trigart Festival in Dharamshala, 1-4th Nov. The 4 day festival presented 5 Ragas from the Ragamala paintings, in various ways – through dance (Kathak Delhi based ,Mahua Shankar, and Bharatanatyam, Chennai based Jai Quehaeni), thumri and folk music, by internationally acclaimed Malini Awasthi, khayal by Shuheb Hassan, and instruments (sitar Fateh Ali Khan sarangi Ustad Murad Ali Khan, flute Pt Ronu Mazumdar). Malini Awasthi’s flight got cancelled and she drove through the night to make it to the concert as “Its important to take our great classical tradition into the interiors as well”. Ronu Mazumdar sadly could not make it with the last minute cancellation of his flight to Dharamshala so his Shimla based disciple Haridatt Bharadwaj played in his place.
An unusual first of its kind concert was Jai Quehaeni dancing to vocal accompaniment by Vijayshri Vittal, disciple of Bombay Jayashri who sang the Carnatic equivalents of the same 5 Ragas, in the Hindustani style. (Ragas Bhairav, Malkauns, Khamach, Hindol and Kalyan). The act had been specially curated by Guru Chitra Visweswaran and Bombay Jayashri. It was incidentally Jai Quehaeni’s first concert in North India – “For me, if I have managed through this presentation of Bharatanatyam to kindle an interest in someone in the art, that would be enough for me. After the concert, someone came up to me and said this was not only a dance, it was really like a painting where every thing together completes the picture – the vocals, the percussion, the instruments, the lighting. Together, in all its hues, a total presentation is made”.
how interesting and beautiful is this! i always look forward into engaging myself into some cultural activities aside my own. thanks for sharing!
Oh my! It looks so amazing and wonderful festival! It’s so great to watch this kind of dance! So coooooollll!!
This festival sounds like it was an amazing experience. I took part in some dance performances when I was in India and they are always fascinating!
What an amazing sounding festival. I am sure everyone who attends would absolutely love it!
I would love to experience something like this sometime. It looks like a colorful and beautiful festival!
This sounds amazing. One of a kind experience for some. Love how you described it at the end.
This sounds so amazing! I have never been to a festival like this, sounds like something I would love though!!
I once attended a festival with the local Indian community here in Manila, and I remember they also perform this dance. It was mesmerizing, and I was jaw dropped the whole program. It was gorgeous!
Sounds like a beautiful picture of music. Where all the different components of music came together to make a larger and beautiful whole. Sounds like an amazing music and dance festival.