Review: Alpana Sengupta and Mick Taylor light up the Bhavan post Diwali

November 30 2015

A season of Diwali concerts ended with a distinct flourish….

By Chitra Mogul

BLOWING away any post Diwali blues was high on the agenda as the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London’s community home of Indian arts and culture presented its stirring, finale festival concert.

The Bhavan hosted a sitar and kathak recital by Mick Taylor and Alpana Sengupta. The duo were accompanied by guest musicians Shiv Shankar Ray on tabla and Sanjukta Mitra on tanpura and vocals as they performed under the high-vaulted ceilings of the establishment, which is, uniquely, housed in a beautiful old church.

The husband and wife duo have been pioneers in the development of Indian classical dance and music in the UK for the past four decades. Taylor shared his memories of performing in the Bhavan for the first time in 1988 with the audience, who had braved an unusually cold November evening to be there.

His partnership with Ray goes way back and is obviously the foundation of the great rapport they share on stage. Taylor has faced health problems in recent times but there was no sign of it, and a broken sitar string was waved off with a cheery “I never liked that string anyway.”

Mick Taylor and Alpana Sengupta

He recalled that he and his wife were the first to tour Britain in the 1970s with assistance and promotion from various regional arts associations.

Throughout the 1980s they continued with appearances at many major festivals and venues including as Sengupta informed us a gig with Peter Gabriel at World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD). The arts festival was founded in 1980 by the English rock musician and Genesis frontman and takes place annually at stately Charlton Estate in Wiltshire.

Taylor and his accompanying musicians launched the evening with a wonderful rendition of “Raag Saraswati” which is a raag dedicated to the Hindu goddess of learning. It was, said Taylor, an apt raag to play at the Bhavan which is also dedicated to the learning of the arts.

The second half of the concert threw the spotlight on the ebullient Dasgupta who owned the stage. She was proof of the adage that ‘bhava’ (emotion or mood conveyed by a performer) is very often the preserve of senior dancers. Her mastery of her dance form allowed her to reach out to the audience with a lively commentary. She also paid tribute to the trio that included her husband, seated to one side of the stage, by saluting them – touching their feet as is the traditional Indian form of respect.

Sengupta’s Asian Dance Animateur pilot scheme in 1984 led to a policy establishing other such positions being created throughout the country. She has worked in films and television. Her style of dance is that of the Raigarh school of Kathak which she presents in pure traditional form.

Odissi dancers light up the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Taylor plays the sitar in the ‘gayaki’ or vocal style and in 2009 had the unique distinction of being invited by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to give concerts in Delhi, Jaipur and Kolkata.

Earlier, in the run-up to Diwali, the Bhavan presented “Divine Dancing” by its students on October 25 and October 31-November 1. The Bhavan has been producing dance dramas highlighting different aspects of Indian culture and tradition for the past 25 years and in this instance showcased its dance students and teachers as they enacted colourful and imaginative cameos of the lives of the many gods and goddesses.

According to Bhavan Marketing and PR Manager Devaki Thomas, “the events were a great success with over 1,000 people attending over three nights and many young artists had the opportunity of a lifetime.”

From Krishna dancing on the hood of the sea serpent to Shiva and his dance of destruction, it was a riveting run through of Hindu mythology, both for the knowledgable and newbies alike.

Divine Dancing combined three major styles of Indian classical dances: Kathak, Odissi and Bharatanatyam. It was choreographed by the teachers of the Bhavan and performed by their students, to packed houses. Trained by Prakash Yadagudde, Abhay Shanker Mishra and Urbi Basu, talented youngsters got to perform and, popularise these traditional dance forms to a wider audience.

The poetic backdrops and dramatic lighting combined with colourful costumes and much finery to showcase the theme of gods and goddesses effectively. The music was worth listening to in itself and was perfectly matched by the students’ exuberant and graceful performances. Jayshree Rajkotia and Parvati Nair produced the show.

The Bhavan offers year round cultural activities that are open to all: there are two and three-year diploma courses in Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Sitar, Tabla, Mridangam and Vina; Bengali, Hindustani and Carnatic vocal classes; classes in Hatha yoga, Iyengar yoga and Ashtanga yoga; as well as an art and archaeology of India certificate course comprising 25 lectures; and language classes in Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Bengali and Gujarati.

For further information visit www.bhavan.net