BIAF 2024 celebrates Kumar Gandharva’s Karnataka connection

This year, the Bengaluru International Arts Festival (BIAF) is celebrating their 16th edition spread over two weekends, from March 22 to 30. According to Veena Murthy Vijay, director of BIAF, the festival this year focuses on celebrating the birth centenary of classical singer Pandit Kumar Gandharva.

“Though he spent the greater part of his life in Madhya Pradesh, Kumar Gandharva was born in Dharwad and we are celebrating his Karnataka connection,” says Veena, adding, “We have curated the festival around that aspect, which is why there will be quite a few Hindustani concerts based on his compositions at this edition of BIAF.”

Ever since its inception, the theme of BIAF has been, “celebrating harmony through art, in a bid to build bridges between nations and peoples,” says Veena.

Suma Sudhindra, also a director at BIAF, wholeheartedly concurs, mentioning how international artistes from Netherlands, Germany, Italy and England had participated in a BIAF event in January this year.

Suma who will be seen presenting a jugalbandhi on the opening day with flautist Ronu Majumdar, says, “This year too, a tree-planting ceremony with college students will be part of our festivities.” This initiative to save the environment will see the participation of students from Sindhi College in Kempapura, MLA College in Malleshwaram and the NCC cadets from BHC College.

“A patch of land at Marasarahalli has slowly turn into a wooded area, as result of our efforts of planting trees there for the past 15 years as part of our Go Green Bangalore campaign,” adds Veena.

According to Veena, a segment titled Marma, based on different genres of bhakti music from all over India will be presented at the festival, which will also see a concert performance by vocalist Bhuvanesh Komkali, Pandit Gandharva’s grandson.

“This year, I will be presenting the classic love story Silapadhikaram, as a dance drama that explores the love triangle between Kannagi, Kovalan and Madhavi. This piece will explore love, passion, adultery, loyalty, revenge and power — human emotions which come into relationships and how they play a role in the story of our lives,” says Veena.

Bharatnatyam artiste Rama Vaidyanathan will be performing Pratibodhana, a dance production at BIAF this year. “The word ‘pratibodhana’ is Sanskrit for awakening,” she says, adding that the performance has three compositions, all of which explore the different ways of spiritual awakening.

While the first composition from Tamil poet Manikkavacakar urges listeners to rouse themselves from sleep, it also serves as a metaphor for waking up from the slumber of ignorance, says Rama.

“The second composition is about Kashi being the City of Light. Here too, Kashi is presented as metaphorical space for freedom and bliss; when you feel liberated in your heart, it is in a space called Kashi which is not a geographical place only. Everything about Kashi, how life and death are celebrated on the banks of its river, aghoras who renounce material pleasure, the Vishwanath temple, metaphorically speaks about this space that liberates you, which is actually inside you.”

Rama says the third and final composition is Rasamandala, about the ras leela, which again holds metaphorical significance as the dance always performed in circles denotes the continuity of breath, the connection between jeevaatma and paramaatma.

The danseuse who will be presenting Pratibodhana with eight of her disciples, and has long been associated with BIAF, says, “I have been impressed by this festival and how it is a convergence of artistes from different genres. It is important for the community to come together as we can’t always depend upon the government to finance festivals.”

Three day extravaganza

The Bengaluru International Arts Festival commences with its inauguration at Chowdiah Memorial Hall on March 22 at 6pm. This will be followed by a jugalbandi presented by flautist Ronu Majumdar with Suma Sudhindra on the veena, B C Manjunath on the mridangam, S N Narayanamurthy on the ghatam and Rajendra Nakod on the tabla.

The events on Day One will conclude with a recital by Carnatic musician Abhishek Raghuram and H M Smitha on the violin, Arjun Kumar on the mridangam and G Guru Prasanna on the khanjira that would begin at 7.45 pm.

The following evening will open at 6.15pm with a dance performance by Rama Vaidyanathan and her disciples titled, Pratibodhana – The Awakening.

After this, a 25-member dance ensemble will present Silapadhikaram, a dance drama revolving around the tale of Kannagi’s anklet. Both dance performances will take place at Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

March 24, will see a host of music-related events that will begin at 10 in the morning and go on till 1pm, starting with a performance by Hindustani vocalist by Vidhula Venugopal and followed by a lec-dem by Nagaraj Havaldar on Kumara Gandharva’s contribution to Hindustani music. This session at Chowdiah Memorial Hall will conclude with a Hindustani recital by vocalist Sangeetha Katti.

The evening session, also to be held at Chowdiah, will see Chandana Bala Kalyan present Marma, at 6pm, while Venkatesh Kumar and his troupe will present a Hindustani concert at 7pm.

The following week will see Bhuvanesh Komkali, grandson of Kumar Gandharva, present a Hindustani concert on March 30, accompanied by Keshav Joshi on the tabala and Vyasa Murthy Katti on the harmonium from 6.30 pm onwards at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Race Course Road.

The next morning, the concluding day of BIAF will see a sapling planting drive at 10.30am at Marasarahalli, Nelamangala.

For more details on BIAF, log on to www.biaf.co.in. Tickets available on BookMyShow.