The ‘art’ of being articulate

For the folks who work tirelessly for the Artistes’ Introspective Movement, the last year was spent in a frantic flurry of letters sent, mails received and international hands of friendships shaken. It is little wonder then that the arts festival that they curate is a rich selection of the world’s toast of artistes. As the third, final and most exciting week of the eighth Bengaluru International Arts Festival approaches, not only will the city’s ace performers be visible under the same banner, but this time, artistes and folk practitioners from Rwanda, Bangladesh, Nepal, Goa Orissa, Sri Lanka and other corners of the country will be making their way to the city.

From October 2 to 4, Bengaluru will be awash with ragas performed by lotus lakes, sweeping Carnatic rhythms accompanied by emphatic dance moves in diverse styles and the immediacy hidden in timeless folk traditions.

Renowned veena player Dr Suma Sudhindra has been pioneering the BIAF since its birth and will be looking forward to witnessing a spirit of collaboration once again. She says, “I will be performing this time and cannot wait for the art forms to flow. We always look at collaborations – between artistes, performers and countries and harmony has forever been a main theme in the festivals that we have curated. We believe that it is important to build bridges and with a team from Pakistan performing, we believe that we did just that. The shows are spread across venues and we have intended them to appeal to any one who is interested in the arts, be they young or old. The idea is to open doors for performers to come here and for Bengaluru’s best to go abroad and perform. Any good concept in art opens boundaries.”

One of those who performed and was moved by the sheer variety of artiste’s and their performance crafts was Manognya Balaraju who is the artistic director of the city-based Aayana Dance Company. He says, “We had a fantastic experience as part of the youth festival and cannot wait for the third week to begin. The venue itself was transcendental – we performed at the Mantri Mall and had a floating audience instead of a group who had to sit through a show. While all of the other performers were brilliant, some were truly amazing and it is heartening that there is still so much room for a  non-filmi and more cultural mode of performance!”

As Suma’s counterpart in heading the AIM, Kuchipudi exponent Veena Murthy Vijay is also concerned with the protection of the harmony between nature and its humans. The dancer says, “We have tried to harness the power of the bamboo as a tool for recycling in this ecosystem. We had a performance which featured an Indonesian instrument called the angkluk, which is made of bamboo. There will be folk shows by the ancient Mahari tribe of Orissa, as well as ancient folk artiste’s from Andhra and Telengana. I have found that we identify ourselves through folk – no matter what our differences.”