Catch Vidhushi Indira Kadambi keeping heritage alive with dance in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: Nrityakatha 2019, a dance festival held on Sunday at JSS Auditorium, Jayanagar, brought to audience ancient and contemporary dance forms, with three senior dancers representing different styles – Bharatanatyam by Indira Kadambi, Kuchipudi by Vyjayanthi Kashi, and Yakshagana by Chandrashekara Navada.
The event was organised by Udupa Foundation, which was set up by ghatam player Giridhar Udupa with an aim to bring the best of musical traditions. The charitable trust, founded by Giridhar in 2015, seeks to bring together art, artistes and art connoisseurs on a journey that Giridhar calls “the Kala Payana” of art and music.
His inspiration has been his father, well-known mridangam artiste Ullur Nagendra Udupa, who started his career as a Yakshagana artiste and then mastered percussion music, after migrating from his village in Karavali region to Bengaluru with meagre resources. His son and disciple, Giridhar, is keen to continue his father’s legacy.
“The foundation’s focus has been on rural youth who are eager to learn about culture. We have eminent musicians like Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, RK Padmanabha, Mysore Nagaraj and Mysore Manjunath, Bombay Jayashri, TM Krishna and Sivamani in the advisory board,” he says.
The first edition of Udupa Music Festival was held in 2016, with performances by Ustad Zakir Hussain, Niladri Kumar, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Mysore Brothers, Sivamani, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee and Ronu Majumdar. The following year, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Karaikudi Mani, John McLaughlin, and Shankar Mahadevan were among the performers.
The musical journey continued last year as well. About 70 music and dance shows were held in old age homes, schools, cancer centres, and rehabilitation centres across Karnataka.
“We plan to launch learning centres in rural and urban areas to create a stimulating environment for music and performing arts; collaborate on research with universities and schools; recognise artistes, critics, research scholars, and musical instrument makers; create an online archive, and builds knowledge on various aspects pertaining to Indian performing arts,” Giridhar adds.
(The author is a dance critic)