Keechakavadham Kathakali

Keechakavadham Part I, Kathakali at Margi Theatre, Fort, Thiruvananthapuram

Vylopilli again

Saturday, the day after the Independence day, was a rather quite day for me. After attending to some bank work in the morning and  a short afternoon nap, I was at a loose end in the evening. On browsing through the Metro Plus of The Hindu, I was happy to see that the Bharat Bhavan at Thycaud had a kathak performance at 6-30. On reaching the Bhavan at 6-30 I found the place deserted and locked up. The Hindu had goofed up. The program was two days earlier according the banner on the site. Disappointed, I moved on to Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan, not knowing what to expect there. The program there was a Carnatic kutchery  by a young artiste from Ernakulam, Sreenath Nambudiri. Mr Nambudiri holds a lot of promise but has a long way to go. It was a pity that there were only about 10 people in the audience!. 

Manipuri dance at Nishagandhi

Manipuri Nata Sankeerthana by the troupe of Baisali Sarkar performing at Nishagandhi Festival, Trivandrum 

Senegalese Band

BBC Sound System, a Senegalese band based in France performed at the Nishagandhi open air theatre, Trivandrum. They played a blend of African melodies, hip hop and salsa. Their lively performance was appreciated by the goodly weekend crowd squatting in the amphitheatre galleries.

Odissi by Nrityagram

From Odissi

The Soorya Festival moved into the penultimate module - Odissi Festival, which opened with a brilliant performance by Nrityagram, Bengaluru.
The piece de resistance was of course, the 'Ardhanareeswara'.

It was held at the Municipal 'Auditorium' . This was just a hall with a stage and some chairs thrown in. The ambience didn't do justice to the exquisite performance by the troupe. The loud cricket commentary from a TV in the next room and a sputtering power supply did not help either. This event was originally scheduled to be held at the Music College, Thycaud, which was a much viewer-friendly venue. Wonder why Soorya changed to this venue!

Jugalbandhi

The Vyalopilli Samskrithi Bhavan in Nanthancode provides varied fare every month. The January programmes started with a Jugalbandhi - Maya Varma on Veena and Murali Menon on Sitar.

Parassala Ponnamma

Parassala Ponnamma   sings as part of the Sadhana programme at the Music College. The octogenarian, sitting in a chair effortlessly performed.I was however, informed that her voice was no longer what it used to be.
She was accompanied by Dr. Moorthy, HOD of the Department of Violin and prof. Balasubramoniam HOD of the Dept. of Mridangam, Sri Swati Thirunal College of Music.

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

Kathakali at Margi inside East Fort

One can watch Kathakali, Koodiyattam or Nangiar Koothu performances at Margi situated near Fort School , Trivandrum. Click on the photo or visit : http://picasaweb.google.com/vihar7/Kathakali# for more images

From Kathakali