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Shehnai maestro's visit rejuvenates Kathak school

By Our Staff Correspondent

RAIGARH (CHHATTISGARH) SEPT. 21. Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan's visit to this cultural capital of Chhattisgarh after seven decades brought along the promise of a new lease of life for the Raigarh school of Kathak. The announcement of plans to open a Kathak Centre for promotion of the Raigarh form of Kathak dance here was made by the Governor, Dinesh Nandan Sahaya, at the conclusion of the 10-day Chakradhar Samaroh.

The Raigarh Kathak gharana centre will be set up in collaboration with the Indira Kala Sangeet University of Khairagarh. As for Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan, a visit to Raigarh took priority over everything else. He refused an invitation to be the chief guest at the annual day function of Doordarshan Kendra in New Delhi so as to be able to take part in the Chakradhar Samaroh, celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Raja Chakradhar Singh, patron of dance, music and literature, who created the Raigarh school of Kathak by combining the Jaipur and Lucknow gharanas.

Ustad Bismillah Khan had last come to Raigarh 70 years ago with his uncle to play the shehnai when Raja Chakradhar Singh got married into the Sarangarh family. He has promised to come again when a secret promise made by the Chief Minister, Ajit Jogi, is fulfilled.

Speaking at the concluding function, Mr. Sahaya said that the presence of the Third Century amphitheatre in Sitabengra and Jogimara caves at Surguja speak of the ancient origins of dance and music in the State. Raja Chakradhar Singh had contributed greatly for the promotion of art and music in the region. A tabla player himself, Raja Chakradhar Singh wrote a number of books on fine arts including `Nartamsarvaswam', considered the Bible of dance.

The Chhattisgarh Government has already instituted an annual award for promotion in the field of dance and music. Besides mesmerising performances by Ustad Bismillah Khan, vocal artiste Savita Devi stole the hearts of the audience with her solo recital. A disciple of Siddeshwari Devi, Savita Devi is from the Benaras Gharan of classical music. Debashish Chakravarty, who has modified the Hawaiian guitar, combined his performance with those on sarod, sitar and veena. From the Raigarh Kathak gharana, it was Sucheta Bose who brought on stage the Raigarh form of Kathak. She has been a student of Sunil Vaishnav and Vasanti Vaishnav. From Chhattisgarh again, Rita Verma performed `Pandwani', the traditional form of folklore. Pandit Ram and his associates and Jagannath Urao performed the Surgujhia folk dance. Poetic evenings and `mushairas' and bhajan singing were included in the 10-day festivities.

The programme was jointly organized by the Department of Culture, the District administration, and the Sanskritik Kendra Raigarh. It coincides with the Ganesh festival.

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