The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

‘Theatre games’ & much more this summer
by Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — A respite from the classroom routine into the world of creative arts and a walk into unknown areas of nature’s lap during vacations are largely dream sojourns of school children for future sweet memories.

If the company to share the free time is of the leading lights in their respective fields, the journey naturally holds greater expectations.

Living up to great expectations, the Durga Das Foundation promises one such workshop from May 22 to June 10. The guiding lights expected this year feature among the leaders in their respective fields.

Anahita Uberoi heads an “act it out workshop” in drama. It aims at creating a sense of curiosity about theatre and acting, Mr Atul Khanna, director of the foundation said while talking to The Tribune. This workshop is based on a method that is widely used in the West for children’s as well as adults called ‘theatre games’.

Sita Mani with her innovations in choreography , dance improvisations and warm-up techniques attempts on introduction of new combination dance techniques. Sita having studied at Alvin Ailey School basically belongs to a dance company based in New York. She has also been a member of the Shiamak Davar dance troupe.

Avan Mehta , a master artist , stresses on interest of children in arts forms which was largely underestimated, Mr Khanna said. Mehta feels that art and craft projects could excite even young child’s imagination and provide a sense of achievement and self-expression.

A bigger workshop on ‘ theatre games’ will be conducted by Vikram Kapadia. The workshop will not restrict its ambit to acting alone. Instead , it will seek to evolve an understanding of the dynamics of theatre in its many aspects .

Parts of the workshop will include rehearsals for a production of William Golding’s “ Lord of the flies”.

The workshop also provided avenues for travel into the land of hills. Naldera, Narkanda and Sangla (over 320 km) feature among the prominent places underlined for the visit.

Anahita comes from "a formidable thespian-an flock" of drama. She has spent over 25 years dabbling in theatre. Sita Mani has over a dozen eminent plays , dance dramas, dance theatre and Shiamak Davar shows to her credit.

The school opens for registration of enthusiasts on a first-come-first- serve basis Monday onwards, Mr Khanna said. Each star stage conductor has different batches and different dates.

Avan P.Mehta has theatrical make-up course, decorative finishes and advanced course in polymer clay modelling. Vikram Kapadia has a sizeable bio-data if one counted his performances at the national level. He is also a TV star with “Mouthful of Sky”, “Banegi Apni Baat” and “Just Mohabbat” among others.

175 receive BE degrees
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — In all, 175 graduates received the BE degrees in eight disciplines at the 29th annual convocation of Punjab Engineering College here today.

The Administrator's Gold Medal for overall best performance during the year 1995-1999 went to Ashish Garg (civil engineering). Amandeep Singh Sidhu (computer science and engineering) received the Advisor's Medal for the best sport performance.

Prof M.M. Puri, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, said society would be more competitive and one would have to be better than the others to survive.

Prof Rajnish Prakash, the college Principal, presented the annual report of the college. He said nearly 35 per cent students in 1999 had graduated with honours.

CULTURE

Music tampering pains living legend
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — Suddenly the city has found favour with legends in the field of music. While yesterday, the harmony was weaved by ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan, today it was the legendary singer Manna Dey sharing his moods at a local hotel.

The only living legend, Manna Dey was visibly perturbed as to where the future of melody was heading. "Our music, which must reflect the strength of our culture, is being ruthlessly tampered with. Today the film industry does not have directors inclined towards good music. Hence there is no situation for soulful music in today's films. That is one precise reason why our music is suffering," he said.

As he travelled down memory lane, many facts about his life came to the forefront — that he trained under his uncle K.C. Dey and assisted many music directors like Mr S.D. Burman and Anil Biswas. His urge to sing variety also came to light.

"I have never allowed myself to get stereotyped. And that is how the country does not know of me as a singer of particular moods. I have sung comic songs, sad songs, thoroughly classical and light classical numbers. I have sung in various languages, apart from my own mother tongue Bangla," he said.

"The song Upar gagan vishal was the turning point. Other numbers like Jhanak jhanak and poochho na kaise maine rain bitayee also get equal credit," he added. The comic inclination of Manna Dey came in front of the audience through Mehmood, for whom he sang many numbers. "From Aao twist karen to many others. The list is endless," he said.

Talking about whether the present day remix craze was ideal, the singer reacted strongly. "This kind of music amounts to killing a song. How can you ever dream of singing what legendary singers like Rafi or Mukesh have sung? I do not claim to come up to their standards. But look at present day singers. They can sing any song," he stated.

He expressed concern over the continuously declining standards. He said he, as a singer, could only propagate music. "The rest is up to film makers. They must create situations which demand good singing," he opined.

The legend also informed that pained by the erosion of music in its real form, he had stopped singing for films. "This rule is subject to change. I sung a song in Prahaar, which was picturised on a professor who was rearing Nana Patekar. I sung because the lyrics, the music and the situation were all perfect."

The maestro is in town on the invitation of the music group The Harmony. He will perform at Tagore Theatre tomorrow evening.

Learn to tap on any tune
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — There is something very strong about the rhythm and that is its power to inspire the body into action and put the mind and soul to rest. Dance is one medium of exhibiting rhythm, it’s a means through which a person can release all tensions.

With these points in mind and a clear motive of promoting dance as a form of art, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is organising a workshop from May 15 to June 4. The objective is to help the children channelise their energies towards a creative art form. The workshop will be conducted by Ms P. Puneeta (gold medallist in Indian classical dance) who will teach both classical and folk dances to the children. The students will have two hour daily for three weeks to excel and grasp the concept of different forms of dancing.

Ms Puneeta informed that the workshop would bring out the students’ creativity in the form of varied expressions. “The classical aspect would help in the achievement of spiritual bliss,” she said.

Herself a versatile dancer and actress, Ms Puneeta tends to focus on classical dance, ensuring an irresistible ability to tap on any tune. The workshop would largely focus rhythmic body movements, concept of creative gestures and expressions, semi-classical film dance and traditional dances.

Intoxicating melodies by ghazal maestro
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — The breeze was singing last night. So were trees, herbs and shrubs. After all, the pioneer of ghazal gayaki was setting the pace for romance at the Chandigarh Club. There was a breath of rhythm in the air and the soul kept getting fed as someone from the audience rightly put it: Mein ik aisi shaam ke liye zindagi de sakta hoon.

Although a little delayed, the recital was heavenly and that it was infecting the soul was clear from the way hands of the gathering responded to the rhythm as Mehdi Hassan doled out some all-time favourites. He began with the evergreen Ahmad Faraz ghazal — Ranjish hi sahi. The ghazal was rendered in full this time and it left everyone craving for more.

The crowd swayed to the tunes as he sang the couplet — Jaise tujhe aate hain na aane ke bahane, vaise hi kisi roz na jane ke liye aa. The recorded version of this ghazal has only two couplets. While the melody of the magical voice kept intoxicating the environment, the rest of the trick was done by Ustad Bashir Khan on the tabla and Mohammad Hussain on the harmonium.

As the gourmet kept the crowd going, Mehdi Hasan rendered another classic by Salim Khan — Main khayal hun kisi aur ka, mujhe sochta koi aur hai, sare aaina mera aks hai, pase aaina koi aur hai in raag Bhairavi. The third ghazal of the evening was received by great thumping. Shola hoon bujh chuka hoon main, mujhe hava na do, mein kabka jaa chuka hoon, mujhe sada na do.

The performance was arranged by the Chandigarh Club on demand by senior members and the guests of the evening were Mr Dalip Modi of Spice Telecom and Mr Rajeev Bali. The stage was conducted by Prakash. The show began at 9:20 pm.