| She
rocked ’em. They loved her.
The show started
almost three-quarters of an hour late. A delay, said the organizers, due
to tech reasons. A good crowd (the largest this year) waited patiently
outside the auditorium; using the delay to socialise, backbite, catch up
on gossip, and all such jazz.
After the usual
acknowledgements, Anita Ratnam (who, along with Ranvir Shah, founded The
Other Festival all those years ago) introduced Maya K Rao &
Vismayah’s ‘A Deeper Fried Jam’.
A few in the
audience – regular Other Festival-ers, commented (rather negatively and
pompously) on the third appearance of the artiste in 6 years of the Festival.
She walked
in then, and shut the lot of them up.
A grandiose,
verbose writer with a serious affectation for flowery adjectives would
have had a choice of a dozen positive indicatives regarding her performance.
Thankfully, I’m not of that kind, and I can only think of one – spectacular.
The performance
(can I call it a blues-rock cabaret, Maya?), delivered through multiple
media, rocked on different levels. It was pure, unlaced storytelling on
one hand, and groovy (yeah, baby, yeah), badass entertainment on the other.
If you like
Tina Turner (as I do; I love her), you’d ’ve liked Maya. To use a performing
arts cliché, it was a ‘power-packed’ performance. Maya, in outlandish
costume that screamed ‘sleaze’, flew like a lone, powerful eagle. Ashim
Ghosh, that versatile, bearded musician, was the perfect collaborator –
the wind beneath her wings, if I may. I’m on a roll writing this piece
– clichés, song titles, time honoured blah and all.
From the handout:
(Maya Krishna Rao’s current work, a socio-political cabaret, breaks new
ground with theatrical essays on contemporary life in which deeply personal
reflections cut into the wider world.)
The performance,
as I said before, was on two levels. One, where part of the audience joined
Maya, as she reflected on her past; and the other, where that part of the
audience who were simpler in their outlook sat back and rocked. Maya, through
innovation, confidently led the audience from jamun-nostalgia through Gandhi’s
salt march. Gandhi’s voice, crackling with time’s static, made me uneasy.
The man doesn’t mean much to my generation. Funny how people lose validity
and importance as time goes by. Gandhi has become something of a milch
cow anyway. He’s useful to politicians who milk his name dry, for election
mileage.
Music was the
backbone of this production. Ashim ably backed Maya through the many facets
of this production. He played thumping electric-bass grooves, strummed
acoustic power chord progressions, drummed and sang. Ashim was more than
just a backing musician though. He collaborated with Maya to bring the
sound to her act. Maya is an excellent singer herself. She knocked me out
with her bluesy tone and clear pitching. Attitude, baby.
Video, handled
live or otherwise by Surajit Sarkar, just provided an I-was-there-too distraction.
Lights designer Shyam Kishore did well in lighting up the proceedings.
But it was Maya’s night all the way.
Maya sang.
Maya moved. Maya rocked. Maya grooved. We, the smug audience, lapped it
up. We loved it.
Parting
Shot 1: The Other Festival, now branded by the Park group of hotels,
should, I feel, be made bigger. Better advertising = more visibility =
larger crowds.
Parting
Shot 2: Please think twice before contracting artistes who just decorate
the stage. An audition/checking out would go a long way in bringing in
artistes who are good and justify selection. I believe I represent a major
section of the audience in saying this.
Appreciation:
Anita, Ranvir, Devika, Indira, Satyajit, Kumar, Venkatesh, and that perky,
efficient bunch of young people from Studentconcepts.
My best
3:
Maya – For
rockin’ it.
Brigitte –
For effective simplicity.
Zohra – For
rockin’ it. At 91.
Those who
stood out:
Zohra – Because
she’s Zohra.
Maya – Because
because.
Rashid Ansari
– Because he stood out from the rest.
Lee Sibley
– Because…well, er…everybody talked about her the most.
Salim Ghouse
– Because of his philosophy?
Satyajit –
Because of a largely successful debut as tech director. Quite affable too.
Manoj – Because
he’s got the mojo.
Devika – Because,
as the organiser, she stood out most of the time.
Lads &
Ladies of Studentconcepts – Because of…well, the same reason.
Not to forget
Ki Ho, my loyal transport vehicle, who made possible my entries
and exits.
Ranjith Bhaskar lives and works in
Chennai and can be reached at ranjithbhaskar@yahoo.co.uk |
