She, accompanied by Dr Chaitanya Kunte on the harmonium and Arun Gawai on the tabla, will revive and reconstruct some of the rare thumri compositions this evening at Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha, Tilak Road.
“The programme titled, ‘Recherché Thumri’ or unpublished thumris, will be performed on the third anniversary of Dr Ashok Da Ranade Archives (ADRA) Pune,” explains Kunte adding, “The idea is to revive and reconstruct archival material and present them in the form of performances. Most performers don’t turn to archival material, preferring to concentrate on their practice. So we thought of building a bridge between archival material and the performers. Hence we thought of inviting performers to conceptualise such research-based performances. Dr Pournima Dhumale is a scholar-musician and through this performance, she will be demonstrating how archival material can be used,” he adds.
Speaking about her performance, Dr Dhumale, says, “The thumris that I will be presenting are from 1850-1920. They are ‘khandani’ thumris, connected to Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow. The books that I referred to (Pt Rajabhai Moochwale of Gwalior gharana has written a book Thumri Tarangi; Marhum Sheikh Rahat Ali Khan’s thumri collection written by Narhar Bhave, father of Vinoba Bhave; and a couple of others) had a collection of 300-350 thumris. I chose about six-seven rare compositions by Anokhe Piya, Shauk Rang and Chand. Some are also by anonymous writers. Thumri is closely associated with Radha-Krishna’s raas leela. It’s a blend of shringar and bhakti or simply called madhur bhakti.”
The Agra gharana exponent will be presenting Bandish ki Thumri, also called Bol-baat ki Thumri, which is the USP of the gharana. She will also be presenting Kacchi Hori, Kajari, which are derived from folk music. Some are also raga-based like Gara, Natamalhar, and Palasi.
In the two-hour performance, Dr Dhumale will be elaborating on the thumris explaining the historical roots and aesthetic values as well. Says Dr Kunte, “Maharashtra has had some good thumri singers in the past. But this genre is not so well-known as compared to khayal gayaki, natya sangeet and bhav geet. Hence this is also an attempt to make people here aware of the multi-faceted genre.”
Thumri singers are usually accompanied by sarangi, tabla and harmonium players. “But there are hardly any sarangi players now. So in this performance we only have tabla and harmonium players as accompanists,” he adds.
Thumri has both slow and fast tempo. But as the compositions to be showcased in the programme are associated with Kathak, they are going to be fast-paced tempo. The rhythm cycles also differ,” points out Kunte.
DR ASHOK DA RANADE ARCHIVES
The late Dr Ashok Damodar Ranade was an ethnomusicologist, an expert on linguists and living culture, and had a large personal collection of books, records on music, dance and drama. Dr Chaitanya Kunte, faculty of Lalit Kala Kendra, Savitribai Phule Pune University, founded the ADRA, which operates out of Udyog Bhavan, Hirabaug Chowk, in 2014.
“The reason behind starting this archive is that despite the tag of ‘cultural capital’, Pune had no centre that worked for conservation of music, dance and drama, on the lines of Mumbai’s NCPA or Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi. So ADRA was founded in Pune on October 31, 2014,” explains Kunte.
The research material is based on the personal collection of Dr Ranade. It includes books and audio-visual material. “The facility is being used by students of performing arts and researchers. But we want more and more artists to make use of this facility. The archival material needs to be revived and reconstructed and brought before people. That was the idea of starting this archive centre,” he adds.
ST READER SERVICE
The Maharashtra Cultural Centre has organised ‘Recherché Thumri’ on the third anniversary of Dr Ashok Da Ranade Archives, a research centre for performing arts and cultures. The programme will be held at Jyotsna Bhole Sabhagruha, Hirabaug, this evening, 6 pm onwards
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