On the full moon day of Ashwin (September-October) the Kojagiri feast is celebrated. The rains are just over and the brightness of the full moon brings special joy. This is a traditional celebration of the moon and is also called Kaumudi Poornima, Kaumudi meaning moonlight. This is a major festival in India for Maharashtrians and Gujaratis celebrate this as Sharad Punam. At night goddess Lakshmi is worshipped. Some people believe that on this night Lakshmi moves about from place to place asking, "Who is awake?" ("Ko-jagarti?") and shows her pleasure on those she finds awake. So people sit in the moonlight singing songs, or keep themselves entertained in some way.
Migrant Heritage Charitable Trust Inc (MigHT-i) will be celebrating this year’s Kojagiri, which falls on Saturday, October 3 with a programme called “Sharadache Chandane” featuring Natyasangeet. Music maestro Shri Jayant Bhalodkar, a leading samavadini (harmonium) player, will present the programme.
He will be retracing the history of Natyasangeet and its progress since it began its journey in 1880. A rare opportunity for Maharashtrians as well as all classical music buffs who can see the influence of classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, on this form of music. Shri Basant Madhur will be accompanying Jayant on Tabla.
Marathi Musical Theatre – A unique tradition
Marathi Natyasangeet is a contribution from the Marathi theatre to the world theatre. Almost all theatres have music as a part of its history, which have been influenced heavily by the folk music/traditions of those regions. Marathi Natyasangeet has been unique in two forms, primarily, it is based on classical music and secondly, it is presented live on stage by the actors and playback is not used. Musical plays began in a real sense in 1880 from Annasaheb Kirloskar’s play Sangeet Shakuntal. This started a tradition of musical plays like Soubhadra, Ramrajyaviyog, Draupadi, Vidyaharan, Sharada, Swayamvar, Maanapmaan, Sanshaykallol and Ekach Pyala. The era between 1880 and 1930 is called as the golden age of musical plays and therefore of Marathi musical theatre.
National influence on NatyaSangeet
Marathi musical theatre was blessed to have some excellent music directors. They travelled all over India to understand different types of music and it was evident in the music that they composed. This influence can be seen in the tunes of musical play ‘MaanApmaan’ which are based on the sub classical type of music of Banaras, Lucknow and Punjab. Carnatic music also heavily influenced quite a few famous songs as Hubli, Dharwad areas were rich with singers who contributed to NatyaSangeet. Musical plays from the Kirloskar musical Theatre Company were influenced by the Yaksha Gaana (a folk song and dance tradition) from Karnataka. The different musical structures of traditional Indian music can be seen in these musical plays.
It is important to mention the accompanists while discussing musical theatre. The organ, the harmonium, saarangi, tabla, pakhawaz and the violin are mostly used in musical theatre. The flow of musical theatre experienced many changes. It has incorporated many styles of music, accepted the many challenges of modernisation and has infused its own style in it and is still alive today. Its progress is slow, yet its popularity continues to grow because it has a base of pure music.
Sharadache Chandane
Venue: Mt Albert War Memorial Hall
773, New North Road, Mt. Albert
Auckland
Date: 3rd October 2009, (SATURDAY)
Time: 7.30 pm
Tickets: $10, Children $5, Family (x4) $25.
Contact: VARSHA (09) 5348000 or
info@might-i.org