Notes from the Past

This musical drama is the brainchild of classical musician couple Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan,who are also curators of Baajaa Gaajaa. The festival,which is now in its fourth year,is dedicated to celebrate the richness and diversity of Indian music as well as the indie music industry that is gradually gaining ground in India. The play serves as the perfect vehicle for the former objective. Its first version,Stories in a Song that debuted last year,presented seven stories of musical forms,such as Kajri,Thumri-Dadra,Khayal,re-mixes,and more. They were a delightful blend of music and drama,and if Shanbag is to be believed “a huge hit among the young audience”. According to him,this form of theatre made classical music forms accessible to the youth. “The play served as an entry point for them to enjoy Indian classical music,” says the director.

More Stories in a Song has retained four stories from the previous production and introduced three new ones—Three Minutes to Posterity,Sufi Basant and Gandabandhan. The first one is a theatrical documentation of the very first gramophone recording in India by Frederick William Gaisberg. In a hotel room in Kolkata,he recorded a three-minute long Khayal sung by Gauhar Jaan. “It an amusing incident that changed the history of Indian music,” says Shanbag. Sufi Basant captures the unique celebration of Basant Panchami at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Dargah while Gandabandhan is about the changing guru-shishya relationship.

Most of the stories for both the plays have been contributed by Mudgal and Pradhan. In fact,their involvement in the making of these plays has been much more than that. They periodically attend the rehearsal—mentoring the group of actors. Most of these actors are not trained in music,but that has hardly been a concern for these two celebrated musicians. “They are generous with their suggestions. The rehearsals with them have been a very enriching experience,” says Shanbag. Directing these two plays has also made him more adept at staging musicals. He first got a taste of live music in a play when he directed Cotton 56 Polyester 84 in 2007. Since then,he has used it in several plays including S*x,M*rality,and Cens*rship and Mastana Rampuri Urf Chappan Churi.

Gopal Tiwari,who has featured in both these plays,sums up the newness that they have brought into theatre. “To date,we had used music for theatre; in these productions we are using theatre for music,” he says.