suerees: Classical Karnatic Meets Folk Kattaikkuttu

Classical Karnatic Meets Folk Kattaikkuttu

Flew up to Mumbai with Hanne de Bruin, P. Rajagopal, Sangeetha Sivakumar, T.M.Krishna, kuttu actors and musicians on Jet Airways on the 15^th Dec for the performance at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra West, Mumbai on the 16th Dec, Classical Karnatic Meets Folk Kattaikkuttu, produced by First Edition Arts (Mumbai Pepe Gomes and Devina Dutt )
Looked at space on the 15th in prep for tech on the 16th before the performance at 7pm. Make up started at 5pm.
Wonderful concert with the dialogue on stage between P. Rajagopal, Sangeetha Sivakumar, T.M.Krishna the actors and musicians was beautiful.

"Theatre collaboration of Karnatic musicians with the "Kattaikkuttu Sangam," a group from Kanchipuram that presents the traditional movement and musical theatre form of Kattaikkuttu from Tamil Nadu -- featuring musicians and actors from the age of ten to sixty and lead by the legendary playwright, director and actor P. Rajagopal and co-founder of the Sangam, Hanne De Bruin" Organized by First Edition Arts of Mumbai Pepe Gomes and Devina Dutt - brilliant job of organizing everything.

“We must remember that Kattaikkuttu is theatrical and music therefore has to become part of Kattaikkuttu theatre,” said Krishna about the rehearsal process, adding, “Karnatic music in this experiment becomes Kattaikuttu music (ideationally). It was fascinating to realise that there have been musical exchanges between Karnatic and Kuttu, possibly through the devadasi tradition. This has been lost, and maybe this collaboration is the beginning of a rediscovery. This is a conversation where each art listens to the other. This means that there are places where we will disagree (aesthetically) and at those junctures Kattaikkuttu takes precedence. The creative process was of learning and finding places where each form can flow into the other.”

The Hindu 14^th Dec 2017