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Whenever Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra accompanied me on my
shows abroad in France, he would do a solo and the likes of Pina Bausch
and Maurice Bejart would make it a point to be present at the theatre to
watch him dance, the former travelling all the way from Germany. Once
we had a show at Kalakshetra where guruji did the ashtapadi "Pashyati
dishi dishi..." in front of Rukmini Devi. "If I were a 16-year-old, I
would learn from Kelubabu...," she declared in utter joy." (Madhavi Mudgal in 'The next stage of evolution' by Ranee Kumar, The Hindu Friday Review, May 26, 2017) |
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It is known that Sankaradeva originally composed 240 bargita.
Unfortunately, the songs were destroyed in a wild fire that burnt the
house of Kamal Gayan who had taken the manuscript for memorizing. After
the accident, Sankaradeva asked his disciple Madhabadeva to compose
similar songs. Madhabadeva recovered 34 songs of his guru from memory
and also composed a number of songs himself. According to the Carita Puthis, Madhabadeva composed about 191 songs but only 157 are available and set on 33 ragas. ('The legacy of Sattriya dance, drama and music' by Bhabananda Barbayan, Nartanam, Apr - June 2016) |
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