Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav, the biggest music festival starts tomorrow (Jan 7). For 57 years, Pune has been hosting this prestigious fest which has provided platform to both established and amateur artistes. So how conducive is our city to the growth of performing arts? Is this the right place to pursue music, dance, drama? Team Sakaal Times spoke to classical vocalists, instrumentalists and dancers to find out the answers...

DANCERS

Dr Sucheta Chapekar

Thirty years back when I came to Pune from Mumbai, friends and family had warned me that the city would not be conducive to my career. Apart from Rohini Bhate's institute, there weren’t any other well-known classical dance platforms here. It was also not common in Mumbai. Bharat Natyam was primarily the domain of South Indian teachers.

During my initial years here, I had to travel to Mumbai for my contacts. Now it is the other way round. In Mumbai, there are very few professional classical dance programmes (excluding the Kala Ghoda Festival ), which reach out to the common man. Pune was always known as an educational and cultural centre. Well-known personalities and performers come here and perform.

Since the past 35 years, I am not just performing but also talking and demonstrating the art. In 1967, at Sawai Gandharva fest, I performed and delivered a talk. Dr Vasantrao Deshpande, who was present at the occasion, and others appreciated my lecture.

However, dance festivals are not as many as music festivals in the city. Maybe because dance requires a bigger budget and a lot of paraphernalia.

But slowly things are changing. Good musicians are collaborating with dancers. Dance is getting its rightful place. The audience is not only appreciative but also discerning. Last year, I was a little skeptical about Parikrama, an annual dance fest. I was a little doubtful about the audience strength. I told the organisers there is no Hema Malini or any well-known politicians for the show. But surprisingly, the auditorium was full with a 2,500-strong audience. It was very encouraging.

Dr Shama Bhate

Like Delhi, Pune now is a Kathak stronghold. There are at least 15 to 16 good dance schools in the city. Both, qualitatively and quantitatively, there are a number of good dancers. Moreover, dancers here are devoted to the art although I partially agree to the fact that there aren’t many platforms for classical dance and young dancers find it difficult to get an audience due to the invasion of Bollywood and fusion music. But I am hopeful that govt and corporate bodies will take care to preserve our living heritage.

Hrishikesh Pawar

Once you survive the stubbornness of Pune, you can survive anything. It's difficult to break in but once you are through, you can pursue your dream. I started my institute Centre for Contemporary Dance with one student who was more interested in weight loss than learning contemporary dance. Now it is one of the leading centres of dance in the city. The audience in Pune are willing to experiment, but they should be exposed to various other performing arts.

INSTRUMENTALISTS

Pt Suresh Talwalkar, tabla player

Festivals like Sawai Gandharva, no doubt have always been a great platform for aspiring musicians. I am performing this year alongside Ulhas Kashalkar and so is my son Satyajit. For me, the festival is not new, but there are many tabla artistes out there. Hence, I would want to ask the organisers, why there isn’t any tabla solo in the four-day festival. A tabla soloist puts in more practice than a vocalist. I am not saying this for me, but want to stand up for all the tabla soloists who need solo space in such festivals. I believe that music is not what you know about it, but what you are doing with it. It’s such a soothing medium that one should be patient and practise until you are content. There are so many music classes but very few gurus in the city. I teach the tabla through guru-shishya parampara and not by classroom teaching. In classroom teaching, the teacher will say when he is done with his teaching, but in what I follow, the guru won’t stop until the teachings are perfected. And through such teachings you get fine performers like Vijay Ghate, Yogesh Samshi, Milind Pote, Satyajit Talwalkar among others. Also, an instrumentalist is allowed to speak about the music only after three taps ( 1 tap = 12 years), it’s important to follow this to bring out the music in you.

Milind Date,

flautist

Pune has played host to many cultural programmes. That’s because the audience here is very knowledgeable and choosy too. It’s overwhelming to see how well you are accepted by the city. Be it renowned or aspiring musicians, the city has been the best place for guidance at the basic level. The training in classical music is authentic, but advanced training lags behind since most of the renowned musicians (like Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia), are in Mumbai.

Milind Tulankar,

jaltarang artiste

Recently, I performed in Jalandar at the Baba Harwallhav Samaroha, and when I told them I was from Pune, they enquired about Sawai Gandharva fest. It’s true that once you are accepted by Pune audience, you are accepted across the world. The city has encouraged a lot of musicians. When I moved here 15 years back, there were no jaltarang musicians. The city gave me recognition. Here you have academies like Lalit Kala Kendra and Bharati Vidyapeeth too.

VOCALISTS

Rahul Deshpande

Pune has the most discerning audience for performing arts as compared to any other place in India or abroad. It’s really tough to perform in this city. Music has been in the Punekar’s blood and so the audience here knows the art very well. If artistes try to play the gallery game in Pune, they would undoubtedly be caught. But once you are liked as an artist here, the people really love and remember you after that. Hence, in a way it is a very satisfying experience to perform in this city. Whether it’s about performing or pursuing a career in music and dance, I think Pune has an ideal atmosphere for both. We have some of the best institutes and teachers here. Also, the Pune University itself has one of the finest faculty for performing arts.

Whereas organising festivals is concerned, there are bound to be obstacles. The entire process of organising Vasant Utsav every year for me is just like organising a wedding. Although there is a great audience and there is a lot of curiosity among youngsters to know about classical music here too, we still are falling short of the basic facilities like auditoriums. There are very few auditoriums now with Ganesh Kala Krida Manch also closing due to some legal hassles. So we are only left with Yashwantrao Chavan auditorium, where I really enjoy performing as an artist. Other than that, there are hardly any places. Also, we need auditoriums with good parking facilities as that is the main criterion for events drawing in a huge audience. And the auditoriums in the city, except Chavan auditorium don’t have sufficient parking arena. But again Pune is growing, so this should not be a hurdle in future.   

Bela Shende,

Pune is known for its performing arts culture since years. Hence, the city is definitely an ideal place to pursue it as a career. Every artiste has a dream of performing here first since it’s said that ‘if the Pune audience accepts you, the world will accept you’. Also, most of the classical artists belong to this city. And as far as the training facilities are concerned, Pune offers the best of them with a majority of veteran gurus based here. And one positive aspect about our city is that the traveling distance between places in the city is not too long. Hence, one gets sufficient time to do riyaaz and enhance one’s singing abilities. We also have a host of festivals all year round, which is a great encouragement to budding artists. Sawai Gandharva is truly the heart of the city! 

Sanjeev Abhyankar,

Pune is preferably the best place in India in addition to Kolkata to pursue singing and dance. The main reason being the population. Maharashtrians and Bengalis are inclined towards classical art. Hence, there are ample opportunities to learn performing arts as most artistes are based in Pune. Our city has an availability of gurus too which is rare to find in smaller cities. Also, proving oneself as a musician in Pune has been one of the main parameters to enter the industry. If a new artiste has to prove himself to established musicians, he has to be liked in Pune first. Secondly, for a musician to flourish, what plays a major role is a musical atmosphere. If there are listeners, performing becomes a challenge and there is healthy competition. Hence, most musicians prefer settling down in this city and prove themselves here.

(With inputs from Tania Roy, Arwa Janjali and Akshata Shetty)