Never have I witnessed a Kennedy Center audience leaping to its feet as quickly as after Saturday evening’s fantastic staging of The Manganiyar Seduction. The production introduced a largely uninitiated audience to a powerful experience that was so much more than seductive or enticing. The haunting melodies and driving rhythms were breathtaking and exhilarating, the highlight of the highly successful maximum INDIA festival’s concluding weekend.
Throngs of people and sold out performances have been the norm for the past several days at the Kennedy Center. Whether it’s South Asian women dressed in their finest silk saris or just curious passers-by who seek a different cultural experience, the Center’s maximum INDIA offers something for everyone. Like the country for which it is named, the festival’s opening week was a feast for the senses, giving attendees an explosion of color and energy to close this dreary winter and welcome the warm hues of spring.
The symphony orchestra has been dying for at least a decade. To reach new audiences, the theory goes, orchestras must innovate, explore new repertoire, come outside the concert hall. This weekend’s concerts from the National Symphony Orchestra are one example of how to do just that.
About fifteen years ago, the Kennedy Center initiated a developmental plan designed to look outward and present the arts from places in the world that did not have any real presence on its stages. The Center began with a program called African Odyssey, a four-year initiative starting in 1997. Another four-year initiative examining Latin American arts followed and, for the past three years, the Kennedy Center turned its gaze eastward to Asia, staging events celebrating China, Japan and the Arab world. The next four-year plan will be announced next week, but this latest cycle concludes with a highly-anticipated three-week extravaganza featuring over 500 artists from the world’s largest democracy — India.
The traditions of Indian classical music stretch back, literally, thousands of years. But over the past decade or so, there has been a steady stream of South Asian musicians looking to incorporate these ancient musical conventions into the 21st century. Artists such as Anoushka Shankar, the MIDIval Punditz, Karsh Kale, Cheb-i-Sabbah and DJ Rekha are just a few of the artists that have brought this hybrid sound into clubs and concert halls. Another name to add to this list is Suphala, a talented young tabla player, producer and composer who has started making waves in New York’s music scene.
