When music and visual art meet

Pune based classical vocalist Priyadarshini Kulkarni revolutionises the presentation of an ancient art form Priyadarshini Kulkarni is an innovative Hindustani classical vocalist from the city who fuses two art forms simultaneously — music and miniature paintings. Talking about her unique performances, Priyadarshini says, “Art forms borrow from each other; there is interdependence between them. They are attached to human life. The miniature paintings are illustrations of puthis or scriptures. In the same way, paintings have been inspired by classical ragas which are a medium of expression.” Priyadarshini has performed at the Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal, ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) in Delhi, at the Shri Shankarlal Music Festival in Gwalior, the Tansen Samaroh (is held right in front of Tansen’s tomb at Gwalior MP) and the Malharotsav (Malharotsav is the special event on Raga Malhar to celebrate the monsoon, held at Chandigarh) to name a few. Recently, she conceptualised and presented a series of episodes based on Indian classical music for the Doordarshan national channel. Priyadarshini who belongs to the Jaipur Atrauli gharana of Hindustani classical music lives in Large Nagar area of Pune with her family. In her early years, she was trained by her mother who was an amateur singer. Pt Nathrao Neralkar of Aurangabad initiated Priyadarshini in performance oriented training. For specialised gharana music she received training from Pt Rajshekhar Mansur, the son of Pt Mallikarjun Mansur of Dharwad. In her concerts, the 47-year-old classical vocalist presents a theme and juxtaposes her recital with audio-visual images. For instance, if she is presenting Raga Malhar, it is accompanied by paintings, photographs and short film clips of the season. “Different art forms such as paintings, music, sculpture, are interactive. There is so much that can be taken from various art forms. It is like adding a dimension to a concept,” she says. Traditionally in a concert, ragas are presented considering their samay chakra or time cycle. She says, “Tradition will continue to flow only when musicians think a little bit out of the box. Shift in a society’s lifestyle demands a few modifications in presentation. A concert can be made compact. To make it more interesting, experiments such as fusion of art forms are being explored.” But Priyadarshini feels one must experiment without diluting the art form. It is imperative to understand the history of music and then think out of the box. And this is where she wishes younger musicians would channel their energy, instead of lifting tunes. Priyadarshini wants new age musicians to explore different art forms, fuse them together and compose something new. In her opinion, it is very difficult to retain the focus of the audience. “To make it interesting, the presentation should be changed and new elements should be incorporated. Artistes such as Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu are doing great work, but the pioneer of this fusion effort of Pan dit Ravi Shankar.” Her first concert on the simultaneous presentation of two arts — ‘Abhivyakti an expression’ was staged in 2009 and had an audience of 5,000 at a youth festival at Powai. Later a number of concerts were held under the aegis of the ICCR and other prestigious platforms of art and cultural centers. Priyadarshini is also a founder and trustee of a cultural trust which works for the cause of music and traditional arts.