| WOSAS : F1025 |
WOSAS/CD328/track1 & WOSAS/CD329/track1 R1068.wav R1069.wav |
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Pandavani
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| an Indian Mythology story; Hindu Mythology story; Mahabharata story | |
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| Sound recording, story, song and discussion; Pandavani epic singing, sections of the epic cycle the Mahabharata, from Indian and Hindu mythology told by Ritu Verna, with musicians at the Cultural Co-operation Indian Music Village Festival, at Orlean's House, Twickenham, London 30th July 1991. | |
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| Introduction to Pandavani and the Mahabharata, to the artists and to the section of story to be performed involving the marriage of Arjuna, followed by epic singing by Ritu Verna accompanied by musicians. Questions and comments from audience members, including from Ben Haggarty, about how Pandavani singers learn the story; the influence of Jhadu Ram Dewangan on Ritu Verna; the role of the ragi; the nature of improvisation in Pandavani singing; the nature of contemporary Pandavani performance, and the relationship between the story and the music. This is followed (R1069) by further sections of Pandavani epic singing by Ritu Verna with periodic interpretations and synopsis of the story being told. | |
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| Pandavani means, literally, 'The singing of the story of the five brothers' and is the popular central indian traditional form of telling the epic Mahabharata. In India, pandavani singers all have day jobs, but if they are called to perform somewhere they have to go. Their payment was traditionally one piece of cloth, one coconut and one nutmeg, but today a contribution of Rupees is also given according to the generosity and wealth of the patron. The performers bicyle from village to village. Performances tend to start between eight and ten o'clock in the evening and last until three or four the following morning. The full Mahabharata takes eighteen evenings to perform, but usually stories from the epic are requested by the patron for one or two nights only. The storyteller has to be ready to respond to a call for any story from this epic. A section from programme notes describes, 'Of the many epic singing traditions to miraculously survive in a rapidly modernising world, central Indian Pandavani is perhaps the most dramamtic and accessible. A singer, wielding a single stringed Tambura emblemtically adorned with peacock feathers, delivers episodes from the great Hindu epic over the tremendously energised accompaniment of four backing musicians. The telling is in a mixture of prose and song rendered dramatic by a very rich style. One of the musicians takes the role of 'ragi', a ritualised audience representative, urging the story forwards with interjected questions and supportive vocal approval.' | |
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| audience:- | adult |
| language:- | Hindi; English |
| recording quality | |
| condition:- | fair |
| completeness:- | complete |
| duration:- | 1 hour, 18 minutes, 13 seconds |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
storyteller: Ritu Verna female / Indian / Indian / Madhya Pradesh |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
musician; singer; ragi: Uday Ram Gandharva male / Indian |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
musician; singer male / Indian |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
musician; singer male / Indian |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
musician; singer: Lakhan Lal Verna male / Indian |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
interpreter: Naval Shukla male / Indian / occupation Indian Folk Arts Officer |
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| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
Master of Ceremonies male / Indian |
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| origin:- |
India
Hindu |
| programming & administration:- |
programmer; administrator: Cultural Co-operation |
| storytelling; singing; discussion:- |
Twickenham, London, England: Orleans House
30 Jul 1991 festival: Indian Music Village Pandavani |
| gift from:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty |
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