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Pandavani
an Indian Mythology story; Hindu Mythology story; Mahabharata story
Sound recording, story and song; Pandavani epic singing, sections of the epic cycle the Mahabharata, from Indian mythology and Hindu mythology told by Ritu Verna and musicians in the Big Top at the Beyond the Border Festival, St Donats Art Centre, Llantwit Major, South Glamorgan, Wales, 5th July 2003.
Inroduction by Ben Haggarty to the Pandavani tradition of epic singing, to the infleunce which Jhadu Ram Dewangan had on the revival of the tradition in the 1940s and to the Mahabharata. Followed by three sections of Pandavani epic singing by Ritu Verna, with musicians Mangesh Kumar, Gandharvawith Ram and Firat Ram, with an English synopsis provided by Ben Haggarty.
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.'
audience:-	adult
language:-	Hindi; English
recording quality
condition:-	good
completeness:-	incomplete
duration:-	0 hours, 47 minutes, 54 seconds
Beyond the Border Festival was founded in 1993 by Ben Haggarty, Artistic Director of the Crick Crack Club, and David Ambrose, the then Director of St Donats Arts Centre, Wales. The Festival was founded as The Beyond the Border International Festival of Storytelling and Epic Singing, but became known simply as Beyond the Border. The festival ran from 1993 to 2006 co-directed by the two founders: with Ben Haggarty programming storytellers and David Ambrose programming musicians. Since 2007 the festival has been directed by David Ambrose. The festival is a weekend event running on the first weekend of July annually; attracting around 2,500 people from across Britain and from overseas. The festival is sited at St Donats Arts Centre and in the grounds of St Donats Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan on the South Coast of Wales. Beyond the Border was initiated as part of the UK Year of Literature in 1995. The successful bid submitted by Academi Wales, prominently featured a storytelling festival. The original Director of the UK Year of Literature was Maura Dooley, who had been at the South Bank Centre in London when Ben Haggarty ran the Third International Storytelling Festival there in 1989. Maura Dooley supported the proposal brought to her by Ben Haggarty and David Ambrose to hold an International festival and series of summer schools at St Donats Castle and to begin Beyond the Border in 1993 in order to build an audience and a core of Wales-based artists for the Year of Literature in 1995. However before the plan could be implemented Maura Dooley resigned from her post (the position was later taken by Sean Dorran). Despite this, St Donats Arts Centre was committed to the festival and Beyond the Border was launched in July 1993. The 1993, 1994 and 1995 festivals were accompanied by summer schools, which produced a number of storytellers including Megan Lloyd, Francis Maxey, Richard Berry and Michael Harvey.
storytelling; singing:-	storyteller: Ritu Verna female / Indian / Indian / Madhya Pradesh
storytelling; singing:-	musician; singer: Mangesh Kumar male / Indian
storytelling; singing:-	musician; singer; ragi: Uday Ram Gandharva male / Indian
storytelling; singing:-	musician; singer: Firat Ram; Firat Ram male / Indian
storytelling; singing:-	Master of Ceremonies; Festival Co-Director: Ben Haggarty male / British / born 30.11.1958 / occupation performance storyteller; promoter
origin:-	India Hindu
	Festival programme
	Click to enlarge images
	Ritu Verna and musicians in performance
	Click to enlarge images
programming:-	Festival Co-Director: Ben Haggarty Festival Co-Director: David Ambrose
administration:-	administrator: St Donats Arts Centre
storytelling; singing:-	St Donats, Llantwit Major, South Glamorgan, Wales: St Donats Art Centre: Pavilion 05 Jul 2003 festival: Tenth Anniversary Beyond the Border Festival Pandavani
gift from:-	St Donats Arts Centre

©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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