This is Part 1 of a video of a presentation given at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and I think I like it almost as much for the explanations given in English (thank you) as for the performances themselves. Dhanashree Pandit Rai did some fine singing here, but she also did some fine translation and history telling. And I was very amused by the part of her explanation in which she talked about the instruction that the courtesans learned from the Kama Sutra, “Bol Banana”…which she translated as “How to make a fool out of a man.” And then when she translated the first line of the thumri as “Your killer looks are driving a dagger into my heart,” many movie mujras flashed through my mind. How many variations of that line have we heard? That was perfect.
This clip does not include the kathak dancing, but it is still my favorite of the four parts. I might post some or all of the rest, but I felt that this deserved a post of its own.
Dances on the Footpath 
You do come up with interesting videos! Am listening to it right now and enjoying it.
The interlude music in part I reminds me of tere pyar ka aasra chahta hu.n from Dhool Ka Phool.
The explanation does help to understand the art much better. I liked the was she explains the different ways of singing the same line in thumri. Wish I was there to witness it live!
Thanks for bringing this up!
Harvey, thank you for the nice words (once again :) ), and I am glad that you enjoyed this too. And that is a good point regarding the interlude music. (I am almost tempted to post the song clip here, but the resemblance above occurs in just a small part of the music, and I think “Tere Pyar Ka Asra Chahta Hoon” is a song that deserves a more appropriate place of its own in a different post sometime. :) )
I have attended Dhanashree Pandit’s workshops on thumri in Mumbai and also her perfomances in Mumbai, and have loved every single one of them. But this one is new. Thanks for sharing it.
PS: I love your blog header :-)
You are welcome, Sudhagee. That is great that you have had the chance to attend her performances and her workshops in Mumbai!
As I said, I was thinking of posting more from the series, but while Sinha is a good dancer, I am just not as drawn into the explanations that she gives (here and there in the other parts of this series) as I am with Dhanashree Pandit Rai. So, I think I will instead post some other presentations from Dhanashree Pandit Rai.
Beautiful!! Loved it!
Thank you, Richard. I second harvey’s comment about ‘interesting videos’.
It reminded me of the collection of background thumris in Pakeezah especially the one which sounds something like ‘nazariya ki mari’.
The explanation at the beginning was useful, but I minded the explanations during the singing. It not only broke the flow, but broke my trance :) it is so addictive.
Her voice is so crystal clear.
Lovely post. What I am most amazed s by how she manages to carry on singing so perfectly in pitch, colour etc. after speaking the translation!! very difficult to carry out this translation/explicative work AND manage to convey the mood of the song and music…
Never heard of her before. Seems to be a great teacher:
Swarup, I just watched that video this evening and was thinking of making it my next post. :)
Yes, I agree, she does seem to be a great teacher!
And a pretty great singer too…
Richard,
I seem to be a good student. I felt the same way about Paruchuri Sreenivas.
Swarup
This video is extremely interesting and educative. Loved her explanations. Her voice is absolutely fantastic. I’ve run out of adjectives to appreciate what I just heard.
Thanks Gaddeswarup