LUCKNOW: The 169-year-old crypt (tehkhana) of Safed Baradari came alive with sounds of 'pakhawaj' and 'tabla' with the 'Raqs-o-Mausiqi' exhibition, on Friday.
Paying tributes to legendary Begum Akhtar, kathak maestro Pt Birju Maharaj, music director Naushad Ali and several other prominent names hailing from Lucknow and UP, the exhibition through installations, pictures and musical instruments brought Awadh's rich musical legacy under one roof.
Visitors enjoying the exhibition
If from one end you can hear the calming sitar music playing, on the other you can read the 'tukdas' (short rhythmic compositions) of kathak on which Pt Birju Maharaj used to dance.
While one section of the tehkhana will give you a peek into the contribution of 'tawaifs' (courtesans) in music and dance, the other section will give you Bollywood vibes with posters of films to which music director Naushad Ali contributed to.
While several installations are put up with oral histories, the pictures by photographers Mohsin Khan and Ayan Bose, along with some from archives, have added to the festival's theme.
Writing a tukda of Kathak on a bunch of kites, writer/director and daughter of acclaimed Hindi poet Naresh Saxena, Purva Naresh shared an anecdote of Pt Birju Maharaj.
"Young Birju Maharaj was adept at kite flying as he was in kathak. On visiting one of the kite shops here, he chose the most vibrant colour but didn't have the money to purchase the kite. The shopkeeper offered to give him the kite if he performed for the shopkeeper. He quickly performed some graceful poses and went back home with his kite. In memory of him and paying a tribute to him, kites are installed with a few tukdis written on them on which he used to perform," she said.
The exhibit also gave a glimpse of Lucknow's Tabla Gharana through pictures of Ustad Afaq Husain Khan and Ustad Ilmas Husain Khan and Haider Buksh (belonging to a family of soz-khwan) and a famous qawwali singer from Lucknow.
Sahibe Alam, a shehnai player from bylanes of the city, also finds mention.
Aditya Mishra, 32, who has learnt to play Pakhawaj from Vinayakrao Panse, was amongst people who performed at the Raqs-o-Mausiqui exhibition in the tehkhana of Safed Baradari.
"I have been performing pakhawaj for the last 14 years. It is different from playing dholak because we use a cream of kneaded flour on one side of the pakhawaj. The other difference includes that Pakhawaj is a dev vadya (instrument of gods) made for the first time by Ganesh, according to the mythology," said Mishra.
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