It's sufi kalam for Kalam...

The thanak and thasak of the fabled Lucknow gharana will reverberate through the hallowed portals of the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi this evening. For performing here before President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam today, would be noted sufi kathak exponent— Lucknow''s own Manjari Chaturvedi!
The event is part of Rashtrapati Bhavan''s bi-monthly cultural programme Indradhanush, which was institutionalised by the President in December 2002 to encourage Indian classical music and dance artists.
For the uninitiated, President Kalam is an accomplished veena player and also a great connoisseur of Hindustani classical music.
Sure enough, Manjari is quite upbeat about the proposition of performing at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. "It''s a once in a life time opportunity and I am going to give it my best shot," says the danseuse, who has just come back to India from US where she had gone for a live concert.
A disciple of Pandit Arjun Misra, Manjari is known for her ability to make subtle innovations in kathak and yet preserve the tenets of the darbari and temple forms during the complex and highly emotive qawwali based on sufi music and characterised by the Persian slant. And it''s this fusion of Avadhi qawwali and the classical dance form of kathak which she would present before a select gathering at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
"I will be incorporating the mysticism of sufism in kathak, blending both Hindu and Muslim traditions in the art form because I feel that sufi thought is the thought of love — it''s the thought of surrender to the Beloved. Qawwali is a typically mystical form of devotional sufi music as it elevates the soul and takes both the performer and the audience on the same plane of confluence with the Almighty. It''s the dance of the soul — enflamed with love and longing, enamoured with the urge to approach God and be consumed in His glory — one who is lost is in union with Him," explains Manjari.
Now, that''s setting quite a precedent for the President!
mazhar.farooqui@timesgroup.com