Keli Kathakali and Koodiyattam Festival 2022
(Exploring body language aesthetics in Art)
On 15,16, October 2022
Presented by
Dear Art Lover,
KELI is a Mumbai-based registered charitable organization striving to preserve, develop and propagate the traditional and classical cultural art heritage of India. Keli has been active in this field from the last 29 years and during this period, has successfully handled a number of important projects in furtherance of its objectives.
Keli is now entering the 30th year of its journey exploring the rich and diverse forms of India’s artistic traditions. In its three-decade journey, Keli has presented many unique and lesser-known performing art forms for contemporary urban audiences without diluting the core essence of the form. The annual Keli festivals, structured thematically every year, are well known to artists and art lovers of the city and have earned the organization a significant place in the cultural life of Mumbai. Over the past 3 decades, Keli has curated 40 festivals, reaching over 1,25,000 audience members and working with more than 1,500 artists. Keli is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a yearlong program of events across the country between 15th Oct 2022 to 15th Oct 2023 at various venues across Mumbai and to audiences across the country.
This year, Keli’s focus will be on how art transgresses boundaries and creates synergies by opening itself up to the world, times, and other influences. Weaving together dialogues,conversations, presentations, videos and live performances, each element is conceived as an aesthetic and learning experience for the audience.
This festival will be the curated performances of Kathakali and Koodiyattam, exploring the artist’s body as central to their art form, and will demonstrate this with contrasting performances with costume and without costume that illuminate this idea. Kathakali is one of India’s 17th-century major dance drama traditions and Koodiyattam is 1800 years old, the most ancient surviving Sanskrit theatre tradition in the world.
We have great pleasure in inviting you to participate in the pioneering festival of Keli’s yearlong celebration of its 30th year of the artistic journey.
KELI is a Mumbai-based registered charitable organization striving to preserve, develop and propagate the traditional and classical cultural art heritage of India. Keli has been active in this field from the last 29 years and during this period, has successfully handled a number of important projects in furtherance of its objectives.
Keli is now entering the 30th year of its journey exploring the rich and diverse forms of India’s artistic traditions. In its three-decade journey, Keli has presented many unique and lesser-known performing art forms for contemporary urban audiences without diluting the core essence of the form. The annual Keli festivals, structured thematically every year, are well known to artists and art lovers of the city and have earned the organization a significant place in the cultural life of Mumbai. Over the past 3 decades, Keli has curated 40 festivals, reaching over 1,25,000 audience members and working with more than 1,500 artists. Keli is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a yearlong program of events across the country between 15th Oct 2022 to 15th Oct 2023 at various venues across Mumbai and to audiences across the country.
This year, Keli’s focus will be on how art transgresses boundaries and creates synergies by opening itself up to the world, times, and other influences. Weaving together dialogues,conversations, presentations, videos and live performances, each element is conceived as an aesthetic and learning experience for the audience.
This festival will be the curated performances of Kathakali and Koodiyattam, exploring the artist’s body as central to their art form, and will demonstrate this with contrasting performances with costume and without costume that illuminate this idea. Kathakali is one of India’s 17th-century major dance drama traditions and Koodiyattam is 1800 years old, the most ancient surviving Sanskrit theatre tradition in the world.
We have great pleasure in inviting you to participate in the pioneering festival of Keli’s yearlong celebration of its 30th year of the artistic journey.
Ramachandran. K
Artistic Director & Festival Director
ART ENCOUNTERS
This year, Keli's theme will explore different ways, modes and levels at which art intersects with different domains of knowledge: history, anthropology, sociology and politics. In the history of any art form one can see transformations happening at the level of concepts, practices, exchanges, influences and also materialities, sites and interfaces with the audience. Keli@30 will explore the various intersections and confluences that enliven art making, performance and appreciation contributing to the rich cultural fabric that makes up India.Breaking away from the conventional formats of academic presentations or performance modes, the idea is to engage with different themes, forms and practices by mixing divergent discourses, mediums and methods of engagement. The yearlong celebration will focus on the following aspects of art : body, music & sound, gender, sites & spaces, time and public.
ARTISTS BODY IN TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE
Day 1
KATHAKALI
Saturday 15th October 2022,
at Terna Auditorium, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai at 6.30 pm
Inagural Programe
Guest of Honour: Sushma Deshpande, Sanjna Kapoor, Narippatta Raju,Sivaprasad (IOC), Swati Apte-Director Kshir Sagar Foundation, Ashok Mahendra Puthalath Gopal , Director ,RINA India Private Limited, Ajay Menon MD& CEO Motilal and Oswal.
Dedication: Dedicating the festival towards the memory of Vidushi Annapoorna Devi
Vidushi Annapoorna Devi (1927–2018)
The year-long activities celebrating Keli's 30th anniversary will be dedicated to the memory of Vidushi Annapoorna Devi, the legendary Hindustani musician. The monastic pursuit of music of Maa Annapoornna inspires an ever-relevant debate about the society having talented female performers facing the challenge and conflict of gender and social politics. The artistic loss due to such conflict is to be discussed and resolved by the people working towards an ideal progressive society.Felicitation: The Silver conch of appreciation will be presented to Kalamandalam Rajeev and Priya Namputhiri
Performance: Kathakali
Priya Namboothiri and Kalamandalam Vipin Sankar & Group
Story: Narakasura Vadham
Preparation of war of the Asura Narakasura and his triumph over heaven. This is an episode with powerful movement of body and the intense acting sequences. A short sequence of the Performance will start with full costume then will change it without costume exploring the possibilities of the body.
Other participating artists : Kalamandalam Viswas, Kala: Shyam Kishor, Kala: Venumohan. Kal: Vaishkh, Kala: Sudheesh, Ramesh, Rajan. Costume : Asthra Cheruthuruthi.
The performance will be preceded by a 30 mins conversation between Sushma Deshpande, and Raju Narippatta
ARTISTS BODY IN TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE
Day 2
Koodiyattam
In association with TTFAC and DCCSunday, 16th October, 2022,
at DAE Convention Centre, Anushakhthi Nagar, Mumbai, at 6.30 pm to 9.00 pm
Presented by Sooraj Nambiar and Group
Koodiyattam (a solo performance):
Story of Ravana the anti Hero Kailasodharanam and Parvathi viraham. This episode is the acting sequence of Ravana lifting the mountain and the quarrel between Siva and Parvathy. It is a powerful and detailed acting sequence.
Other participating artists : Kalamandalam Rajeev , Kala: Vijay, Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan, Kalanilayam Haridas.
The performance will be preceded by a 30 mins conversation between Raju Narippatta and Kalamandalam Rajeev
Felicitating Artists
Kalamandalam Rajeev (Mizhavu Artist)
After six years of formal training in Mizhavu from Kerala Kalamandalam he joined as a senior Mizhavu staff artiste at Ammannur Chachuchakyar Smaraka Gurukulam lrinjalakuda kerala in 1992. Now he is the Vice president of Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam. He has accompanied the Koodiyattam legend Guru Ammannur Madhavachakyar for about one and half decades. He has performed traditional Kottiyattam plays and contemporary productions as well including the world theatre project in Sweden, collaborating India, China, Sweden Mozambiq. He has travelled all over the world. He has improvised the Thyambaka on mizhavu a solo percussion performance and has developed the symphony Panchari Melam on Mizhavu. He has received many awards and accolades including the Bismilla Khan Yuva Puraskar in2011 from the Sangeet Natak Akademy, New Delhi.
Priya Namboothiri (Kathakali Actor)
Priya Namboothiri was born in Mumbai and started her training in Kathakali from a tender age under the Guru Shri. Kalamandalam C. Gopalakrishnan. After her Arangettam in 1991, she participated in numerous performances both in Kerala and Mumbai as well. She had the fortune to share the stage with Stalwarts like Kal. Ramankutty Nair, Kal. Gopi and many others. She also undertook further advanced training at Kalakshethram, Dombivili. Priya has proved her talent by enacting a variety of roles including paccha, kathi, kari, thaadi and minukku. Priya has portrayed the most challenging and choreographically complex kathi, the anti-hero characters in Kathakali like that of Ravana in various stories and has also enacted fiery characters like Dusshasana, Veerabhadra, Roudrabheema or Kattala. A graded artist of the Mumbai Doordarshan, Priya has bagged many prizes in several competitions.THE YEARLONG PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE between 15th Oct 2022 and 15th Oct 2023
(Exact dates and venues will be announce later)
In MUMBAI
ARTISTS BODY IN TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE
Sat 15th Oct 2022 Kathakali at Terna Auditorium , Nerul, Navi Mumbai
Sun 16th Oct 2022 Koodiyattam at BARC, DAE Convention centre , Anushakhthi Nagar.
POETRY PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
December 2022
A 2 day festival on Ottan Thullal, an eighteen century recite-and –dance tradition of Kerala intended at criticism of society and the state.
SEMINAR ON ART & FOLK LORE
January 2023 2 day Seminar
TIBETAN FESTIVAL OF ART IN EXILE
2 day Festival in Mar 2023 Tibetan Dance and Music 2 day Festival in Mar 2023 Tibetan Dance and Music
CONTEMPORARY RURAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
3 Day Festival in April
Kalamkariyute Katha: A story of woman who makes pots,
Mannathi Theyyam: A myth of the woman who washes clothes,
Museum of Silence :Idols in the Museum of Silence tell stories of oppression, conflicts, terror, gender and many more.
Concluding performance : HINDUSTANI MUSIC FESTIVAL
3 day festival in Oct 2023
This will be a regular festival in Keli’s calendar and will be celebrated in every alternate years
Ustad Zakir Hussain (Solo Tabla)
Aswini Bhide Deshpande (Hindustani Music concert)
Pelva Naik (Drupad)
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL ON ARTS IN KERALA
3 Ethnographic film festivals in Payyannur, Kalady and Kottayam in Kerala
LEC-DEM and Film Screenings all over India
Our Sincere Thanks to:
TTFAC, Anushakthi Nagar, DCC Anushakthi Nagr, Prithvi Theatre, Anand Neelakandan,Sushma Deshpande, Sanjna Kapoor, Narippatta Raju,Thomas Mathew, Adv Shreejith, Adv.Pankaj Vijayan, Sivaprasad, IOC, Swati Apte, Ashok Mahendra Puthalath Gopal, Ajay Menon, Kishore Mariwala, Sachin Menon, AK Suresh, Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan, V.Shashikumar, Sreekumar Kaimal, DSK Associates, Rajesh Gupte, Indu Sagar, Kajal Gadhia, N Sreejith, Jerry Sebastian, Sibi Sathyan, Jayaprakash PD, Hariharan TN, Valsalan Moorkoth, Nisha Gilbert, Daniel Babu, Mayadath, Pradeep, Viswanathan, Ashok Nair, Sasi Nair, Bindu Menon, Bose Krishnamachari, Devina Dutt, Priyaranjanlal, Dr. C.S. Venkiteshwaran, Riyas Komu, Arun Menon, Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Manorama News, MathrubhumiNews, Asianet News.
Photo courtesy: Chittore Gopalan Nair, Moments by Priyaanka (Brochure Cover Page), Malootty Karalmanna, Prabha Electronica, Renju Kamal Studio, Valsan Vennikkal, pappully Sreekumar, reedevan Cheumittam
Title Graphic: James Manalody
Live Sub Title: Dileepkumar Thripunithura
Stage & Light Design: Krishnadas Kadvanad & Group
Graphic Design & Printing: Rajesh Mumbai (9819697429)
Glimpses from the Festival
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