Ramayana Date: Sunday 1 October 2006 Choreography and Production by: Rukmini Devi Music by: S. Rajaram
Performed by: Kalakshetra Theatre, India
Sunday evening Tawn and I caught the fourth in our series of performances at the Bangkok International Arts and Dance Festival, and walked away very impressed. The show was Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki, and it is considered part of the Hindu canon. Because of Indian colonisation of Southeast Asia, this story of a prince whose wife is abducted by the demon king, figures prominently in the literary histories of Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia.
The troupe of twenty-eight dancers were very skilled, a combination of martial arts, ballet, acrobatics and pantomime. The vocals and music were provided by a group of six performers including the nattuvangar (the percussionist who sets the rythym for the entire performance) and artists performing the violin, flute, and mridangam.
One thing that I had always wondered about was the wavering, continuous pitch that underlies much South Asian music. Finally, I learned that this musical phenomenon has a name – jivari – and is traditionally provided by a tambura (tanpura), sitar or veena, although these days a synthesized version is available and was used last night.
Things went much more smoothly at this performance than the one of Friday night. People were on time and seated promptly. Being a Sunday night might have been one reason, but another was that this show was attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri, the 51-year old third child of King Rama IV of Thailand. Princess Maha Chakri is extremely beloved by the Thais, much more so than any of the other royal offspring. She has managed to be a very populist princess, widely considered to be her father’s intellectual successor:
In addition to having earned a doctorate in Educational Development, she speaks fluent English, French and Mandarin Chinese and is studying German and Latin. She plays several instruments, teaches history at one of the military academies, and is involved in numerous academic, research and social causes in the areas of science, technology, education and foreign affairs.
She gained a lot of notoriety during the 60th Anniversary celebrations earlier this year when she leaned out of a doorway of the balcony on which her father was addressing the hundreds of thousands of well-wishers so that she could snap some photos of the crowd. He noticed her doing this and turned around and rubuked her!
Before the performance yesterday the audience stood as she entered, her anthem playing, and as she passed, the men bowed and the ladies curtsied, deeper and with even more sincerity than is usually the case.
If the next monarch of the Kingdom was to be chosed by popular election, no doubt the Thai population would select Princes Maha Chakri.
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