[Mb-hair] "The Mystic Minstreal of Bengal"-New Play

[Jim Burns]

'Thought some of you might be interested in this...

(Now, if only the psychotic heart of radical Islam, could be replaced,
by a song of peace.)

Jim Burns
 
SUDIPTO CHATTERJEE PLAYS LALON PHOKIR, THE FAMED 19th CENTURY BENGALI
SAGE AND BALLADEER, IN "MAN OF THE HEART." 

Music-theatre piece on Baul philosopher-artist reveals his universal
human spirit that transcends cultural boundaries 

WHERE AND WHEN:

April 27 through May 7, 2006. 
Presented by East Coast Artists (Richard Schechner, Artistic Director;
Jeanne Finestone, Executive Director) at: The Kraine Theater, 85 East
4th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Schedule: Thursdays thru
Saturdays at 7:30pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 pm. Tickets $25
(Students $15). SMARTTIX (212) 868-4444, www.smarttix.com. Show's
website: www.lalon.org SUBWAYS: F to Second Avenue/Houston Street; 6 to
Astor Place, N-R to 8th Street/Broadway. 

DESCRIPTION: 
                From April 27 to May 7,
East Coast Artists (Richard Schechner, Artistic Director) will present
Sudipto Chatterjee in his music-theatre piece with multimedia, "Man of
the Heart," which presents the life and key works of Lalon Phokir, the
19th century mystic minstrel from Bengal who is equally admired by
Hindus and Muslims today. The New York production is preparatory to
various engagements in India and Bangladesh, where it is hoped that the
show can be a unifying influence during troubled times. 

                In the context of
India's ongoing and often violent conflicts between Hindus and Muslims,
Chatterjee believes Lalon's syncretism holds an urgent message for
today's audiences. "Lalon is talking about the reconciling of so-called
Tantric Hindu belief systems with Islam, which are so irreconcilable
from outside," Chatterjee said. By locating spirituality within the
physical body, he says, Lalon creates the possibility of a universal
identity that undermines the religious divisions fueling violence around
the world today. 

                The play is a one-person
music-theater piece in a multi-media format. With materials retrieved
from legends and written records, it is a close look at the history
surrounding the 19th century Bengali Saint-Composer's life. The work is
written and performed by Sudipto Chatterjee and directed by Suman
Mukherjee. Live musical accompaniment is provided by three Bengali
musicians. 

                Lalon Phokir is regarded
as the Baul of Bauls. Bauls are a group of mystic minstrels from the
Bengal region, now divided into Bangladesh and West Bengal. Lalon was
probably born in 1774 in the part of Nadia district now in Kushtia,
Bangladesh, and died in 1890. During his long, productive, devout life,
he gathered disciples and composed hundreds of songs. Legend has it that
Lalon was born a Hindu and became a Muslim under unusual circumstances.
Bengali literati who controlled high culture in Bengal in the 19th and
20th centuries traditionally viewed his music and poetry as "folk art".
They have always taken what they most needed from Lalon and used it in
their own agendas, whether to fold him up in the discourse of a
"feel-good" secularism or use him as an icon for a new nation. But
Lalon, the true philosopher and artist, has existed on his own and in
his own right. This performance piece goes beyond the urban reading of
Lalon, crossing the dubious lines of class and creed. Lalon left a deep
message of harmony and peace that cannot be downplayed, least of all in
a world that is suffering from the dire lack of it, and more painfully
than ever before 

                Lalon angered Hindus,
Muslims and others by refusing to answer if he had been born Hindu or
Muslim and insisting that what is in the heart matters more than where
someone worships. At one point, Muslim mullahs issued a fatwa against
him, while Hindu conservatives sent goons to attack him physically. But
since Lalon's death, he has achieved ever-growing popularity. Muslim
fundamentalists in Bangladesh have built a protective mausoleum over his
grave, while the Hindu majority in West Bengal has claimed him as an
icon of secularism. 

                "The Man of the Heart"
interweaves contradictory accounts of Lalon's biography, his family, and
his religious affiliations, using a mix of narration, archival
documents, and video footage from contemporary Bengal. The form of the
play is described as "a meditation by means of words, movement, music
and projected moving images." Chatterjee moves back and forth between
the voice of Lalon and that of a Lalon scholar. But it is in Lalon's
songs that we find a common essence. Chatterjee performs them in a rich
baritone, accompanied by traditional instruments used in Bengali folk
music. These include a hand drum and the other a traditional
two-stringed instrument called the do-tara. The Bengali lyrics are
projected in English translation on a fabric screen overhead. 

                The spoken part of the
play is almost entirely in English. The songs, which are in Bengali, are
all supertitled on a projection screen or translated in voiceovers or
subsequent live dialogue. Particular care has been taken to ensure
communicability. The audio track includes Lalon's songs recorded by
Chatterjee, which have abundant references to Sufism, the poet Rumi and
Islam. 

                "Lalon sang in
conundrums, funny covert riddles," said Chatterjee in a recent
interview, comparing him to e. e. cummings. "It was the only way Bauls
could pass along information about their secret practices, which
included Tantric sex." 
                The show was conceived
jointly by Chatterjee and director/designer Suman Mukherjee, both
long-time admirers of Lalon. The impulse was partially to rescue Lalon
from a mindset they believe has transformed their hero into a "feel-good
icon." Chatterjee explains that in Kolkata (Calcutta), Lalon is
celebrated, but for all the wrong reasons. The urban intelligentsia of
India have claimed him as a folk-hero progenitor of Indian secular
democracy. That reading, he says, strips Lalon of his complexity and
authentically Indian spirituality. "Seldom is there an honest attempt to
recognize why he is so good," Chatterjee has said. 

                Sudipto Chatterjee has
been intrigued by Lalon since he was five or six, when he heard a Baul
singer from the country pass his home every day, singing various
compositions from Lalon's rich repertoire. He received training as an
actor in Calcutta, India, from Ajitesh Banerjee and at the Eugene
O'Neill Theater Center, and Richard Schechner, in the USA. He is the
author of fifteen plays in Bengali and English. He has directed several
plays including Nuraldeen's Lifetime (by Syed Shamsul Haq), Girish
Karnad's "Hayavadana," Badal Sircar's "Bhoma" and J. M. Synge's "The
Playboy of the Western World" and its Bengali adaptation, "Birpurus."
His first anthology of Bengali plays, "Abhiropan," was published in
January 2005. In 2006 he directed Manjula Padmanabhan's "Harvest" for
the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, at University
of California, Berkeley, where he is currently an Assistant Professor.
That play was also presented by East Coast Artists in January, 2006,
directed by Benjamin Mosse. 

                Suman Mukherjee has done
productions ranging from European drama to major adaptations of
masterpieces of Bengali literature. Among which are "Teesta Paarer
Brittanto" (Tales of the River Teesta, adapted from the novel by Debesh
Roy) and "Mephisto," based on Klaus Mann's German novel. While Teesta
has become one of the celebrated productions of the Bengali stage,
"Mephisto" was staged in protest against the religious riots of 2002
that led to a state-supported genocide of thousands of Muslims in
Gujarat. Earlier this year, Suman also completed his first feature film,
"Herbert", based on a novel of the same title by Nabarun Bhattacharya.
In November 2005, he directed Girish Karnad's "Nagamandala" (Play with a
Cobra) at the Department of Theater, Kalamazoo College. He is currently
the Artistic Director of the group Tritiya Sutra Performance Company.
Suman will be directing Rabindranath Tagore's "Raktakarabi" (Red
Oleanders) in 2006 with India's National School of Drama Repertory. 

                Set, costume and
lighting design are by Suman Mukherjee. The music is all by Sudipto
Chatterjee, based on Bengali sources. The musicians are Soumya
Chakravarti (strings), Bodhisattva Das (drums) and Mahmood Dulu
(harmonium). 

                Following this
production and a European tour, Chatterjee plans to travel to West
Bengal, India and Bangladesh in 2007 to perform the English-language
version of "Man of the Heart " and rehearse a Bengali-language version.
There are confirmed bookings in theaters in India and Bangladesh and the
project has been proposed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the
Melbourne Arts Festival. Tritiyo Sutra Performance Company (India) and
Theatre (Bangladesh) are key collaborators in bringing the project to
fruition in South Asia. 

                East Coast Artists
(Producer) is a professional ensemble dedicated to the artistic process;
the integration of contemporary theatrical traditions with intercultural
and international performance research; and the education and mentoring
of theater artists and others through its synthesized theories of
performance and intercultural techniques of performer training. For 15
years, East Coast Artists has partnered with playwrights and novelists
as well as staged radical interpretations of classical texts to produce
stunning new theatrical pieces. Eschewing a more orthodox model of
production, ECA develops work over time with meticulous attention to
workshopping, incubation, and collective creative processes. ECA has
also synthesized international/intercultural performance techniques into
its signature RasaBoxesT training program whose focus on psychophysical
emotion work has been applied to performer training as well as drama
therapy, medical training, and community outreach.
(www.eastcoastartists.org) 
REVIEWS 

                A workshop version of
"Man of the Heart" was produced by the Department of Theater, Dance &
Performance Studies at UC Berkeley in September, 2005. Siliconeer, a
general interest magazine for South Asians in U.S., called the
performance "at once compelling, energetic and enormously moving" and
"an unforgettable introduction to one of Bengal's lesser known sages."
Chatterjee was commended as "an excellent actor with superb singing
skills," whose greatest gift is "an ability to shed the urbane persona
that makes his Lalon convincing." 

                Marcus Wohlsen, wrote in
Illuminations (Berkeley), "In the context of India's ongoing and often
violent conflicts between Hindus and Muslims... Lalon's syncretism holds
an urgent message for today's audiences.... By locating spirituality
within the physical body... Lalon creates the possibility of a universal
identity that undermines the religious divisions fueling violence around
the world today." 

                This production is
supported by Nalanda Group LLC. Subhas Sarkar is Executive Producer of
this production. 
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