Kumkum Lal Samsmaranam... The Legacy Continues
On 7th april, 2007 Kumkum Lal paid homage to her Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra on his 3rd death anniversary. She treated the audience to Kalyan Pallavi, one of the earliest compositions on the Odissi repertoire, rarely experienced by the younger generation of dancers in Mumbai.
Her second item Nahi ke kori dela, was also historically important, it being the first 'item' - a fully choreographed Oriya song that was added to a theater play in 1946. Guruji had then choreographed it for his wife Laxmipriya Mohanty and it transformed her overnight into a star. People flocked to the theater to see this short dance item, often leaving before the rest of the play commenced. Kumkum lovingly brought out this nugget of history in her delightful introduction to this rare performance before transporting us back in time... "I wrote to him on a lotus leaf that a dear bird carried but he didn't respond. Another woman with enticing eyes has his attention now. Repeatedly lovers cause us to yearn, wait endlessly..."
Kumkum ended with one of Guruji's most sensuous and celebrated choreographies, Kuruyadunandan... the last song from Jayadevs love poem Geet Gobind. ...After a night of lovemaking, Radha, in a state of dishabille, playfully asks Krishna to decorate her breasts with musk-paste, rekindle her eyes with fresh collyrium, re-do her coiffure and bedeck her waist and hips with a bejeweled belt...
Samsmaranam- the legacy lives on was organised by Smitalay and took place in Mumbai at Manik Sabhagriha.
Stills: Ridhi D'cruz. Videos: chitrakarkhana
Kumkum home Kumkum Image Archive (1970's...) Kumkum in Japan Videos.
Her second item Nahi ke kori dela, was also historically important, it being the first 'item' - a fully choreographed Oriya song that was added to a theater play in 1946. Guruji had then choreographed it for his wife Laxmipriya Mohanty and it transformed her overnight into a star. People flocked to the theater to see this short dance item, often leaving before the rest of the play commenced. Kumkum lovingly brought out this nugget of history in her delightful introduction to this rare performance before transporting us back in time... "I wrote to him on a lotus leaf that a dear bird carried but he didn't respond. Another woman with enticing eyes has his attention now. Repeatedly lovers cause us to yearn, wait endlessly..."
Kumkum ended with one of Guruji's most sensuous and celebrated choreographies, Kuruyadunandan... the last song from Jayadevs love poem Geet Gobind. ...After a night of lovemaking, Radha, in a state of dishabille, playfully asks Krishna to decorate her breasts with musk-paste, rekindle her eyes with fresh collyrium, re-do her coiffure and bedeck her waist and hips with a bejeweled belt...
Samsmaranam- the legacy lives on was organised by Smitalay and took place in Mumbai at Manik Sabhagriha.
Stills: Ridhi D'cruz. Videos: chitrakarkhana
Kumkum home Kumkum Image Archive (1970's...) Kumkum in Japan Videos.
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