Bhamakalapam - Radio Version

It is a pleasure to present to the music lovers, this Kuchipudi production, specially recorded for All India Radio, a few decades back. Bhamakalapam is the first and foremost item in the list of dance dramas under the style. it is also perhaps the most popular one among the performances of any Kuchipudi dance troupe. Kuchipudi is a style of dance dramas, earlier called as Bhagavatams. It is perhaps because the stories revolved around Bhgavan Vishnu. Bhamakalapam and Golla Kalapam are the two dramas which are popular even today.

(A painting by Sri Goli Sivaram. Click to see it bigger.)

For those who really do not know much about this dance form from Andhra Pradesh, here are a few lines about it.

It is unfortunate that not much information could be found either about Bhamakalapam or Kuchipudi dance in general. All that available is sketchy articles here and there. What si given below is from Wiki and it is pathetic that only this is the information available.

I would urge those with some good information about teh dance form to send me the same so that we can make it available to all.

Kuchipudi is a classical dance form from Andhra Pradesh, a state of South India. Kuchipudi is the name of a small village in the Divi Taluq of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and with resident Brahmins practicing this traditional dance form, it acquired the present name.

With the dance form attaining perfection by the time of Golconda king Abdul Hassan Tanesha, Kuchipudi brahmins are said to have received 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land as an endowment from Tanesha for the great presentation before him.

Siddhendra Yogi is said to be the first scholar to give it the current form of dance drama. Bhamakalapam is one of his celebrated compositions. He also reserved the art to males by teaching it to young brahmin boys of the village. However, in modern times, the art has been dominated by women.

The performance usually begins with some stage rites, after which each of the character comes on to the stage and introduces him/herself with a daru (a small composition of both song and dance) to introduce the identity, set the mood, of the character in the drama. The drama then begins. The dance is accompanied by song which is typically carnatic music. The singer is accompanied by mridangam (a classical South Indian percussion instrument), violin, flute and the tambura (a drone instrument with strings which are plucked). Ornaments worn by the artists are generally made of a light weight wood called Boorugu.

There is a little more information from a book.

The recording being presented here was produced under the supervision and the participation of Sri Chinta Krishna Murthy, doyen of Kuchipudi art form. It has none other than Sri Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna and Kum Srirangam Gopalaratnam in the lead roles.

Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=10f3f26dc390f408ab1eab3e9fa335ca9c536742abcf6bbf

This is the beginning of regular uploads of famous Telugu Radio Dramas. I really do not know how all the art lovers will come to know of it. Inform me if there is any group on the internet which will be interested in such uploads.

You may also tell all the art lovers about this effort. I will also bring here a lot of telugu light music from yester years.

Help me in making people happy!!

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