By Kanupriya Dhingra
The Palace of Winds, Hawa Mahal, turned into an enchanted space on the second evening of
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival. The Heritage Evenings are a new festival initiative this year, and aim to restore and recreate the value of culture and architecture of Rajasthan.
With the Palace so colorfully lit, the spectators took flight into fantasy and delight, as renowned actress
Shabana Azmi recited the timeless Urdu and Hindi poetry of
Kaifi Azmi, Javed Akhtar and
Janisar Akhtar. This breathtaking session, presented by
Rajasthan Tourism, also included a thrilling flamenco performance by
Rasa-Duende of Spain.
Introduced by Festival Producer
Sanjoy Roy, the session began with
Shabana Azmi’s narration of the poetry of her own father, husband and father-in-law in front of an anticipating and eager audience. ‘Nepotism is alright, but they’re all good poets!’ exclaimed the actress.
Azmi said that she is often asked if she writes poetry, as an effect of her inheritance and the company she keeps, to which her usual reply is that she ‘provides the inspiration.’ She revealed to the audience how unromantic her poet-husband
Javed Akhtar was in their routine life, joking that ‘he doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body!’ The eminent lyricist challenged this claim, on the request of his wife, by reciting two of his celebrated poems in Hindi, and transported the audience into blissful reverie.
Rasa-Duende presented a fabulous display of
Flamenco, with a combination of rousing music, dazzling choreographic dance-theatre and Spanish poetry inspired by the poems of
Lorca.
Jose Salinas’s powerful voice and percussion, beautiful
Monica de le Fuente’s charismatic dance and recitation, and
Carlos Blanco’s Flamenco Guitar blended into one amazing performance. The audience could also identify echoes of Indian classical dance and music in their performance, which heightened their interest and involvement.
The music, dance, lyricism and the personalities who so eloquently delivered their performances, made for a mesmerizing evening against the splendid backdrop of
Hawa Mahal.
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