SAMPRADAYAM

Bhajans have always been a mainstay of devotional music in Hinduism and the rousing passion of voices accompanied by nothing but cymbals have made centuries of minds soar. Over the last few decades however bhajans have been influenced by other music traditions like Bollywood and gazals, light classical music and western instruments. In a move to counter this and find the real community flavour of bhajans, there is a revival of the music without heavy instrumentation, in southern India. The bhajans last all night and the songs move from one deity to the next and so on. Sampradayam is a salute in Bharatanatyam by choreographer Mallika Sarabhai to the joie de vivre that this music brings to many of us.