MUSIC

While folk and classical music have distinct personalities, they come together in the folk theater.  There is hardly a good folk actor-singer who does not know the classical ragas. The prayer song, the mood song, the song of separation are invariably set in classical melodies. (Photo : An actress playing the princess in a Jatra Troupe)
The singing of Jatra had become more and more complex by the middle of  the nineteenth century, when Bidya Sundar palas had degenerated into mere erotic singing and dancing, Madan Master a pro0fessional at Hoogly College), introduced the juri system. Juri means "the double."  Madan Master realized that some good actors were not being used only because they could not sing. To give a chance to purely dramatic actors he introduced the system of "singing on behalf."  He had four singers sit at the four corners of the stage to sing on behalf of the characters, as their doubles. This system he may have borrowed from the contemporary tradition of dance dramas and Raslilas in which the Bhagavatha or the swami sang the lines of the character.  In the modern Western theatre, Bertolt Brecht has used this device of singing on behalf of the character in his Epic Theater.

The actor in the Jatra sang the first line of the song and tossed it over to one of the squatting singers, who immediately stood up.  The line was then taken up by the singer on the right or diagonally opposite.  One after the other the four singers rose in turn as the song progressed.  They spun out the melody and added frills and graces, concerned not so much with the words as with subtle elaboration.  They released the players and spectators from the burden of literary words and thinned the melody to a fine musical web.  Expert classical masters, the Juri singers added interpretative quality tot he song.

This suspended the action of the play.  The characters on the asar sat down, smoked, chewed pan, and checked their make-up while the four singers continued the melody, passing it from one to the other and carrying forward the musical action like basketball players.  Thus the two functions of singing and acting were separated, and the audience could enjoy both in one frame.  The Juri singers were also called mukhtyars, a legal term of Persian origin meaning attorneys or persons who act on behalf of others.  The singers were costumed like attorneys, in narrow clinging pajamas, long black tunics, and big round turbans.

Madan Master also introduced the Dohar system.  Doha means "the refrain" and the Dohars were people who sang the refrain.  Side by side with the Juri classicists, a set of singers simply rendered the refrain, thus helping to bring the etherealized melody down to earth and reinforcing it.  The refrain gave the Jatra singing a new strength.  The Dohar system was inspired by the Keertan (congregational singing) in which the principal singers sing with musical flourishes and the refrain is taken up by the religious gathering, who beat cymbals and wooden clappers and goad the tempo to a delirious climax.

The musical instruments accompanying the old Jatra were the pakhawaj and dholak (types of drums), the behala (violin) (some orientalists trace the word "violin" to an Indian origin.  During the Vedic era, the stringed instrument pinga was played with a conical bow.  Later the name was changed to bahuleen, which meant an instrument played by resting it against the bahu (arm), and from this came behala (the Bengali word for violin).  Another name of the pinga was ravanstra, as the epic demon king Ravan played a prototype of the pinga by resting it on his arm ("The Indian Origin of the Violin," by Dr V Raghavan, Journal of the Music Academy, Madras XIX [1948],  65-70). cymbal and flutes.  As a result of Western influence, which seeped into the folk theater through the British Raj, clarinet and trumpet were also incorporated.  Today these are essential in a Jatra performance.  

Nineteenth-century journals often commented upon the musical quality of Jatra performances.  Samachar Darpan (July 13, 1822), reporting about a new Jatra Nala Damayanti ("The Love Story of King Nala and Princess Damayanti "), wrote: "The musical score in various ragas and classical melodies was accompanied with dance and dialogue and created atmosphere."

A large repertoire of classical and semi classical melodies goes into the Jatra.  The favourite modes are Bageshri, arana, bhairav and bhairavi.  In plays of historical grandeur or with mythological themes, the classical ragas always evoke the period.

Minor characters - servants, gardeners, attendants, robbers, monks - mostly use folk tunes (Bhatiali and Keertan melodies) to depict their work-a-day existence.  The first concert at the opening of the play is always set in a classical ragini.  The second concert is light.  The orchestral music follows the mood and character.

THE VIVEK

The Juri system continued till the first decade of the present century.  By the second decade people were tired of the Juri because it continued for hours, spinning fine melodic gossamers that suspended the theatrical enjoyment.  It had become a sort of an exercise in classical singing out of proportion to the drama.  The public would boo and hiss if the singers over did their long musical performance.  Slowly it went into disrepute.

In 1911 Mathur Shah, a shrewd businessman and owner of a company, asked his musical director, Bhootnath Das, if he could devise a means of discarding the Juri system without injuring the song element.  Bhottnath introduced the Vivek system in the play Padmini ("The Self-Immolation of Queen Padmini") by Haripada Chatterjee, which the company was rehearsing at that time. (Photo : The famous singer Teenkauri Bhattacharya as loyal Muslim servant (The Vivek) in Bhuler Mashool.)

The Vivek is a character who can appear in any scene - in a bed chamber, in a king's court, in heaven, in hell, in a burning ghat, in a forest, in a street.  He enjoys unrestricted freedom.  Vivek means "conscience." When a character does something wrong, the Vivek turns up to warn in song.  If a king is doing an injustice, the Vivek suddenly appears to check him.  Dressed like a madman - his eyes glazed, his head and feet bare, his beard tangled - he wears a robe of black, saffron, or white.  His movements are sharp and conclusive.  He enters the gangway on the run and disappears in the same way.

The Vivek has a definite dramatic function.  He comments on the action by his song, externalizes the feeling of the character, plays his double, and puts questions to him.  He is everybody's shadow, a running commentary on actions and events.  He lives in the past, present and future.  The role is always played by a highly paid singer.

The Vivek was popularized by Ahi Bhushan Bhattacharya, a playwright-actor.  In his mythological drama, Surath Uddhar ("The Rescue of King Surath," 1915), the first line of every song was "Look into your won self and proceed along.  This is a proper time!"  This line came to represent the period.

The early Vivek had freedom and mobility.  Its philosophical transparency was clouded by playwright Brojindra Kumar Dey, who turned it into a concrete character in Swarna Lanka ("Golden Ceylon," 1925).  In Swarna Lanka the Vivek is represented by Bibishana, brother of King Ravana, who advises him to return Sita to Rama and thus avoid war.  He is the voice of justice.  He sings the conflict in his own mind, philosophizes and comments, but he does not really impersonate the Conscience.

The playwright can impart the Vivek's qualities only to a noble character who preaches the doctrine of Life.  This character could be the brother of a villain, a truthful old servant, a beggar, a monk, a guru.  In Banglar Bodhu, by Nanda Gopal Roy Chowdhury, the mad beggar is the Vivek.  In Bargi Elo Deshe, the poet Ganga Ram voices the truth.  In Bhuler Mashool, a popular hit of the Navaranjan Opera Company, the role is entrusted to the Muslim servant of a Hindu landlord.  It is played by the famous tragic basso Teenkauri Bhattacharya, whose eyes glow as he sings and evokes the mood.  

The development of the Vivek from the abstract to the concrete narrows down the function of the character.  He can sing out his own mind, but not the minds of other characters.  He does not evoke the other side of the human being with the theatrical reality of the abstract Vivek.

JATRA ON WHEELS

The jatra has regained popularity during the last five years.  There is growing restlessness and felling of boredom with the city professional theater.  Except for Utpal Dutt's Little Theater Group, which performs permanently in Minerva Theater, and Sombhu Mitra's Bohuruupee Company, which plays fitfully though artistically, the commercial stage is in decay.  The realistic tradition has been played out.  The Jatra professionals represent a robust acting tradition in Bengal.

In Calcutta there are twenty-one Jatra troupes, ten permanently professional and eleven Thekawali (actors engaged temporarily on contract).  Each offers about three plays a year.  They open their season in September and perform nightly until the monsoon breaks in June.  All the troupes are then disbanded, and the actors are free to join any company.  The manager - the only person on permanent staff - spends the rest of his time clearing the accounts and "abducting" good actors with tempting offers for the coming season.  The actors are shuffled like cards and redistributed.  Each signs a legal agreement for nine months and is given a pay advance according to his caliber.

The Jatra addicts know that the artistic standard of a company changes with the changes of actors.  As in Chinese restaurants in San Francisco, where the master cooks carry the gourmets with them to the new restaurants every time they change their place of work, the Jatra stars carry with them the loyalties of their fans.  The Navaranjan Opera was the favorite in 1962; the Janta Opera brightened its glamour in 1963; the Natta Bharati was the chief attraction in 1964 because of Chhota Phani and the comedian, Hiralal Bannerjee.  Only the Natta Company, headed by Surya Dutta, maintains a sound artistic standard year after year, and for this Surya Dutta's personal magnetism is responsible.  Some of the actors have been with him for thirty years, and this has given the repertory a style and stability.

The Jatra is highly organized.  Controlled by private individuals, the troupes work through impresarios called dalals - the middlemen - who set up the itinerary.  This frees the ensemble from the worry of where it will perform next.  Unlike a professional city company, it des not have to bother with the sale of tickets, and the manager does not cast a worried look on empty chairs.  There is always a throbbing, colorful mass audience.  No microphones or amplifiers are used.  In this the Jatra stands distinct from the Nautanki and the Tamasha, which have vulgarized their art by the use of loudspeakers.  

The leading Jatra troupes visit the States of Assam, Orissa, Bihar and distinct town of Bengal.  They are invited for festivals, fairs, marriages, and housewarming ceremonies and are paid from one thousand to two thousand rupees per performance, plus lodging.  They even perform as far away as Varanasi and Delhi, which have large Bengali populations.

In most district towns, such as Hooghly, Nadia and Bardwan, Jatra competitions are held during the Durga Puja festival.  The chiefs of coal field areas and tea plantations arrange special shows for their workers and organize contests in which half a dozen Jatra troupes are invited to perform each night in turn.  The head of the locality or organization that invites the troupe pays a lump sum.  He arranges for the stage, lighting, pandal (improvised auditorium), gatekeepers, living quarters and open-air kitchen.  Here food is cooked by the Jatra troupe which travels with utensils, cooks and servants.  When invited for an occasion such as the laying of the foundation stone for a school or a temple, the troupe accepts a smaller fee.  On a commission basis, it charges 60 percent, and the rest goes to the organizers for the good cause. (Photo : A Jatra actor playing a Muslim chief in Bhuler Mashool)

The salaried staff of the leading companies varies from forty to sixty individuals, and their pay for a month varies from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand rupees plus food and traveling expenses.  A leading actor - a hero, or a villain, or a Vivek, or a male "actress" - gets between five hundred and two thousand rupees per month, a much larger sum than the respectable professional theater offers.

The Jatra company is a single man's concern.  The proprietor puts in the money and engages everybody on contract.  To launch a good Jatra troupe (costumes, instruments, advance payments to actors, paraphernalia of conveyance and kitchen), he must spend 35,000 to 40,000 rupees.  A humbler company can be started on 20,000 rupees.

Most districts have professional Jatra companies, but these do not command popularity beyond their own locality.  There are thousands of amateur Jatra companies.  Calcutta alone has hundreds.  Each street religiously performs a Jatra with the help of the amateur actors during Durga Puja.

Today a Jatra performance, like a professional city theatre generally starts on time, although the commissioned performances may be delayed by half an hour because of the slovenliness of the organizers,  In a village or a small town the touring Jatra group maintains a tight schedule.  Sometimes it performs two plays a night. A Jatra play is written with a technique all its own.  The most famous living author is Brojindra Kumar Dey, a headmaster in a small town school.  A prolific writer, he has the knack of building climaxes and piling situation upon situation.  He does not bother about literary excellence or complex characterization.  An efficient craftsman, he draws upon readily acceptable historical and romantic tales.  

Political color is especially apparent in the Jatra.  Plays on the Partition, Hindu-Muslim unity, patriotism are a big draw.  The Bengali political consciousness never fails to express itself in the arts.  This quality gives the folk theater a contemporary ring.  In the 1930's the actor-director Phani Bhushan Bidyabinod wrote Neel Kothi, a play on the life of the indigo plantation workers.  It is a sequel to Dinabandhu Mitra's Neel Darpana ("Mirror of Indigo Planters," 1865), which portrayed the first phase of the farm laborers' social awakening and created a stir throughout India.  The British banned the play Neel Kothi was also suppressed by the British, and the author was confined to his town.  Another politically zealous Jatra composer-singer was Mukund Das, who died a few years ago.  He was jailed many times for his anti-British palas.

A Jatra play is not published if it is on the boards.  In the absence of strict copyright rules, a rival company may steal the lines, the songs, the situations.  If the printed text is available in the market, the actors feel they are playing a stale drama, a second-hand work; its freshness is lost.  The audience misses part of the suspense and thrill.  (Photo : Actor Sunil Roy as the heroine in Bhuler Mashool casting amorous glances at her lover)

The introduction of female actress has shifted the balance in some Jatra companies.  They are losing their traditional color and heat.  Popular film tunes are also invading the form.  Cheap songs and bastardized rhythms are devoured by the Jatra, and these are jarring.  Often the orchestra plays full blast.  The shrill trumpet and clarinets drown out the actors' voices.  The musicians do not wear any particular dress.  In their greasy vests and rumpled dhotis they look like petty shopkeepers.  The stagehands lounge about and have no theatrical bearing.  The lighting is dreadful.  If the ancient oil-fed torches were used these would add to the atmosphere, but neon lights and diffused bulbs break the focus.

In spite of these drawbacks, the Jatra is dynamic and shapes the artistic consciousness of every Bengali.  It still offers more vigor and enjoyment than the well-publicized professional theaters.

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