Shyamhari Chakra
“He is my right hand”, Odissi mardal legend late Guru Banamali Moharana used to say about his distinguished disciple Guru Dhaneswar Swain.
True to his guru’s compliments, Guru Dhaneswar, recipient of the prestigious Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, has been instrumental in furthering his Guru’s dream of establishing mardal as a solo instrument.
The globally known maestro has been the most celebrated mardal performer, trainer, rhythm composer and researcher of the highest order today.
“The tradition of Odissi mardal is an ancient the Carnatic mridangam and Hindustani pakhawaj. The temple of Lord Jagannath has a special service namely madeli that is being rendered by the mardal players. And mardal playing was quite prevalent and popular in almost all villages in Puri region”, explained Guru Dhaneswar.
“Being born and brought up in a village in this region where music, theatre and dance were a part of the daily life, it was natural for me to pursue a life in performing arts,” said the Guru who was born and brought up in Nahantara village near Nimapada of Puri district.
He completed his seven years of study of Odissi mardal from Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Odisha’s premiere college of performing arts in Bhubaneswar, where stalwarts like Singhari Shyam Sundar Kar, Mahadev Rout and Banamali Moharana were his teachers.
While 12 students had enrolled in the department of mardal, only two including him could complete their master’s degree from the Mahavidyalaya. Instantly, he was invited by Sonal Mansingh to New Delhi to join her institute as a percussionist. Two years later, he joined his alma mater as a faculty member to provide mardal accompaniment for the Odissi dance department.
And the rest is history.
The next three decades of his artistic journey from an aspiring percussionist to an authority over his art has been amazing and challenging as well.
“Since I was rooted to the tradition, I could observe that there has been excessive influence of Hindustani music pattern – tabla in particular – on our teaching style in the institution. So I tried to redefine certain aspects of mardal playing and teaching using the typical Odissi music and mardal patterns as was prevalent in the villages. Along with my colleague and collaborator Sachidananda Das, we succeeded in highlighting mardal as a solo instrument”, he recollected.
As an accompanying percussionist for the Odissi dancers in great demand, he has been a globe-trotter. If rhythm composers are being duly acknowledged today in any Odissi dance production, it was due to his pioneering work.
The most familiar face in seminars, symposiums and workshops on Odissi mardal, his research and publication have been unparalleled.
While Vadya Vani, his audio CD and the first of its kind, speaks volumes of his vision and mission to establish mardal as a solo instrument apart from popularizing it across the globe; the Tala-Vadya Kutcheris, an ensembles of 14 indigenous percussion instruments of Odisha, that he conceptualized and produced through the Mardal Academy (of which he was the founder secretary) have won him much accolades from the commoners, connoisseurs and critics equally.
Following his retirement from the college, Guru Dhaneswar is imparting advanced level training and guidance to scores of his disciples at his Vadya Vani Gurukul in Bhubaneswar. He is also intimately involved in building up of the Odissi Mardal Department of Guru Ramahari das Odissi Gurukul near Puri.
“My only mission of life is to popularise and establish Odissi mardal across the globe as a solo classical instrument,” he confided.
