1. Where were you born and when?
Oakville, ON, CANADA October 28, 1975
2. What memories do you have of the Mardala from when you were young?
From when I was born, I can remember the sound of the pakhawaj coming from the cassette which was playing in the basement which my mother and sister were practicing dance to. They were old recordings of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Guru Banamali Maharana, and Guru Gangadhar Pradhan.
3. When did you begin studying the Mardala and who was your teacher?
I learned tabla from Pursottam Singh (Punjab Gharana) 1982-1984 I learned tabla from Jahingir Mirza (Benares Gharana) 1984-1987 I learned tabla from Badya Samrat Sri Umesh Chandra Kar in 1987 I learned Mardala from Guru Gangadhar Pradhan 1988-194 I learned Mardala from Guru Banamali Maharana in 1994
4. What was the Mardala like when you started?
I had been playing tabla for 2 years when I first started trying to figure out the way the Mardal was played. I had just started dancing and wanted to play the bols on the drum that I knew the dance to. Then I started playing the items that I did not know the dance to. In 1984, Guru Gangadhar Pradhan showed me the correct way to strike it and officially began teaching me in 1988.
5. How have you seen the Mardala change?
As an Odissi Dancer would see it. The grandsires of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra up until him were of the raw traditional style. The drum itself sounded much more distorted and its skins sounded somewhat dampened. From there, it was passed on to Guru Banamali Maharana who refined the overall sound of the drum through shape, size, and juaari (fine tuning). He also revised the newer and finer techniques the of the drum and is the primary contributor to Mardala today. Today, such students like Dhaneswar Swain and Sachitananda Das are upholding the honour of their teacher by taking this discipline and creating new compositions which enhances its beauty only more.
6. Was there a written tradition when you began studying Mardala, or was it oral?
Being born and brought up in Canada, English was my first spoken language. I could understand Hindi and Oriya but never had the courage to speak it. In 1987, I went to Orissa and had no choice but to speak it if I wanted to communicate. So, from then, I spoke random Oriya in the house in Canada and all the time whenever I went back to Orissa. However, reading and writing Oriya have I only attained as of late. I had been writing all my bols in capital English letters but used the same traditional symbols for the time signatures, rests, and triplets. I had been teaching tabla in Canada since 1992, and I became immune to the way I had always written my bols in English for both my students and myself. Therefore, I wrote what everyone else in the class wrote in the classroom at Guru Banamali Maharana’s, but mine was in English.
7. What was the first composition you learned and do you still perform it?
The very first composition I learned was the Bhoomi Pranam Bol in Magalacharan. If ever I have to play Mangalacharan for a dancer, this bol will indeed be in the item.
8. Did you first start learning dance, or the Mardala?
Dance. Tabla – 1982 Odissi Dance – 1983 Odissi Mardal - 1984
9. How is your academy associated with Guruji Gangadhar Pradhan?
My mother and first dance Guru Chitralekha Patnaik is a colleague of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and collaborated with him when she went to Bhubaneswar, Orissa in 1984. We sponsored him in 1984, 1988, 1990, and 1992 and he has been the Principal of Chitralekha Dance Acdemy which is an extension of the Orissa Dance Academy since. He has also trained both my sister and teacher Ellora Patnaik and myself.
10. Who has been the biggest influence(s) in your Mardala playing and why?
I have 6 essential inspirers who I also acknowledge on my website. Each of them are unique in their own way to me. They are Kelucharan Mohapatra, Banamali Maharana, Gangadhar Pradhan, Dhaneswar Swain, Sachitananda Das, and Bijaya Barik.
11. Where do you see the Mardala has come from – what instruments lead to the development of the Mardala?
Mardala is more ancient than most other drums of India. The tabla was born out of it to create finer sounds, but Mardala has been developed by Guru Banamali Maharana with the same attitude as was taken in tabla.
12. How would you describe your role in the development of Odissi music?
Odissi Sangeeta is in a parallel situation with Odissi Badya and Nrutya. I consider myself one of the competent engineers for the development of all 3. It really helps when you can compose the music, play the Mardala, choreograph the dance and then dance the dance.
13. You are part of the current generation of composers of Odissi music – What do you consider is your favorite composition and by whom? Which composition of your do you consider your best work?
Sometimes lyrics can get in the way of choosing my favorite composition. The greatest geniuses were Sangeeta Sudhakar Balakrushna Das and Pandit Bhubaneswar Mishra. All their work are the greatest of Odissi tunes. Guru Ram Hari Das is what we have today from what those great fathers left behind. My work? Hmm. I created an Odissi item called Hari Hara depicting the comparison of the two Gods Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. It is a 17 minute composition in Raga Hamsadhwani and is set to Ekataali (4 beats), Jhampa (10 beats), Khemtta (6 beats), and Tripatta (7 beats).
14. Do you integrate other instruments into your compositions or performances (besides traditional Odissi instruments)?
I compose for both Odissi Dance and Oriya Dance Drama. The Dance Dramas are very opera or Jathra, which means there are no rules in the music or the dance. I try and incorporate every instrument that has touched my heart from Western Classical Symphonies to any traditional sound internationally.
15. What Taal do you enjoy playing and/or composing for?
Every single one is unique. I cannot choose.
16. Who in the younger generation, probably in Orissa, would you consider a very promising Mardala talent?
Presently, Sachitananda Das has a 12 year old son. Small hands….but it does not matter. He seems to be one of the more promising Mardal players of the future.
17. Where do you see the progression of the Mardala in relation to the classical styles of Indian music?
Classical Indian styles all have their own traditional drum. Hindustani has tabla and pakhawaj, Odissi has Mardala and khol, Karnatic has Mrdingam and Ghattam. As all disciplines are acknowledged, their drums are as well.
18. Do you have any involvement with the Mardala Academy?
I am a student of the Mardala Academy, being a student of Guru Banamali Maharana. I was asked by my teacher twice to perform with the Academy. I could not because I had to come back to Canada and choreograph the dance for Chitralekha Odissi Dance Creations upcoming production of PANCHADEVA in 2001 and then attend the CanAsian Dance Festival in 2003.
19. Do you approach your composing from a theoretical point? If yes or no could you elaborate?
When I compose classical, its main base is around theory, however, I can compose within a discipline even after being inspired by some strange noise from the sky. With commercial, it is pretty much Sky Is The Limit.
20. What comes first, the choreography or the music – for your compositions?
Because I record the music in Orissa, I first compose, then record, then bring back to Canada, then choreograph. However, I can see the geometrical pictures and the lighting in the stories that I am composing to when I compose. I want to experiment one day and see what it would be like to do the dance first and then the music.
21. Tell me about your current compositions and how you came up with the idea?
Currently, I am working a Quadrilogy based on the great epic from India, Mahabharata. I have chosen 4 warriors from the Battlefield of Kurukshetra and will be staging one production every year for 4 years in October. I have been obsessed with Hindu Mythology from when I was very small. I was considering the Ramayana, but later in my teen years did I salivate over any Mahabharata concept.
22. Do you ever compose for or perform the Mardala outside of Odissi music? For instance – Hip Hop or Jazz?
Not compose. Freestyle jams. Maybe someone may want to incorporate pakhawaj into their work before I do some fusion with it.
23. Do you compose pieces for just the Mardala, such as how Guruji Dhanuswar Swain is composing for multiple Mardalas?
If I had multiple students or players, I would. That is the same for dance. Creation is unlimited. If one was to give me a thousand dancers, that would inspire me to attack choreographically.
24. What was the Odissi "scene" like when you were younger?
Back then, it only started to develop. Odissi became known internationally soon after India’s Independence, and then started to clean up and become more revised in the 80’s.
25. How was it getting Chitralekha established?
Actually, here, Chitralekha was establishing it.
26. Are there other musicians from Orissa who understood Odissi music when you started performing there?
Not then. Not now. There are no competent Odissi musicians in North America as far as I am concerned.
27. Do you teach the Mardala at your school?
I have one Mardala student and five tabla students.
28. How many students do you have?
40 dance, 5 tabla, 1 pakhawaj
29. Has the interest grown over the years?
As tuition fees increased….
30. What is your most embarrasing moment on stage? =) (while performing the Mardala.)
There was a concert for three days at the Minkler Auditorium. Day 1- Shivkumar and Rahul Sharma (Santoor) - Swapan Chowdhury (Tabla) Then – Uma Sharma (Kathak Dance with Live Orchestra) Day 2- Manna Dey and Ustad Gulam Ali Khan Day 3- I was commissioned to play pakhawaj with the organizers of the festival [Kathak dance (the husband who played tabla and wife who danced)] Everything went to hell after 3 unsuccessful rehearsals, so I blasted off and played with my soul knowing that Manna Dey and Gulam Ali Khan were in the audience, and knowing that Amjed Ali Khan and his sons were playing right after us. I launched myself only after much embarrassment. However, Manna Dey came up to me and put his hand on my head saying, "Bohot Acha Bajaate Ho, Betta." I was blessed.
31. What is your most memorable moment with performing the Mardala.
I played the item Gati Bheda for Chitralekha Odissi Dance Creations in 1997 at the DuMaurier Theatre in Toronto. It is a 28 minute Pallavi that Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra choreographed and deals with Layakaari like 9/4, 7/4, 5/4, 3/2, and 4/4. It was a real rush thinking that Sachitananda Das was the only other person who could play it.
32. What, in your opinion, is crucial at this time to keep the Mardala a thriving instrument of Odissi music and culture?
Always. Mardal is the heart of Odissi which beats. Without it, Odissi is dead.
