EXPERIENCING ART AND CULTURE

Savista tries to offer its guests an authentic experience of both the high-brow and folk culture of the region.

Folk music and dances by local itinerant artists often take place, either at the amphitheatre or in the al-fresco dining area. This is a valuable source of earning and incentive for these artists who pursue this as a hereditary profession.

There are occasions when story-telling through music, drawing on Rajasthani folk epics represented on traditional painted cloth scrolls, are held in the little village temple near the Savista estate. Using painted scrolls as props, and lit by flickering oil lamps, this was one of the much-loved forms of entertainment available to ordinary people before the advent of cinema and TV. Today, this is a dying art form, with its practitioners turning to unskilled manual labour to escape destitution. Savista sponsors these occasional performances as part of its mission of preserving some features of the traditional way of life. Guests could have the unique and authentic experience of sitting through such a performance along with local villagers.

At other times, the music room at Savista with its collection of musical instruments and CDs - classical and semi classical Indian music - is available to guests. So also, the collection of films - on DVD - for the screening of which a quiet and comfortable area is reserved.

Jaipur has a rich tradition of north Indian classical music - the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, or school of music - whose roots are ancient. Jaipur is also one of the homes of the Dhrupad style of north Indian classical vocal music. This music, that once thrived under royal patronage, today looks to the market for sustenance.

In the field of north Indian classical dance, Jaipur has been a major center for the Kathak form. The expression of romantic love to the accompaniment of elaborate and intricate footwork that brings alive scores of tiny tinkling bells attached to the dancer's ankles, is the hallmark of this dance form. The distinctive Jaipur Kathak tradition combines both Hindu themes depicting Krishna the god of love, and the more performative or entertainment genre as was practised in the Mughal court of medieval Delhi.

Rajasthani folk music - rich baritones trained to waft across desert expanses unaided by microphones, to the accompaniment of a range of simple stringed and percussion instruments - has acquired an international following. Musicians are of all ages, dressed in colourful and attractive traditional attire, the men universally sporting impressive moustaches. Whole communities of rural-based musicians were once supported by princes and merchants. The themes recall great wars and valiant heroes, the agony of the lovelorn, as well as the colours and beauty of the desert, and the interdependence of humans, animals and trees. Today, progressive government policies regularly bring these music troupes out of their villages to perform in entertainment venues in cities both within the country and overseas.

Painting has always been integral to the soul and creativity of the people of Rajasthan. The degree of embellishment brought to articles of both everyday and special use, and into the interiors of huts, havelis, palaces and temples, is probably directly proportionate to the harshness of the external environment. From walls and ceilings of opulent havelis and palaces, to walls and facades of humble huts; as backdrops of deities in temples, and as stories on scrolls used by wandering folk singers; on the bodies of camels and elephants, and on leather saddles and bridles; on pottery, marble and stone...one encounters art wherever one turns. The constantly changing fortunes of warring Rajput chieftains also meant that every new victor commissioned paintings depicting his victory, that were faithfully reproduced on walls, handmade paper and cloth. When the Mughal courts came into existence in Delhi and Agra, several of Rajasthan's folk arts borrowed freely from them in both technique and content.

The various royal houses of Rajasthan spawned schools of miniature painting. Several of these schools were influenced by the Persian artistic traditions introduced into India by the Mughals. The paintings depict religious, mythological, musical and royal themes - gods, lovers, hunting scenes, court audiences, picturisation of musical ragas (arrangements of musical notes), and more - on scrolls of silk and paper, and use iridiscent colours extracted from precious and semi-precious stones and other minerals. The Kishangarh style - Kishangarh is a former principality, a two-hour drive away from Savista - is one such distinctive school of miniature painting.

Guests at Savista are taken to ongoing classical and folk music, dance and theatre performances in the city. The average cost for attendance at these performances could be in the range of USD 20 per person. A trip to Kishangarh to watch artists at work can also be arranged.