This world premiere of Songs of the Bulbul celebrates the revolutionary Indian Sufi Kathak, a Dance of the Mystics, in which Islamic poetry is explored through classical Dance. The narrative of love, nature and spiritual belief is central to the theme of the Edinburgh International Festival, Rituals that Unite Us.
Amidst softly glowing shadows, a figure is just visible, curled in a foetal position, cocooned under a white silk blanket. Above, trailing branches hang from a tree, and on the ground is a carpet of crimson petals. Slowly, tentatively, cautiously, the body stretches, arches the back and begins to emerge like a fragile butterfly from its chrysalis.
This is not a butterfly but a bulbul, or nightingale, which in Sufi tradition, symbolises the beauty of the natural world and pursuit of religious enlightenment. The nightingale sings at night, unlike other birds, and its pure, plaintive cry is heard as a divine blessing. In mystical poetry, the bulbul has a passionate love for the rose, beautiful enough to die for and gave its blood to make the rose redder and more beautiful.
Variations on the idea of the rose as a symbol of mortality caught the imagination of poets and painters. The Nightingale is the Poet, the Lover, while the garden of roses represents the hearts of human beings. Oscar Wilde was also inspired by ancient legends in his poignant fairy tale ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’.
“She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,” cried the young Student; “but in all my garden there is no red rose.” From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered. “Here at last is a true lover,” said the Nightingale
Such romantic themes imbue the exquisite choreography to reflect the ancient myth about a captured bulbul, which sings the sweetest tune before perishing from despair. Odedra epitomises the entrapment of the caged bird and then the desperation for escape as he glides across the stage, his white gown like a parachute, billowing out to create gusts of wind to blow the rose petals sky high. Gleefully, he spins in circles through the flowers, just as a child will run through a flurry of Autumn leaves.
Intertwined through the filmic score of orchestral and Indian classical music is the haunting rhythm of choral lyrics, relating the legendary songs of the bulbul: " All night I poured out love calls. Intoxicated flute music with my melancholic tunes. The love of the rose is enough for the Nightingale." But the songbird is warned, no matter how beautiful the rose is, the flower will wither.
Out of the darkness, now shining light as dozens of candles flicker and flash. The branches hang like prison bars, as the wild bird fights for freedom, to fly heavenward, wide sail -like sleeves flapping like giant wings; a brief image of the Dying Swan, a twitch of legs and a breathless cry of despair.
At the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival, I reviewed, Samsara by the Aakash Odedra company, ‘ ...an harmonious blend of dance, music, song and art from their native Indian and Chinese philosophy and culture. … a beautiful, hypnotic performance with a meditative, calm sense of peace’.
Here again, in Songs of the Bulbul, Aakash Odedra perfects the art of dramatic storytelling with such sensual emotion and flowing, freespirited, balletic grace; as a spiritual dance to reflect the beauty of life and inevitability of death, this is meditative, soulful poetry in motion.
Showtimes:
9 – 11 August, 2024
Ticket price: from £12.00
Full information on EIF website https://is.gd/qjdYPG