Sampath Kumar D.Y. - A Brief Synopsis of His Famous Compositions

A Brief Synopsis of His Famous Compositions

"ANDHRA JALARI" literally means fisherman of Andhra Pradesh is the most famous of all the dance compositions by Sampath Kumar. In fact, "Andhra Jalari" has become a synonym to Sampath Kumar and over the time it has become a famous prefix to his name. The story behind this composition goes like this. In the year 1957, Sri Sampath Kumar, then a budding dancer and choreographer was approached by Sri Garikapati Raja Rao, a famous film director and patron of art forms of Andhra Pradesh with an invite to perform at All India Dance Competitions which is being held under the auspices of IPTA in New Delhi. In those days considering the distance and travel expenses and owing to his own financial limitations, Sri Raja Rao agreed to get some state sponsorship for Sampath Kumar's trip but restricted his troup to only two persons as a part of the delegation from Andhra Pradesh. It was left to Sampath Kumar's discretion as to what should be performed. Around that time, Sri Sampath Kumar happened to go to Bheemunipatnam on a personal visit where he came across a group of fishermen involved in their daily routine. On witnessing this, he conceptualized a mime and presented his ideas to Sri Raja Rao who in turn presented him a copy of "Coromandal Fishers" by Sarojini Naidu and instructed him to base and improvise his ideas on this poem. Sampath Kumar worked on this concept for just 15 days with the help of a Tabala exponent by name Tabala Raju and presented it to Raja Rao who encouraged him to present it in the All India Dance Competition in New Delhi. It is a very rare composition with no songs and lyrics or any accompanying musical instruments. It entirely depends on Tabala rhythms. This dance showcases the daily travails and risks in the life of a fisherman in Andhra Pradesh. This dance item brought Sampath Kumar immense name and fame and won him many laurels. It received commendation from the then Vice-President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan when it was presented for the first time and won first prize at the All India Dance Competitions held at New Delhi in the year 1957 among 1400 contestants in the Solo folk dance category. It also won the International Gold Medal in the world Youth Festival held at Berlin in 1973 where 143 countries participated. In 1974 it was presented at Kabul in Afghanistan and at Tashkent, Samarkhand, Almaty, Riga, Kiev, Odessa, Sochi and Moscow, where it was televised. In the later times, this dance item also brought fame to Sri T.V.Ramana Murthy who is a student of Sri Tabala Raju and played the Tabala and accompanied Sri Sampath Kumar in all his tours around the world.