Songs of the Bulbul

I’m not quite sure how I came across ‘Songs of the Bulbul’, but I knew instantly this was something I just had to see. The Bulbul is the Persian nightingale, their song seen to represent a yearning for spiritual enlightenment.  The dance is inspired by a Sufi myth of a captive bulbul whose cage is made smaller and smaller so its song becomes sweeter through despair. Finally, blinded, it sings its final heartbreaking song before departing the mortal world. It premiered in last year’s Edinburgh Festival to rave reviews.  

It’s a dance performance by the Aakash Odedra Company - on for just one night at The Lowry and danced by Aakash himself. The dancing is wonderful, a combination of the swirling and turning of Sufi and the rhythmic quality of Kathak. Aakash is dressed in floating white on a stage covered with rose petals - more floating down at intervals during the hour long performance. He is encircled by flickering candles, and - as always with dance - the lighting is fabulous. 

Then there’s the music. Composed by Rushil Ranjan, it is a rich, powerful and heady mixture of classical and Asian music and is performed by the Manchester Camerata. We are truly privileged as we are treated to this amazing orchestra playing live here in Salford - the only venue on the tour where this is the case. Oh my goodness, it is absolutely sublime - music you just wallow in, surrounded by its poignant beauty. As well as the orchestra, we have tabla and bansuri, as well as the incredible vocals of the composer’s wife who is eight months pregnant! 

It is honestly one of the most memorable performances we’ve seen - we both absolutely love it, as do the rest of the audience. There are several more performances to come around the country over the next month or so - it’s well wortb seeing.  

I normally take photos of the stage before the performance starts,  but that wasn’t possible here. I did take photos of the curtain calls, but they’re pretty blurry (see extra), so my main’s a photograph of the publicity poster.