Siddheswari

Siddheswari is a dialogue with a life, the music known as thumri and its tradltlon, which names itself Gandharva, referring to the celestial musicians of lndra's court. The tradition seeks its origin in the Mahabharata tale of Urvashi's love for Arjuna, hls spuming her and her curse which leaves him neither man nor woman as a singer/dancer in the courts of Virata. Siddheswarl does not follow a linear narrative, but, like thumri, plays with the fundamentals: observing Slddhi as a young girl in her aunt Rajeshwari's home, her first attempts at singing, her passionate, silent, secret learning from the Sarangi teacher Siyaj Maharaj.