“I want my folk music to
travel outside our villages. Yes it’s safe there in its original form, but is
of no use unless we make the world hear our very soulful and meditative music.”
As the city expands, the lines between outsider and
local blur. The city is comprised of
innumerable migrant workers, who scattered across corporate offices and
construction sites, engaged in a variety of activity that sustains the city.
What is the experience of migration, how does it smell, taste and sound? Often,
memories are kept alive through music, the longing for home, the distance from
home, arrivals and departures are punctuated by the song.
Maraa, a media and arts collective based in Bangalore,
has been triggering questions around migration and urbanization, by
acknowledging the influx of workers from different parts of the country to
Bangalore, since 2009. As the city consciously tries to invisibles workers,
under the guise of speedy progress and rapid development, maraa’s work has
created passages to meet the worker in his different states of mind through
artistic interventions that coerce audiences to confront the presence of the
worker. After all, Bangalore is evidently a migrant city, given its diversity
and cosmopolitanism. The IT sector is largely migrant, and so are workers who
build the metro. We intend to create a third space for conversation with the
migrant, the outsider, the traveller through music.
In this context, we present a series of performances
by Kalpana Patowary. Often hailed as the
Bhojpuri queen, Kalpana Patowary’s body of work is vast, exploring the
intersections between Bhojpuri music and other folk traditions, including blues
and jazz.
Despite
mainstream success, within the Bollywood film industry, her interest is in
studying various lesser-known folk forms. Her recent album, ‘The legacy of Bhikhari Thakur’ is
the first recording of the work of Bhikhari Thakur. Bhikhari Thakur was an
Indian playwright, folk singer and activist who developed the folk theatre form
of ‘Bidesia’. Bidesia, refers to
migration- in the context of Bhikhari Thakur’s work, this refers not only to
the geographical dislocation, but also to a larger sense of cultural
alienation, experienced by the migrant. The album comprising of nine songs,
brings to life Bhikhari’s Thakur’s work, reiterating its relevance in a
contemporary context that is marked by the flows of migration.
Other
than Bidesia, Kalpana has also been studying other folk forms from Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar, including Birha, Purvi, Pachra, Kajri, Sohar, Vivah-geet, Chaita and
Nautanki. Her intent is to experiment with various styles, including jazz and
blues, reinterpreting these forms musically, and taking them to diverse
audiences.
As part
of season 4 of MTV@coke studio she presented ‘Khadi Birha’ (folk songs
sung by the Ahir’s in Bihar and Nepal) that narrate
experiences of migration, during the colonial period, when a huge population of
Bhojpuri people left Indian shores to work in sugarcane, cocoa, jute and other
plantations in Caribbean countries. Through this body of songs, Kalpana
explored the diasporic tradition that connects India to the Caribbean.
Her experimentation with various folk forms, led to
the release of a world music album, titled “The Sacred Scriptures of
Monikut” about the reformer, wandering philosopher, saint and poet, Mahapurush
Srimanta Shankardeva and his disciple Mahapurush Srimanta Madhavdeva from
Assam. The album featured collaborationswith
Trilok Gurtu, an indian percussionist, Guru Rewben Mashangva – considered the
father of Naga folk blues, PAPON Angarag Mahanta, a singer from assam and
Zubeen Garg, a singer and producer from Assam.
Currently, she is in the
process of putting together an anthology of Birha- tracing its
development across UP and Bihar.
Kalpana’s
songs have traveled vast distances, capturing new imaginations and
interpretations of migration, through musical innovation and
experimentation.
Performance Schedule:
Kalpana Patowary Live at
Windmills Craftworks
Date:
24th and 25th July
Venue:
Windmills Craftworks,
Time:
No. 331, 5B Road, EPIP Zone, Next L&T Infotech, Whitefield,
For
details, contact: 9880159484 / 9880755875
Purabiyan Taan:
Public performance
Date:
26th July
Time:
5 pm- 7 pm
Venue:
Ravindra Kalak Shetra, Behind Town Hall
For
more details, contact: 9880159484/ 9880755875
In conversation: Kalpana
Patowary at Aziz Premji University
Date:
27th July
Time:
5 pm
Venue:
PES Institute of Technology Campus, Pixel Park, B Block, Electronics City,,
Beside Nice Road, Hosur Road
For
more details, contact: 9880159484/ 9880755875
**Performance for the 28th to be
confirmed.
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