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MAN SINGS IN RAJASTHANI | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
'A holy man once lived alone on this mountain. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
'He was known as the Lord of Birds. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
'When the maharaja wanted to build his fort here, the holy man cursed the place with drought. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:32 | |
'To counter the curse, the maharaja decided to bury a man alive | 0:00:33 | 0:00:38 | |
'in the foundations of his fort. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
'One of the Meghwal community volunteered, | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
'low-caste leather workers and weavers. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
'These musicians are Meghwals. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
'They are still honoured here at the fort in Jodhpur, as are the birds. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
THEY SING | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
'Now the rush towards modernity in India | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
'threatens to bury this music. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
'But those who seek it out strive to rekindle the music | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
'and its audience. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
'We're following song-seeker John Singh | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
'round the remotest villages of rural Rajasthan in Northwest India, scouting for talent.' | 0:02:05 | 0:02:11 | |
You don't know what to expect. It could be completely crap or it could be wonderful. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:17 | |
Generally, our luck is, in a day, we'll always find something magical. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:21 | |
It's the first time you've been here, yes? | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
Yeah. I mean, I've worked with the community of Meghwals, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:31 | |
but they are spread out all over Rajasthan. But not these particular people. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:36 | |
Where do they sit, the Meghwals, in the caste system? | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
They're not untouchables in the strict sense, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
but they are from the lower caste community. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
They will never be in the centre of the village, they'll always be on the sides. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:54 | |
Quite a lot of cars would find it tricky to get here, wouldn't they, John? | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
Yeah. When I started going around Rajasthan, | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
I had a four-wheel drive, but it was always a five-seater. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
You'd get to a village and then they'd say, "Oh, there's a fantastic flute player somewhere there" | 0:03:14 | 0:03:19 | |
and I wouldn't know how to get there, so two more people would come in. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:23 | |
We've got to go up there. Or do we walk? No, we take the car. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
And these Meghwals, they are weavers by profession, is that right? | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
The people that we are seeing, I'm told a lot of them still have pit looms, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:54 | |
so they do have some income from that. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
And the rest of the time, would be singing. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
'John's mission is to help traditional musicians make a living from their music | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
'so they don't have to join the drift to the towns. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
'And he's not keen on what towns are doing to the music.' | 0:04:36 | 0:04:40 | |
They've gone into semi-pop, | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
amusing to a larger audience. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
They've adopted the harmonium because it makes a shit-load of noise, | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
but generally, when they come to us, if they have to perform in our festival, we'd say stop that. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:58 | |
THEY SPEAK RAJASTHANI | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
'The men here sing to supplement their earnings from weaving, farming and building.' | 0:05:09 | 0:05:14 | |
WOMEN SING IN RAJASTHANI | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
'The women don't sing in public, but at village weddings, births and deaths and for themselves.' | 0:05:20 | 0:05:25 | |
WOMEN SING IN RAJASTHANI | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
So every word has a double meaning, | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
-but double meaning in erotic. -Erotic? -A little erotic twist. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
-Fabulous. -So they are singing that. That's why they are grinning. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
'John Singh is travelling with Prakash Detha, | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
'an expert in the music of this area.' | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
THEY SPEAK RAJASTHANI | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
-What did she say? -She's telling that... They're saying that | 0:05:58 | 0:06:03 | |
a young boy and a young girl dancing with a handkerchief in their hand | 0:06:03 | 0:06:08 | |
and then hand-in-hand under a banyan tree they are dancing. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
This is during the monsoon. So there is this joy. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
For ten months in the year, we don't have rain. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
Rain means there'll be food. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
Food means we'll be able to live. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
It's the most romantic season of the year. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
Monsoon comes and the romance of the earth and the sky starts. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
-Birds do it... -Yes, everyone! -THEY LAUGH | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
All these girls and women learn from their childhood | 0:06:35 | 0:06:40 | |
without any class or tutor or teacher, just being there, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
hundreds of songs they memorise. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:46 | |
I love the range between the ages here. There's this older woman in the middle | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
-and then all these very young women. -She'll remember everything from her childhood. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:55 | |
They will learn from her and then they will teach the next generation | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
and that's how it goes on. So she is the store house. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
-So for you, that's quite important in finding... -Totally. -Totally. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:06 | |
It's enabling the transfer of knowledge | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
from one generation to the next. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
If there's a gap, it'll be very difficult to come back again. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
What do you think of the singing, the quality of the singing? | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
This is the first time I've seen ten Meghwals singing together. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
A lot of the Meghwals that we've been working with | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
can be just two or three. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
They go into a trance. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:45 | |
They shut their eyes and get totally involved with what they're singing. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
'John has started a foundation to support the musicians. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
'They bring the best performers they find to RIFF | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
'the Rajasthan International Folk Festival.' | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
Imagine you're Simon Cowell. Would you decide they're good enough to come to RIFF or not? | 0:08:04 | 0:08:10 | |
Not for RIFF. Musically, they would've been not good enough for RIFF. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:15 | |
Not good enough. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:18 | |
'With his community director, Vinod Joshi, | 0:08:28 | 0:08:31 | |
'John goes to visit two sisters whom they took to RIFF last year.' | 0:08:31 | 0:08:36 | |
Fortunately, all the art forms of Rajasthan belong to the lower class people. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:42 | |
If it is with the middle class, we would have lost it. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
But it's great because they are really out of the mainstream. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:53 | |
'The Devi sisters' father was a musician, | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
'a devotee of the Hindu goddess Matangi. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
'Thanks to him and to her, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
'they aren't in purdah and are able to perform in public.' | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
SHE SPEAKS RAJASTHANI | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
TRANSLATOR: When I was younger, I sometimes sang alone | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
in the shelter of sand dunes and trees. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
So that people from my mother-in-law's side couldn't see me. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:23 | |
Later, when my child became more independent, I got more confident. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:28 | |
It has my guru's blessing, so what can they do, | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
the in-laws or anyone in this society? How can they harm me? | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
Now everyone is happy that we're doing so well. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
When they sing, they actually shut their eyes | 0:10:08 | 0:10:12 | |
and they enter into that sort of domain, | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
darkness or whatever, or high, and then it comes out from there. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
And, of course, the words are enormously powerful. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:29 | |
One of the things said is that to find a way to happiness, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:35 | |
you have to find a teacher who will take you there. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:39 | |
Then you give yourself in to the teachings | 0:10:40 | 0:10:43 | |
and it'll take you to that realm. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:45 | |
THEY SING IN RAJASTHANI | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
Of course, it's become very close to my heart because that is what I follow. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:07 | |
I suppose if I wasn't that shy, I'd be dancing. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:33 | |
in complete abandon, but that's what it's all about. Wonderful. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:38 | |
Wow! | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
She said, "Wait, I will sing for you now" and she sang, so that's very personal and wonderful. | 0:11:55 | 0:12:01 | |
-First to God, then to you. Not bad. -HE LAUGHS | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
'Vinod comes from a village near here himself, though he went away to study.' | 0:12:28 | 0:12:34 | |
TRANSLATOR: Oh, you look like a bride groom! | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
TRANSLATOR: Wow! Your outfit looks really beautiful. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
TRANSLATOR: How are you, son? All well? | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
TRANSLATOR: If you ask him if he's good, what else is the poor boy going to say? | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
TRANSLATOR: He isn't going to say, "No, it's rubbish". | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
'We need to understand their rituals, their taboos. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
'Once you understand, then you can interact | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
'and they can give you something substantial they have. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
'Otherwise, they don't share with you.' | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
'Traditionally, these Chang drummers only come together for the spring festival of Holi.' | 0:13:13 | 0:13:19 | |
They may be cobbler, they may be farmer, driver, shoemaker, anything. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:26 | |
So they are just enjoying the festivities. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
THEY PLAY TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
They are playing together and dancing, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
spending time together with the joy. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
But the Chang drummers, they are not professionals. They're semi-professionals. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:51 | |
Not at all. And we shouldn't say semi. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:55 | |
It's totally... It's for their joy. | 0:13:55 | 0:14:00 | |
'John Singh and his wife, Faith, got the idea of defending this music | 0:14:22 | 0:14:27 | |
'when they were busy reviving the dying art of hand block printing.' | 0:14:27 | 0:14:31 | |
There was so much depth | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
and breadth to the tradition that you could just go on forever | 0:14:34 | 0:14:39 | |
and we built up a very successful business | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
which now employs hundreds of people. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:46 | |
'They also got involved in preserving the buildings of Rajasthan.' | 0:14:54 | 0:14:59 | |
What we saw is that, actually, the whole fabric of our state, Rajasthan, | 0:15:00 | 0:15:05 | |
has a wealth of tradition, | 0:15:05 | 0:15:09 | |
which is what we call virasat, | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
and that wealth of tradition | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
can maybe reinvent itself into the modern world | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
because, at the end of the day, the virasat, the heritage, is the expression of the people of the land. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:24 | |
John was always very keen on music. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:32 | |
He was always inviting these folk musicians | 0:15:33 | 0:15:37 | |
at his house, at his private parties, and he was sponsoring them. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:42 | |
'This was to grow from a private passion into the foundation to support village musicians | 0:15:43 | 0:15:49 | |
'and the annual international festival, RIFF.' | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
I welcome you all to this beautiful, magical, musical evening here | 0:15:54 | 0:16:01 | |
at the Rajasthan International Folk Festival. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
THEY SING IN RAJASTHANI | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
'As the free concert in the town centre kicks off the festival, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
'the Maharaja throws a more select opening-night party | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
'under the brightest full moon of the year. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
'Co-founder and patron of the festival, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:41 | |
'he hosts it within the massive walls of his 15th century fort.' | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
-This is great up here. -There you are. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
-Is this music that I'm listening to here authentic music? -Yes, yes. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:53 | |
We'll hear them at the festival. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
WOMAN SINGS IN RAJASTHANI | 0:17:10 | 0:17:14 | |
UPBEAT TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
'RIFF has become something very special, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
'acknowledged around the world.' | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
'The audience consists of a third locals, | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
'a third from the rest of India and a third from the West. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
'Our Chang drummers have made it to the festival. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
TRANSLATOR: We've come especially for you, to hear you sing. There are nine of us altogether. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:18 | |
TRANSLATOR: We'll get ready for you, then. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:21 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:18:23 | 0:18:27 | |
THEY PLAY AND SING | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
Bhanwari Devi comes from what's called a Bhopa-Bhopi tradition. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:22 | |
A husband and wife team who are musicians, storytellers, as well as priests. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:28 | |
After her husband passed away, Bhanwari Devi, to earn a living | 0:19:29 | 0:19:33 | |
began singing other kinds of songs, accompanied by her two sons. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
But these are not her only children, she has seven others. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
And she actually looks after a total family of 22 people. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
And she actually sustains that through her singing, her work, | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
likewise her two sons. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
And this is how they make their living. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
She's an extremely tough and resilient woman. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
TRANSLATOR: I was very young when my mother died. I don't remember Mummy. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:08 | |
TRANSLATOR: There was no-one else to sing with Papa. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
He'd play and I would sing. We'd go round the villages. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
They got me married when I was nine, ten years old. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
I was 12 when my eldest son was born. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
TRANSLATOR: Did you start singing right after you got married, with your husband? | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
TRANSLATOR: Yes. If the Bhopa knows the song and the Bhopi does not, there cannot be a marriage. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:37 | |
If they both sing, only then can there be a wedding. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
For three years after their father passed away, I was in bad shape. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:48 | |
Looking after the family, it's all down to me. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
'This year, the foundation took Bhanwari Devi to the Edinburgh Festival. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:21 | |
SHE SINGS IN RAJASTHANI | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
Bhanwari Devi and her two sons are actually travelling out of India for the very first time. | 0:21:55 | 0:22:01 | |
So they feel very privileged and I would suggest you, too, should feel a little privileged. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:07 | |
'Playing in the National Museum of Scotland is a great opportunity, | 0:22:08 | 0:22:13 | |
'but the point is not to turn the musicians into museum pieces.' | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
It's a living heritage | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
and if the people had lost their songs, | 0:22:20 | 0:22:24 | |
then that living heritage would die. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:27 | |
And so I wasn't interested at all in conservation or archiving. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:32 | |
If they can't earn their livelihood | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
and if they can't get self-respect, | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
then their children are never going to adopt it, | 0:22:39 | 0:22:42 | |
and if they don't, then it's gone. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
So 400 or 500 years of that tradition, gone away. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
And that's what we are hoping we can prevent. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:53 | |
Everybody in the village knows when a big car comes in | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
and they will start talking and wondering, "Whose house are they going to?" | 0:23:16 | 0:23:21 | |
When she came back from Edinburgh, most of the village turned out to greet her. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:33 | |
'Bhanwari's son, Krishna, has increasingly turned to pop music to make a living, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:45 | |
'playing his harmonium at village dances. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
'He's bought this Jeep with the proceeds. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:50 | |
'Ironically, going to Edinburgh makes him value the local music more. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:56 | |
'It's what makes him special. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:59 | |
'But going abroad is having another effect.' | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
TRANSLATOR: Now she's got it in her head, after having been abroad | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
where we had such good facilities, like good house and air-con. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
We had never seen such things. This is nothing compared to that. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:18 | |
TRANSLATOR: Bhanwari, why are you getting worried? The house will get sorted sooner or later. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:48 | |
There's no rush. You've spent so many years in this place. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:54 | |
Forget about the dreams of Britain. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
Even when I go there, I think it is a dream, too. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
'But the attention they're receiving is stopping other villages treating them like outcasts.' | 0:25:04 | 0:25:09 | |
I had a long chat with the son. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
He was saying after Edinburgh, for about ten days, | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
there were 10 or 15 people coming every day to drink tea and enquire about stuff. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:20 | |
So his stature in society is... People take him seriously. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:26 | |
It has a very positive effect because people won't treat him as "that house at the edge of town". | 0:25:27 | 0:25:34 | |
I was telling him, "You're damn lucky, you're the highest house in town, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
-"you can look down upon people." -HE LAUGHS | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
'Now we're offered a trip into Bhanwari Devi's past, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:50 | |
'miles down dirt roads, where electricity pylons haven't yet reached. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:56 | |
'This is music akin to magic, | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
'music to evoke powers of healing, sacred music. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:07 | |
'Only seven or eight of these storyteller priests, Bhopas, still exist. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:12 | |
'The epic tale unfolds over four whole nights.' | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
Everyone said, "Please go to Saga Bhopa. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
"He is the last pure Bhopa in our society | 0:26:22 | 0:26:28 | |
"who can tell you everything about our rituals." | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
So Saga Bhopa really has got the whole story. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:37 | |
-He could recite for four nights. -Yes. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
He said, "You organise and we will show you." | 0:26:40 | 0:26:44 | |
You can see when he was preparing, | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
he's just totally soaked in this. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:53 | |
'He recites the ancient story of the life of the folk hero and God Pabuji | 0:26:56 | 0:27:01 | |
'in front of a huge hand-painted scroll. It's like a mobile temple.' | 0:27:01 | 0:27:07 | |
There's a whole ritual behind it. There's got to be a girl in the house who's not married | 0:27:08 | 0:27:14 | |
and her prayers have to be said before the whole thing starts. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:18 | |
And then the painting starts, which takes a long time. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:23 | |
While they're doing that, they can stand on it and paint. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:28 | |
And when the final thing is made, they put the eyes on the gods. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:33 | |
Then it's deemed to have become a temple and you don't put your feet in it, you just roll it up. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:39 | |
It's never bought by a Bhopa. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:42 | |
It's gifted by some patron. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:45 | |
But each one of these squares has a story. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
Escaped from somewhere, taken prisoner. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
Not many people like that exist | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
and there are not many paintings which have power. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
'The big question is whether a Bhopa like this | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
'can still earn a living from his art. John thinks sadly not.' | 0:28:19 | 0:28:23 | |
People who need the Bhopa would be fairly traditional people. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:37 | |
Maybe modern people don't believe in the spirit | 0:28:38 | 0:28:42 | |
and they don't believe in the soul, even. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
With modern medicines and everything else that's come in, | 0:28:47 | 0:28:51 | |
why are they likely to call a Bhopa? It is dwindling. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:55 | |
HE SINGS IN RAJASTHANI | 0:28:57 | 0:29:00 | |
TRANSLATOR: What God has given you, it is important that you pass that on to your children. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:17 | |
TRANSLATOR: Yes, absolutely. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
TRANSLATOR: It shouldn't leave with you. It is important that all this is learnt. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:23 | |
TRANSLATOR: Someone once said, "One who listens with his inner mind gains knowledge | 0:29:24 | 0:29:30 | |
"which leads to release from the cycle of birth and death | 0:29:30 | 0:29:34 | |
"and so onto nirvana." | 0:29:34 | 0:29:36 | |
-All humans are equal. -Yes, they are. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:40 | |
But even though they are built equal, their minds are different. | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
Different minds have different strengths. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
The worst in this is one who has an idle mind. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:58 | |
The last evening was extremely special. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:06 | |
I've never seen Bhopas like that with that kind of knowledge. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:13 | |
Usually, they tell you a story. This guy actually lives it. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:18 | |
'He's a discovery, but not something for RIFF.' | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
I would never even dream of asking. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
Things like that are too sacred. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
It's not a performance. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:34 | |
Not entertainment. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
When will you finish the design? | 0:30:40 | 0:30:43 | |
Tomorrow? No, no, it has to go into print today. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:47 | |
OK, thanks. Bye. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
We have some Chakri dancers, we have Kalbelia. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:55 | |
About 180 artists. | 0:30:55 | 0:30:57 | |
-Variety show. -Variety show, absolutely. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
-You can sing some really naughty songs, as well. -Absolutely. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:05 | |
'John's foundation has proved that there are plenty of traditional acts which can pull the crowds. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:15 | |
'As well as the international festival, RIFF, | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
'they organise village festivals | 0:31:21 | 0:31:24 | |
'to build that all-important local audience.' | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
What's really amazing is that the stage that we are on | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
has been specifically built for this event. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
Somebody who used to be part of this village made it big, | 0:31:34 | 0:31:38 | |
he lives in Belgium now, he agreed to pay for the stage. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:44 | |
The angle is a little off. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
But it's great! It's fantastic! | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
We're thrilled. We love it. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:56 | |
The village seemed charged up. They want it. | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
So we'll get it done. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
THEY SHOUT IN RAJASTHANI | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:32:16 | 0:32:18 | |
HE SINGS | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
THEY SING | 0:32:22 | 0:32:25 | |
'The performers have come from all over Rajasthan.' | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
From the artists' point of view, it's taken them nine hours to get here. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:46 | |
So they would never be able to meet artists from other parts. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
So this becomes like a brotherhood now. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
'8,000 people are here from the villages and towns round about. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:06 | |
'People brought up knowing these traditions | 0:33:06 | 0:33:10 | |
'and who understand the words of the songs.' | 0:33:10 | 0:33:14 | |
Most of the artists traditionally performed in their own village settings. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:33 | |
Some of them would have patrons who would invite them over to perform for them. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
Traditions settings are beginning to dwindle and fall apart. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:45 | |
HE SPEAKS RAJASTHANI | 0:33:47 | 0:33:49 | |
So for us coming in, it is an intervention. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
The idea behind these village festivals is about cultivating new audiences. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:57 | |
The audiences otherwise would be sitting in front of their television sets. | 0:33:57 | 0:34:01 | |
What's happened in our society is we've become segregated, | 0:34:24 | 0:34:29 | |
cos there's no occasion to hang out together. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:32 | |
For a Muslim guy to be with a Hindu or for one caste to be meeting another. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:38 | |
If there was a cobbler, you went to him to get your shoes made | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
and you'll probably have to have about four sittings with him. | 0:34:48 | 0:34:51 | |
You came to know his daughter, he came to know about your son, et cetera. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:57 | |
So there was an opportunity to interact. Now the shoe comes ready-made. | 0:34:57 | 0:35:02 | |
This is one way of bringing the entire village together. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:07 | |
Now they'll have three or four hours of positive vibrations. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:11 | |
And hopefully they'll go back friends. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
'In its modest way, theirs really is a visionary idea, | 0:35:39 | 0:35:43 | |
'whittling away at the caste system, at rural poverty and the religious divide through music. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:49 | |
'And the diversity of talent on show here is quite extraordinary. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:57 | |
'Such richness and weirdness and wildness. | 0:35:57 | 0:36:01 | |
'And so many cross-dressers. What is that tradition all about?' | 0:36:02 | 0:36:06 | |
MAN SPEAKS RAJASTHANI | 0:36:11 | 0:36:15 | |
TRANSLATOR: When I have dressed, put on makeup, jewellery | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
and the full costume, then I cannot say 100 percent, but 60 percent | 0:36:18 | 0:36:23 | |
I have the feeling that I'm a woman. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
My walk, gestures, my style of speech, movements that come, | 0:36:25 | 0:36:30 | |
all of it, it all feels like this is a woman's. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:33 | |
'For Harish, it's been difficult. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:38 | |
'He's from an upper caste, the Rajputs, or warriors. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:41 | |
'They see cross-dressing as something only for the lower orders.' | 0:36:41 | 0:36:46 | |
TRANSLATOR: They said that, if you'd killed somebody, even then we would have adjusted, | 0:36:46 | 0:36:50 | |
or if you would have had to go to prison. | 0:36:50 | 0:36:53 | |
If you were going to be hanged, we wouldn't have had to cry as much as we do now. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:58 | |
You have dishonoured the family name. That was why my family threw me out. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:03 | |
There was a period in your life where you, too, were attracted to this. Why were you attracted? | 0:37:07 | 0:37:12 | |
From the beginning, I saw my mother and my grandma | 0:37:12 | 0:37:18 | |
as interesting, | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
when I was quite young, at the age of 16, 17. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:25 | |
-Your sister was very understanding. -She's putting the makeup and everything on the eyes. Yes. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:33 | |
'In Vinod's village, which is where last night's festival was held, | 0:37:34 | 0:37:39 | |
'the attitude to cross-dressing is quite different. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
'Indeed, in spring, they have a festival where half the men in the village dress up and dance.' | 0:37:42 | 0:37:47 | |
When I suddenly appeared in the main market, | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
everyone loved it. Even the old, the young, all the people. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:59 | |
"Ooh, you look so smart! So lovely!" Everyone want to take the photographs, hugging. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:05 | |
That's the great fun and affection. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
TRANSLATOR: Those who dress up in whatever way they want, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:13 | |
who display their artistic talent, | 0:38:13 | 0:38:16 | |
they perform with sincerity and wholeheartedness. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
My artistry is important to keep me in touch with my culture. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:27 | |
Everyone who comes to these festivals of ours from towns round about thinks, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
"Why is our town so poor?" | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
It's not envy but recognition that actually this town is rich | 0:38:34 | 0:38:39 | |
and theirs could be, too. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:41 | |
They are the face of that area. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
And when some people oppose it, | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
I think it's totally discouraging and unacceptable | 0:38:52 | 0:38:56 | |
because once upon a time, my mother and my sister is encouraging me, | 0:38:56 | 0:39:02 | |
that's why I celebrate and I participate in it. | 0:39:02 | 0:39:06 | |
But when I hear many stories about the objection of this thing, I feel very sad about that. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:12 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:39:13 | 0:39:16 | |
'The old ways are like an echo in India, a heartbeat, | 0:39:17 | 0:39:20 | |
'especially in this poor and rural state. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:24 | |
'They aren't strong enough to survive unaided against the onslaught of the new India. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:31 | |
'John and his team are striving to keep the music alive in this modern world | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
'now that the old ways of making a living from music are dying out. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:43 | |
'What were those old ways? | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
'We decided to go to the top to find out. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
'The maharaja may no longer be top dog. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
'Soon after independence, the maharajas lost all real power. | 0:39:56 | 0:40:00 | |
'But he's certainly still treated as if he is.' | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
-Over there, is that you as a young man? -No, that's my father. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
That's my father's wedding picture. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
By 1949, he was still recognised as a maharaja | 0:40:11 | 0:40:14 | |
with certain privileges, but no real powers. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:17 | |
But this extraordinary palace is still your home. | 0:40:17 | 0:40:20 | |
It is partly my home, but it's partly a hotel. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:23 | |
More hotel, and a small portion is my home, | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
-which we're in now. -Yes. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
This palace was built quite recently comparatively, wasn't it? | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
This was built as a famine relief programme. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
There was a very severe drought in 1929 | 0:40:36 | 0:40:38 | |
and this was Grandfather's private project to provide work, | 0:40:38 | 0:40:42 | |
because people wanted work. They said, "We don't want handouts, we want work." | 0:40:42 | 0:40:46 | |
Things changed much more rapidly than one thought they would. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:52 | |
'The system of patronage started with the maharaja at the top. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
'His court was a major patron of musicians, and trickled right down through society, | 0:41:06 | 0:41:11 | |
'always with the musicians pretty near the bottom of the pile.' | 0:41:11 | 0:41:15 | |
The Hindu system has all these gods, and each god has a place in the overall structure of society. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:26 | |
Music was interwoven into the life, | 0:41:29 | 0:41:33 | |
the festivals, the occasions, the birthdays, the religious ceremonies, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:37 | |
and you took it all for granted. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
I think we probably missed one beat, | 0:41:42 | 0:41:44 | |
post-independence we went forward, development, modernisation, democracy. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:49 | |
You can't turn the clock back. Culture also is not static, it's fluid. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:56 | |
So we had to find the right place for these traditional musicians. | 0:41:56 | 0:42:03 | |
They have talent, they have great skills, | 0:42:05 | 0:42:07 | |
which can be placed side-by-side with some of the best in the world. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:12 | |
'These are Manganiar musicians, that's a caste. They're professional musicians by birth. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:24 | |
'It literally means beggars.' | 0:42:24 | 0:42:26 | |
TRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
He's a very serious musician. He's travelled more than I have. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:49 | |
His passport, he's got about four of them stuck together because the pages have run out. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:54 | |
As far as general talent goes, they have, I think, the most. | 0:42:57 | 0:43:02 | |
They can play any kind of instrument, | 0:43:04 | 0:43:06 | |
they've adapted themselves to play wind instruments, strings, they sing. | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
They have drums of all kinds. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:18 | |
They can range everything from the birth of classical music. | 0:43:24 | 0:43:28 | |
Apparently it came from folk, and they are very familiar with all the Indian ragas, | 0:43:28 | 0:43:33 | |
and of course they can go into Bollywood or something. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:37 | |
'They're Muslims but play for Hindu patrons. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:44 | |
'This extended family has been particularly successful, | 0:43:45 | 0:43:48 | |
'but despite that, still live on the edge of this village.' | 0:43:48 | 0:43:52 | |
-THEY SPEAK RAJASTHANI -What did he say there? -Welcome. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:09 | |
-He is around 74. -He's young. -THEY LAUGH | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
Not by our standard. You go through three summers in India and you get ten years older. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:18 | |
TRANSLATOR: Having worked with this gentleman for ages, | 0:44:20 | 0:44:23 | |
I know what it is like and I love it. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
He is one of the eldest player of kamancha, | 0:44:28 | 0:44:33 | |
which is a stringed, bowed instrument. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:36 | |
This is the only person I know who has got three generations alive and they are actually playing. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:43 | |
Do all the children believe that that is their destiny, they will all become performers | 0:44:43 | 0:44:48 | |
and that's how they see their lives? All these children? This little boy here? | 0:44:48 | 0:44:52 | |
HE SPEAKS RAJASTHANI | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
Engineer. THEY LAUGH | 0:44:56 | 0:44:59 | |
-He's going to be an engineer. -Yeah, he would like to be an engineer. -He's a rebel! | 0:44:59 | 0:45:04 | |
HE SPEAKS RAJASTHANI Kamancha. | 0:45:04 | 0:45:07 | |
Kamancha? He's a very good kamancha player. | 0:45:07 | 0:45:10 | |
He would like to be a great player of kamancha. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:14 | |
We don't have any girls here. In fact, I can only see one, peeping round the doorway. | 0:45:14 | 0:45:19 | |
-Yeah, girls, women, don't perform. -No. | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
-HE SPEAKS RAJASTHANI -He wants to be a computer engineer. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:31 | |
-Wow. -THEY LAUGH | 0:45:31 | 0:45:33 | |
THEY PLAY AND SING | 0:45:33 | 0:45:37 | |
So why are these children ambivalent? | 0:45:42 | 0:45:44 | |
No matter how great performer they are, | 0:45:44 | 0:45:48 | |
they still believe that, in social hierarchy they are very low, they are performer. | 0:45:48 | 0:45:55 | |
It's only when they are out of their patrons and their social network | 0:45:55 | 0:45:59 | |
then they feel very proud that we are a performer. | 0:45:59 | 0:46:02 | |
'Amazingly, it's suddenly revealed that there have been patrons in the room all along.' | 0:46:13 | 0:46:18 | |
-They are their patrons. -These two are their patrons? -Yes. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:21 | |
He is saying that his father is his patron. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:25 | |
Father. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:27 | |
'They don't exactly look intimidating.' | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
He runs a private school and he runs a confectionary store. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:36 | |
He was telling me that a ritual of death or birth or wedding | 0:46:36 | 0:46:41 | |
will not be completed without the presence of Manganiars. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:44 | |
The patron was saying, "If I lose my child, so what, I can produce another one, | 0:46:44 | 0:46:49 | |
-"but where will I get my Manganiar from?" -HE LAUGHS | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
They say that for the last 20 years they have been performing all over India and abroad. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:03 | |
He has performed with Ravi Shankar. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:13 | |
Since they have performed outside with a great master, they don't now feel that they are great performers. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:23 | |
The moment they are with their patrons, they will behave exactly the way they are supposed to behave. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:29 | |
When I have offered some of these people really good money | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
to go to Bombay or some place where there was a big performance going on, | 0:47:36 | 0:47:41 | |
and at the last minute they have said, "The patron has called me and I can't go." | 0:47:41 | 0:47:45 | |
I say, "What is the patron going to give you?" He says, "Even if he give me one rupee, I'll go there." | 0:47:45 | 0:47:50 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
'The first person to work with the musician castes of Rajasthan was Komal Kothari. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:07 | |
'In the 1960s he set up a folklore research centre. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:11 | |
'While his collaborators collected folk tales, Komal was enchanted by the music of the villages.' | 0:48:13 | 0:48:19 | |
THEY SING | 0:48:23 | 0:48:27 | |
When Komal Kothari realised that there is a great treasure of folk music and songs there, | 0:48:31 | 0:48:37 | |
he went from village to village and he recorded this. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:41 | |
Komal Kothari was the first person who brought these traditional performers | 0:48:47 | 0:48:53 | |
out of their traditional circumstances, | 0:48:53 | 0:48:55 | |
out of their traditional patrons, and put them onto a stage. | 0:48:55 | 0:49:01 | |
Komal Kothari died, and there was a vacuum, | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
there was no-one in Rajasthan left with great sincerity to carry on what he was doing. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:18 | |
So John took the baton. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
Fortunately, I didn't have to do the whole of Rajasthan | 0:49:22 | 0:49:24 | |
because 25 percent of Rajasthan had been covered by this great friend of ours, Komal. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:29 | |
So I had the job of discovering the performing arts in three quarters. | 0:49:29 | 0:49:34 | |
I started going into areas which I had never been to before. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:44 | |
And there's always some amount of suspicion. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:47 | |
"What the hell is he doing running around these places? There's got to be a catch." | 0:49:47 | 0:49:51 | |
THEY SING | 0:49:51 | 0:49:55 | |
That felt like Flamenco, practically. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:07 | |
Some scholars say that these gypsy groups from Rajasthan, | 0:50:07 | 0:50:11 | |
their original dancing influenced Flamenco. | 0:50:11 | 0:50:14 | |
'Gypsies the world over are thought to originate from India. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
'One of the groups Komal Kothari worked with were these Kalbeila gypsies.' | 0:50:19 | 0:50:24 | |
THEY SING | 0:50:25 | 0:50:28 | |
TRANSLATOR: I remember, I was playing the pungi and wandering about. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:41 | |
Komal Kothari made me play and sing the old, old things. | 0:50:43 | 0:50:48 | |
Komal would say, "Listen, son, this is your inheritance." | 0:50:49 | 0:50:53 | |
TRANSLATOR: I was 16 when Komal Kothari recorded with me. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
I had a particular nose ring at that time. | 0:51:08 | 0:51:11 | |
It was in Komal Kothari's house in his village. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
When I was a child, he even took me abroad with my father. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:21 | |
We sang the songs we sang when we took our animals for grazing. Just passing the time. | 0:51:24 | 0:51:29 | |
'It's John's first visit to this group. | 0:51:44 | 0:51:47 | |
'Like Komal Kothari before him, John likes the old styles. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:51 | |
'So what they are doing now is a little too tourist-orientated for his tastes. | 0:51:51 | 0:51:55 | |
'It's pretty amazing, though. | 0:51:57 | 0:52:00 | |
'Bollywood has soaked up their style and reflected it back to them. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:11 | |
'In a sense, they're copying a copy of themselves.' | 0:52:11 | 0:52:15 | |
The girls in the black have been filmed to death. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:19 | |
There is about a million feet of footage on that, totally stereotype. | 0:52:19 | 0:52:23 | |
Will you ask him if he will sing for us, then? | 0:52:24 | 0:52:29 | |
THEY SPEAK RAJASTHANI | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
He was saying that life has changed totally. Today, the girls are copying Bollywood or this and that, | 0:52:39 | 0:52:45 | |
but John said, "Please sing some songs that your grandfather used to do." And they said, "We'll do that." | 0:52:45 | 0:52:51 | |
And without all the accompaniment of the modern drums, because they didn't have that. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:56 | |
-Just for today, don't do these other things. We're not tourists. -THEY LAUGH | 0:52:56 | 0:53:02 | |
In some ways, we probably are. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
'Mohini is delighted to go back to the original.' | 0:53:17 | 0:53:20 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
TRANSLATOR: I say, do the old styles, don't do the new. Sing in Marwari, the local language. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:34 | |
Eat, sit up and get up in Marwari. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:37 | |
Even tea now we drink from a cup. We used to drink from clay pots. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:42 | |
I really liked that. | 0:53:42 | 0:53:45 | |
TRANSLATOR: We sing our songs during weddings, when we are celebrating. These are the songs I like. | 0:53:51 | 0:53:56 | |
I don't like film songs. | 0:53:56 | 0:53:59 | |
HE SPEAKS RAJASTHANI | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
He kept on saying that the children don't follow the tradition. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:25 | |
I said, "There is no need for them to even follow that. | 0:54:25 | 0:54:28 | |
"The next generation, they will come up with their own." | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
You're not saying just simply retain the old ways of doing things. | 0:54:32 | 0:54:36 | |
You're saying find new ways which are true to yourself. | 0:54:36 | 0:54:39 | |
-Don't just copy what you see on... -Exactly, yes. | 0:54:39 | 0:54:41 | |
You cannot... This is not about preservation. | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
Don't restrict them just to tradition. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:49 | |
Let tradition inspire them. | 0:54:49 | 0:54:52 | |
'A group of young Rajasthani musicians are doing precisely that. | 0:54:52 | 0:54:56 | |
DANCE BEATS PLAY | 0:54:56 | 0:55:00 | |
'They are collaborating with Manchester beatboxer Jason Singh.' | 0:55:05 | 0:55:09 | |
HE SHOUTS | 0:55:09 | 0:55:11 | |
I've been involved with lots of underground music genres from hip-hop and house | 0:55:13 | 0:55:17 | |
and drum and bass and all these other musical forms. | 0:55:17 | 0:55:20 | |
A lot of the Rajasthani rhythms are similar in these cycles that, once you're in them, you get hooked, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:25 | |
and it takes you over. I'm trying to bring together beatboxing with Rajasthani percussionists. | 0:55:25 | 0:55:30 | |
It fits like a glove. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
DANCE MUSIC PLAYS | 0:55:32 | 0:55:35 | |
CHEERING | 0:55:45 | 0:55:48 | |
-Jamal, who is our urban poet... -Was he the big guy? -The big dude, yeah, who we call Tiger. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:11 | |
-He's really enjoying it, isn't he? -He's full into it. | 0:56:11 | 0:56:14 | |
That song is about how India is changing so much | 0:56:14 | 0:56:17 | |
with the influence of technology. | 0:56:17 | 0:56:19 | |
HE SINGS IN RAJASTHANI | 0:56:19 | 0:56:22 | |
He's quite radical. He's been banned from certain cities because whatever he feels needs commenting on, | 0:56:29 | 0:56:35 | |
death of little girls through to the injustices of corruption, | 0:56:35 | 0:56:39 | |
he's just in there, and a lot of people get scared by that. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:42 | |
But he does it in such a charming way, you're like, | 0:56:42 | 0:56:45 | |
"Oh, yeah, tell us about all the injustices of the world." It's brilliant. | 0:56:45 | 0:56:49 | |
HE SINGS IN RAJASTHANI | 0:56:49 | 0:56:52 | |
Before we came into the picture, the musicians would be asked to come in through the back door. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:18 | |
"Yeah, come and perform... and get lost." | 0:57:18 | 0:57:23 | |
-But now it's changed, you think? -It's changed a lot. | 0:57:23 | 0:57:27 | |
They come and sit with us, they eat with us. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:30 | |
The big chief will go and hug them. | 0:57:31 | 0:57:34 | |
It makes everybody else understand that this guy is worthy of respect. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:38 | |
So it's a small little thing we do and it brings good results. | 0:57:40 | 0:57:43 | |
India is very much in love with the future. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:50 | |
Many Indians look on the past as a succession of humiliations. | 0:57:50 | 0:57:54 | |
The British, before the British there were successive Mogul dynasties. | 0:57:54 | 0:57:58 | |
They have to go right back to find something that's glorious. | 0:57:58 | 0:58:01 | |
Everything that smacks of progress and power, of money and the future, is exciting. | 0:58:01 | 0:58:07 | |
The past is not. | 0:58:07 | 0:58:09 | |
What about the work that John Singh is doing? How important do you think that is in keeping it alive? | 0:58:15 | 0:58:21 | |
This entire oral tradition with its own epics attached to it, like a living tradition, | 0:58:21 | 0:58:25 | |
as if Homer was alive telling the story of the Iliad on a daily basis to villagers in Greece, | 0:58:25 | 0:58:30 | |
this still survives just, by a thread, here in Rajasthan. | 0:58:30 | 0:58:33 | |
It's only if you have some new form of funding which can bring them a living, | 0:58:35 | 0:58:38 | |
like performing in a venue like this, in a festival like this, that that tradition will survive. | 0:58:38 | 0:58:44 | |
How come the government doesn't invest in this | 0:58:47 | 0:58:51 | |
and understand that this will actually strengthen the communities? | 0:58:51 | 0:58:55 | |
I think it does. It doesn't invest in it to the extent it should, | 0:58:55 | 0:58:59 | |
and possibly not in the way it should. | 0:58:59 | 0:59:02 | |
I think the most important thing really that government or any private foundation can do | 0:59:02 | 0:59:08 | |
is actually, still, the old-fashioned way of doing it, which is to give patronage. | 0:59:08 | 0:59:13 | |
To give an opportunity, to give a chance. | 0:59:13 | 0:59:16 | |
We are not agents, we are not promoters, we are not in the business of this. | 0:59:22 | 0:59:27 | |
For us, it's far more important that people see something that we present | 0:59:27 | 0:59:33 | |
and like enough to want to make it move on further. | 0:59:33 | 0:59:37 | |
CHEERING | 0:59:37 | 0:59:40 | |
If you take a tree, you won't water the apple. | 0:59:43 | 0:59:47 | |
For us, it's nourishing at root, that's really what our work is, | 0:59:47 | 0:59:51 | |
ensuring that the roots of that tree go deeper and deeper and deeper, | 0:59:51 | 0:59:56 | |
because the tree will grow on its own. | 0:59:56 | 0:59:58 | |
TRANSLATOR: I'll put the picture up when I get this house repaired. | 1:00:12 | 1:00:16 | |
It will get ruined otherwise. SHE LAUGHS | 1:00:18 | 1:00:22 | |
TRANSLATOR: What does it make you think of? | 1:00:43 | 1:00:47 | |
TRANSLATOR: Going back once more. I just want to go back once more. | 1:00:47 | 1:00:51 | |
THEY LAUGH | 1:00:51 | 1:00:53 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 1:00:58 | 1:01:02 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 1:01:02 | 1:01:06 | |
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