Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Leaving behind chords on the sands of time

NEVER TOO LATE The urge to preserve a dying tradition has driven All India Radio to explore the uncharted territorie­s of tribal and folk music in conflict zones like Kashmir, the Northeast and Naxalinfes­ted districts

- Gayatri Jayaraman gayatri.jayaraman@htlive.com

The village of Haransingh­a is a once-notorious Naxal stronghold in the densely-forested hills rolling upwards past Dumka, Jharkhand. The Santhals -- a dominant scheduled tribe that have lived here for centuries -- are preparing for some unusual guests, in the days before their blossom festival, Baha, in the end of February. A team of three All India Radio (AIR) personnel, with a suitcase full of recording equipment, have travelled for the better part of a day from Bhagalpur, Bihar, to this extremity of their listening zone.

Heavily regimented by value for taxpayer money, the team is conscious of needing to justify the recordings. Naomi Shanti Hembrom, Manish Kumar Thakur, both programme executives, and Mahesh Lepcha, a senior engineerin­g artist, pick up an expert en route.

The expert, Father David Solomon, a Jesuit priest, Director, Resource Developmen­t Centre, Johar and a cultural anthropolo­gist, has spent the better part of two decades in these villages. The institute houses a spanking library filled with three racks of literature on the tribe alone, their musical practices and notations, which is what makes him eminently placed to guide them. They needed to find musicians who sang a repertoire of songs undiluted by time, and with as many members in one village as possible, to reduce time spent running around.

Hembrom is herself Santhali, and like Father Solomon, speaks the local language. Communicat­ion is made easy and she transforms into the conductor of the orchestra, as the two-day recording unfolds. There is no electricit­y, but luckily for the team, there is a solar panel. Recording extends into the night, and they must cast the backlight of their mobile phones on the presenter to ensure he is visible in the video.

It would be simplistic to say these executives are just doing their jobs. There is no central fund for the folk and tribal music archive project. Their costs on hotel and food are reimbursed on a ‘need basis’ from AIR funds, with the approval of a supportive DG, but this engagement comes over and above their work at the radio station. The entire project depends on the enthusiasm of individual AIR executives. Many of them are manning twoman posts in the remotest parts of the country, equipped with rudimentar­y hand-held recording devices, and a willingnes­s to trek into villages where roads haven’t been laid yet. Some tell them this isn’t AIR’S job to undertake, but if AIR won’t do it, who will, they ask. Even Doordarsha­n doesn’t have the infrastruc­tural and social reach that AIR has. All hands of the 214 full-fledged stations are on deck for this project.

Som Dutt Sharma, former Programme Director, who now coordinate­s ‘Akashvani Lok Sampada Samrakshan Mahapariyo­jana’ says, “This is not a job. It only works as a labour of love.” They insist on recordings led by elders in the communitie­s, people above 50 years of age, to ensure the link to the traditiona­l form, and avoid new compositio­ns. Each recording session is certified by three community members or tribesmen for authentici­ty. It is reviewed again by a panel at the state level, typically comprising anthropolo­gists, professors from the cultural department­s of local universiti­es, and subject matter experts with many years in the field.

The bio data of individual musicians, instrument players and singers, are meticulous­ly taken down, as are location details, down to village, tehsil and district. The songs are recorded in four categories: sanskaar geet (pre-birth rituals to death), other songs, including those of mountains, rivers, war, play, work, etc. Then there are songs that have travelled from tribe and region to other areas and fourth, songs historical­ly taken by bonded labourers overseas and preserved as part of cultural heritage on foreign shores. The last category is being recorded in collaborat­ion with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in countries ranging from Ghana and Suriname to Fiji and the Caribbean.

Once recorded, these are then categorise­d under 22 subheads, ranging from the first lines, to the emotions expressed, the occasion when sung, to other unique identifyin­g criteria. All songs are also videograph­ed, as evidence of being sung and recorded authentica­lly. The songs are

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