Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
An online cultural gig to help Covid-19 relief work
This Independence Day, Umeed Project is hosting an online fundraiser event, including Hindustani music, poetry and talks, between August 11 and 16, to aid Covid-19 relief work. The e-mehfil, Shayarana Umeed, will see participation by a host of theatre artistes, poets, and singers, among others. “Whenever there has been a crisis, war or a pandemic, people have sought refuge in art,” opines Rakesh Tiwari, a spoken word Hindi poet.
“Everyone needs closure when they are troubled; art helps plant the seed for change,” he adds.
Oshin Bhatia, a ghazal singer, feels, “People have suffered a lot. If I can help even one person, I would achieve my purpose.”
Yahya Bootwala, a poet and storyteller, also believes no contribution is small. “Log ye sochte hain ki ek fundraiser se kitni hi help ho jayegi, but I believe contributing for one person is still a bigger help than no contribution at all,” he says, hoping people wouldn’t take the world for granted again, when the pandemic ends.
Musician and songwriter Barbie Rajput feels that art can help uplift people in tough times. “When you are given something which has the power to make a change, it should be shared,” she says.
The series also aims at bringing back indelible aspects of Indian culture, including dastangoi or storytelling. Actor and dastango Danish Husain, who recited excerpts from the Persian epic Dastan-eamir Hamza and took some audience questions, says there is a need for cultural reconditioning. “It is for civil societies to understand why people like us have to step in for relief work,” he says. Husain, however, feels that though online gigs have a greater reach, it is a Catch-22 situation. “The onus is on the performer to make it more compelling to hold the audience. Offline gigs still had a sense of formality, but online gigs are like a carnival where people come and go as they please,” he adds.