The Manganiyar Classroom | PIAF at The Regal Theatre | Ends tonight Sat March 4th
Last night a chorus of 30 boisterous boys from India’s Thar Desert made their first international appearance on stage to an enthusiastic crowd in Perth.
“There’s something intrinsically beautiful in their type of singing. They sing from their heart and they are seamless. They are, I would say, blessed in a way,” says director Roysten Abel, who previously directed The Manganiyar Seduction, a hit show from 2011 PIAF. This time the younger members of the tribe are the stars of the show.
Aged 9 to 14, the ensemble performed entirely in Hindi apart for a few English asides from the teacher. It’s “School of Rock, Indian folk style”.
They sang the unique folk music of their tribe, played traditional instruments and moved with instinctive rhythm. Together they created a music-theatre experience, which although repetitive was bursting with joyful innocence.
The Manganiyar tribe have survived for centuries in the Thar Desert region around the border of North Western India and Pakistan.
They are renowned as highly skilled folk musicians whose songs have been passed from generation to generation as a form of oral history of the desert. They sing about Alexander the Great, the local Maharajas and past battles in the region.
“Traditionally, Manganiyar are the musicians who used to be a part of royal courts, before they fell prey to hardships of life,” Abel explains. “They started singing for people who would offer them food and in the process they would make them their patron.
Later, famines and other obstacles made them sing for food. And, that’s how they survived and sustained their talent and their identity.”
Out of about 120 young boys who auditioned, those who could sing best, were most open and could adjust to being part of the group were chosen to perform with Abel’s long-time collaborator Devu Khan cast in the role of the teacher. The young ensemble has been performing the show together for about two years.
The boys don’t know much about Australia apart from our cricket team, but are noticeably thrilled to perform here. PIAF, WOMADelaide and a Melbourne festival are covering the costs of the children for their Australian tour, as many come from poor families.
The project directly funds a school for Manganiyar children, and its loose story line of children battling a rigid classroom with music reflects on their current education system.
“We need to find other ways of education, especially for special communities like this,” Abel explains. “I’m hoping that we will be able to create a model school some day … where music and all the other kinds of education can thrive.”
Get tickets to tonight’s final show.
Hairie Mantoinette, image: Virgina Rodrigues
