The world renowned exponent of India’s folk music, Malini Awasthi, says there is an urgent need to have a Discovery channel kind of channel to preserve and promote India’s rich and multi-layered folk culture. She says the new government can help in this because Prime Minister Modi thinks outside the box.
The singer talks about how folk songs were never written down and were passed on from generation to generation because of India’s oral traditions. Culture is so much a part of everyday life in India, she says, that children automatically learn all the different songs that are sung on different occasions. But we also have to tell them their meaning and put them in a rational perspective, she adds. Today, she contends, the best way to carry on our oral traditions for the future generations is television. So, she says, there should be one TV channel totally devoted to folk songs, folk dances, folk art and folk lore of different regions of India. And since the new generation is more educated and sophisticated than before, the presentations should be slick and should have such finesse as the programs on Nat Geo and Discovery.
When she was growing up, she says, she didn’t see these many shows of folk music but now there is so much happening. She is also pleased by a revival of folk music. “I see young people getting interested in the form and I feel so happy. And I think that’s happening because this new generation didn’t feel that our culture is being imposed on them. So they did it out of choice.”
The disciple of Vidushi Girija Devi says she is also hopeful because Modi has a natural inclination towards preserving and promoting our cultural traditions. She gives the example of Gujarat. “As the Chief Minister of the state, he brought Garba to the level of a brand of Gujarat and spread it throughout the state. He also started the Kite festival that promotes employment among thousands of locals. Even people from outside Gujarat come there to fly kites. He even popularized the culture of Kutch in television ads aimed at attracting more tourists.”
There is no doubt that folk music, as a part of the collective consciousness, has the power to connect thousands by just striking of a few notes or singing out a verse. The TV channel, she says, can feature music from Himachal, Punjab, Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Assam and other regions, including Southern states. She thinks channels that repeat movies and have dwindling TRPs and revenues should take a hint from Bollywood music directors, who are reviving folk music from the days of Bulle Shah and Baul or old Rajasthani folk singers, into popular film songs that are minting money for them. They know that folk music has powerful beats, so all they have to do is hire someone to write ‘double entendre’ lyrics and they have the best item song. And the more genius music directors such as AR Rahman are using folk songs not just for item girls to sing but throughout the movie, depending on which region the story takes place.
Malini says it is wrong to presume that such a channel will not bring the desired TRP ratings because the youth will not be interested in it. TV has already reached villages, she says, and TV channels are producing serials such as ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’ and ‘Mahabharat’. They are obviously not targeting the youth, but still are very popular. They are watched by the veteran audience. Traditions such as qawwali singing, bhajan singing are dying, she says. Government sponsors and big brands have to realize that they must invest in saving the dying cultural traditions of the country. She says she is amazed that most of our youngsters don’t even know who Baul or Bulle Shah or Baba Farid were, forget their lyrics or music. “This channel can show how folk music was more like a daily ritual that added colour to their daily lives and routines. People take it up since childhood and grow up on these songs. Most songs are performed in small village functions. This music is learned by the villagers almost by osmosis or through a process of gradual or subconscious assimilation of ideas.”
She proudly notes that Indian culture is so deep that it is still alive, may be more alive, in places such as Maurtius, Fiji and Surinam. “They have still not abandoned their language, worship and culture because that is their identity and they are proud of it.” During her visit to Fiji, she says, she found out that late Indira Gandhi had opened the first overseas branch of ICCR in Fiji and when she sang folk songs there, people started singing along with her and dancing on the stage.
But Malini is concerned that if no effort is made by Prime Minister Modi and the country’s big corporations and brands to preserve our culture by carrying on India’s oral traditions with TV’s help, they will wither away, slowly but surely.
(Author/news analyst Ravi M. Khanna is a former South Asia bureau chief of Voice of America, who now freelances from New Delhi.
Feedback: ravimohankhanna@gmail.com
