The Farmer as a Musician

Purva and Gopal Tewari,the team that created the award-winning,and critically acclaimed Aaj Rang Hai last year.

She and Gopal have become adept at blending theatrical text and music. Preth infuses the flavour of folk music and dance from Bundelkhand. “For Aaj Rang Hai,we had qawwals from Lucknow singing in the backdrop. In Preth,the singers will be on the stage,at times as part of the cast,” says Purva. The new work revolves around a villager,who has been declared dead even though he is alive.

Purva,who has produced the play,brought the folk musicians of Bundelkhand to Mumbai. “Most of them are simple farmers who play music in a very unadulterated manner. There is something very ethnic and organic about their music,” she explains. The cast rehearsed with the farmer-musicians for more than 10 days before the play was staged. However,training these musicians for the theatrical production was not easy. “A lot of their songs double as the play’s text and their singing had to be controlled to fit into the the theatre space,” says Purva.

Purva plans to travel with Preth. Its next stop is the Bareilly theatre festival,followed by shows in Lucknow next year. Before Preth’s tours begin,Aaj Rang Hai will be staged as part of National School of Drama’s theatre festival in January.