Dressed in traditional attire, Manganiar singer Mame Khan made history by becoming the first folk artiste to open the red carpet for an Indian contingent. (Photo: Instagram/@mame_khan)An 11-member Indian delegation led by I&B Minister Anurag Thakur walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in France on the inaugural day on May 17.
Among them, dressed in traditional attire, was Manganiar singer Mame Khan from Rajasthan, who made history by becoming the first folk artiste to open the red carpet for an Indian contingent at Cannes. This year, India has been named as the ‘country of honour’ at the Marché du Film, the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival.
“Mame Khan, the traditional Manganiyar singer from Rajasthan, became the first folk artiste to open the red carpet event for the Indian contingent at Cannes,” PTI reported.
Ricky Kej, from left, Vani Tripathi, R. Madhavan, Prasoon Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Shekhar Kapur pose for photographers upon arrival at the opening ceremony and the premiere of the film ‘Final Cut’ at the 75th international film festival, Cannes. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
“It is a proud moment to walk the red carpet for the first time at the most prestigious international film festival. I am honoured to be a part of Cannes and represent the culture and tradition Rajasthan has to offer through music and art. Godawan is the perfect representation of the Rajasthani ethos – beauty in scarcity and sustainability. The team has done a fabulous job in redefining luxury, allowing artistes like me to stand as a proud custodian of India’s culture that has enabled us to flourish,” Khan told indianexpress.com.
For the occasion, Khan was seen wearing a traditional Rajasthani costume designed by Anjuli Chakraborty, which featured a magenta kurta with matching pajama, a pair of black shoes with embellishments and a heavily embroidered midnight blue jacket.
He wore a floral turban and donned a pair of sunglasses to complete the look.
For the unversed, Khan — whose Instagram bio describes him as “the voice of Rajasthan celebrated folk, Sufi, and Bollywood playback singer” — has a powerful voice and an unmatched fandom. He has sung songs in Bollywood films like ‘Luck By Chance‘, ‘No One Killed Jessica‘, and ‘Sonchiriya‘, and has also been featured on Coke Studio along with Amit Trivedi.
During an exclusive interaction with indianexpress.com earlier this year, Khan had said that he belongs to “a family of master singers, who have been performing a unique, oral tradition of music for over 15 generations.”
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“I owe my energy and vocal skills to the influence of my father and tutor, the late Shri Rana Khan. My musical career started in a small, almost medieval village named ‘Satto’ near Jaisalmer, where I used to sing Manganiar folk music,” he added.
He had explained that a special style of the Manganiar folk, called ‘Jangra’, includes songs for all occasions: from wedding to welcome songs for a newborn, and such.
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The singer has sung and performed songs from Sufi poets of Sindh and Rajasthan, including Mira Bai, Kabir, Lal Shahbâz Qalandar, Bulleh Shah and Baba Ghulam Farid, said the singer, who has been carrying on his family’s legacy.
On the Cannes red carpet, Thakur was accompanied by celebrities like A R Rahman, composer Ricky Kej, lyricist and poet Prasoon Joshi, veteran director Shekhar Kapur, among others, who attended the screening of opening film ‘Coupez‘ (Final Cut) by French director Michel Hazanavicius.
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In all, the 10 celebrities who accompanied the minister included musical maestros, filmmakers and actors who represented India’s diversity in regions and languages.
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