Sufi Music of Rajasthan

• Event Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
• Time: 7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: $5.00

• Performance
• Family-Friendly tag

Performance by Rupayan

As the politics of violence gather force everywhere in the world today, Sufi music is experiencing a revival in India—offering a buffer against the troubled times after almost 200 years of obscurity. Folk musicians living in the remote desert villages of Rajasthan continue to pass their vast Sufi repertoire orally from generation to generation. Songs rich in diversity, vibrant in rhythm, and haunting in melody speak to aspects of life shared among common people—familiar experiences such as the emotions of joy and sorrow and the endurance of pain and poverty. Above all, life is celebrated through lyrical expressions of a deep respect for nature and an enduring love for Allah. In this concert, performers from the Manganiyar community of hereditary caste musicians will celebrate the beauty of Sufi music and thought as they combine mesmerizing vocals with the vibrant and highly varied sounds of traditional instruments. This performance is arranged and sponsored by Kalapriya Foundation (Pranita Jain, Artistic Director), co-sponsored by the Robert E. Brown Center for World Music, and supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Governor’s International Arts Exchange Program of the Illinois Arts Council through collaboration with Kalapriya Foundation Center for Indian Performing Arts.