The Manganiyar Seduction

Earlier this year I had the good fortune to attended a program called the Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Able.

It was an innovative concept where 43 musicians are seated in 36 red-curtained cubicles arranged in four horizontal rows one on top of the other. One by one the curtain opens, the cubicle lights up and the singer begins his song. The buildup was dramatic, like a symphony of lights and sound, and the music continues to linger in the recesses of my mind.

The Managaniyars are folk musicians from the desert state of Rajasthan in India and play some pretty interesting indigenous instruments, like the Kamaycha that has a big, circular resonator which produces a deep bass sound, typically consists of nineteen strings, three of gut for melody, two of brass for drone, and fourteen of steel for sympathetic resonanen blocks played by the hands.

Image of Kamaycha curtesy Manganiyar Musicians

In response to Frank’s Tuesday Photo Challenge – Music