This concert delves into the origins of popular musical genres pursued by tawaifs

Over the last couple of months one song Rangi saari a contemporary rendition of classical singer Shobha Gurtursquos thumri by Kavita and Kanishk Seth has been winning hearts across social media The incidence of ageold music catching up with the times can be used to gauge a generationrsquos palate for the arts But can adopting a track commonly for chores to macrameacute charms without inspecting its origins be inferred as an interest in ghazals thumris dadras and horisAvanti PatelA desire to know about these musical genres cannot bypass the lives of tawaifs Tawaifs dismissively called baijis and nautch girls were the forebearers of a cherished culture O Gaanewali an interactive musical performance that will share stories and reallife accounts aims to direct listeners to their vast repository of songs Avanti Patel who has conceptualised and written this concert feels tawaifs must be seen as women performers ldquoThe concept came into being when I submitted an application for a grant from Goethe Institut Max Mueller Bhavan I had sent across a rough sketch of my idea and after it was accepted the concert was created for Harkat Studiorsquos Virtual Interactive Stage It first premiered in 2021 and wersquove been journeying since thenrdquo she shares Bringing theatre on screen while being aware of people looking to connect on the other side of the interface was a challenge for Patel Around this time she started watching documentaries and reading books and articles on courtesans to learn better ldquoI read books such as Tawaifnama by Saba Diwan and also reached out to exponents of these genres for an indepth view of their musicrdquo she says adding that media puts forward an imprecise portrayal of courtesans ldquoCourtesans are often represented as dancers They were performers who would dance or sing They were educated and welltrained in writing singing and dancing When they rose to popularity within esteemed circles they were invited by aristocrats for baithaks and partiesrdquo It is evident from academic researches that apart from owning their sexual agencies tawaifs were independent artistes who even dabbled in business initiatives They were also among the highest taxpaying individuals of the country Yet few of their compositions can be traced back to the actual sourcePatel throws light on this gap ldquoBack then whoever performed in exchange of money was looked down upon It was publicised as a marker for low social status Also male composers would slip in their names in a song something women composers never did However ghazal and thumrisinging courtesans were also the first musicians to be recorded They showed the way to their male counterpartsrdquoO Gaanewali will include songs by artistes such as Begum Akhtar Nirmala Devi and Gauhar Jaan Apart from Patel the concert will have vocalist Rutuja Lad Dnyaneshwar Sonawane on the harmonium Vanraj Shastri on the sarangi and Akshay Jadhav on the tabla Meghana AT joined the team to help direct the upcoming physical performance ldquoI had asked the performers about what they think the audience should know about the form and the instruments they are playing That exercise found its way into a wholesome weave It gave me an idea about how the harmonium came into the world of thumri and the kind of pushback it faced My aim was to serve a seamless musical story not tons of scholarly materialrdquo she saysOn March 4 630 pmAt NCPA Nariman PointLog on to inbookmyshowcomCost Rs 200