Manganiyar Classroom

‘You’ll be silly to miss it.’ Little Black Book Bangalore

Theatre director Roysten Abel, famous for The Manganiyar Seduction, returns with The Manganiyar Classroom. Those who have heard the songs of the Manganiyars – a tribal community from Rajasthan with a strong musical tradition – would say that Abel is once seduced, forever obsessed. In Abel’s The Manganiyar Seduction musicians perform in a dramatic set inspired by the red light district of Amsterdam. Abel returned to the Manganiyar strongholds to create The Manganiyar Classroom, featuring the youngest members of the community.

With 35 young Manganiyar boys what Abel attempts in this production is not just an introduction to the glorious musical reserves of this community, but a kind of activism. He brings to centre stage an India that is not so shining but left far behind. In this one-hour performance, the Manganiyar kids stun you with their talent – each of them a repository of song, dance and rhythm. However, at the end of the performance, there is a painful recognition of how they are doomed to be carriers of a tradition, forgotten to be included in the programs of ‘progress’.

This project is supported by the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne for Asia TOPA.

Asia TOPA is a joint initiative of the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne and is supported by the Australian and Victorian Governments.

Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne, in association with Arts Projects Australia for Asia TOPA.


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