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kala collective: consultancy and services in Indian arts
Research in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology and Museum Collections Traditional Music in India – Music research top of page Since November 2000 the British Library Sound Archive (BLSA) in London and Rolf Killius (partly with Jutta Winkler) have been working on a project – Tradtional Music in India (TMI) – to record, document and research folk, devotional and ritual musics of India. The work is done with assistance from the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) in Delhi and with Indian researchers and musicians based in the project areas. The work is mainly carried out in the following areas:·
Sora Suura Koma Players Melam Orchestra, Kerala Monpa Musicians Click here to read Rolf's new article 'The Future of the Past's Music' published in a booklet produced by “Sutton Subrang” for the 'Sitar Festival' on 5/6 May 2007 at the Bhavan, Indian Cultural Centre in London.
Traditional Music in India – Musical Instruments Collection
Related to the recording and documentation project Traditional Music in India is the musical instruments collection project of the Horniman Museum (London), where Rolf Killius (partly with Jutta Winkler) has till date collected and documented more than 100 musical instruments. At present the museum with the support of Rolf Killius is preparing Utsavam - Music from India, a major Indian musical instruments exhibition and conference with emphasis on the rural and Adivasi instruments and music cultures.
Bhunga Farmhouse Building at the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig
At the beginning of 2005 Rolf Killius spent two months in the Kutch District of the Indian state of Gujarat. On behalf of the Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig in Germany, he conducted research on the construction of a traditional roundhouse, a bhunga made of clay and reed, to be constructed for the museum's new permanent exhibition. The bhunga building, along with its farmyard, is intended to reflect the cultural, social, religious, as well as the complicated ecological conditions in which its inhabitants live. Kutch shares a long boarder with Pakistan. Thus, over the centuries various sections of the population have mixed as people migrated to and from the area. With the support of many local aides and the co-organizer Aarif Khatri, Rolf succeeded in engaging five Meghwar craftspeople (2 women and 3 men) from the village of Hodka. In summer 2005 these people had built a traditional bhunga farmhouse and a roofed kitchen, along with complete interior and exterior decoration inside the ethnographic museum in Leipzig.
The publisher BR Rhythms has just issued Rolf’s book Ritual Music and Hindu Rituals of Kerala. This study explores the relationship of the Hindu religious rituals to the percussion dominated music genres in the south Indian state Kerala. It is both, an introduction to the ritual performances and to the musical styles. It takes up the quest to investigate how ritual meaning is expressed through music, it illuminates aesthetic beauty and the relative independent importance of the musical styles within the ritual context. The study investigates how and why the temple music ensembles are dominated by the ubiquitous drums and bronze cymbals and based on a sophisticated rhythm structure rather than on melody. The prestigious Nehru Centre, the cultural wing of the High Commission of India in London, launched Rolf’s book on 21 September 2006.
Sora cultural centre and museum project in Orissa (India) At present Rolf Killius, in discussions with local NGOs and the management of Engineering College ‘Centurion School of Rural Enterprise Management’, is in the process of designing a cultural centre for the Sora Adivasi (original inhabitants of India) in southern Orissa. The proposed centre would comprise a museum (anthropological and musicological objects); performance space and study/research facilities, thus covering four areas: Exhibitions – Performances – Study – Research. Unlike other rural institutions this centre will feature state-of-the-art Multi-Media equipment, which will satisfy the aesthetic and professional needs of the centre’s staff and visitors (especially young people) alike.
Gengkuli (Chakma) documentation and research project The anthropologist Wolfgang Mey and Rolf Killius plan a research and documentation project comprising traditional music and dance and ritualistic practices of the Chakma people in Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) in Bangladesh), Mizoram, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh (three Indian states), which are related to the Gengkuli ballads sung and performed by hereditary experts. The Chakma are the largest group of indigenous people in Bangladesh and follow Theravada Buddhism. Gengkuli are the traditional bards/storyteller/musicians/singers of the Chakma people, who are especially known for recounting the early history of this community and their immigration into the CHT.
Tea Music The north-east Indian state of Assam is well-known the world over for two things: its delicious teas and the wonderful green countryside with fertile paddy fields and tea estates. The wildlife sanctuaries, like Kaziranga, situated along the mighty Brahmaputra river and on the slopes of the lofty hills attract foreign and Indian visitors alike. What is not yet known much about, is the rich music and dance culture of the tea workers and estate inhabitants, the tea garden communities. Rolf Killius is in the process of preparing a project to record, document and research the disappearing folk, devotional, ritual and Adivasi musics of the tea garden communities in Assam, North-East India. Though this project will be facilitated, organised and conducted by experts in the field of ethnomusicology, anthropology, and media, it is envisaged to bring together members of such interest groups as tourism (private and government), Assam government agencies, tea garden owner, and members of the tea garden community organisations.
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Sora woman smoking
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