Video | In search of new tools to rediscover First Nations culture: Popular music that connects American and Canadian artists – Canada

Montreal film director Mathieu Favreau’s most recent video on Canadian native rapper Daybi is a tribute to the artist and his community. Currently residing with his son on the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve on the outskirts of Montreal, Daybi grew up in Vancouver and Winnipeg, where he began rapping at an early age. His music brought … Read more

Plan your own musical journey around the “Seven Sister States” – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura

Start your musical journey by watching a beautiful video taken in Shillong (Meghalaya). Then discover which other forms of music and dance are being practiced by the tribal communities of the “Seven Sister States” today. Khasi music revival – the stories of two young duitara players from Indian Tribal Heritage on Vimeo. Media contents is easy to find, especially with the help … Read more

Video | An Ethnographic film by Sathya Mohan: The economy, social organization, religion and mythology of the Koyas – Andhra Pradesh

Watch this and other video documentaries by Sathya Mohan on Vimeo: THE KOYAS (Parts 1 & 2) >> This award-winning ethnographic film in two parts made by Sathya Mohan deals with the nature-man interaction and the associated belief system. It examines the features of the environment and ecology in relation to the Koyas economic system – the interaction … Read more

Video | ‘Pawari’, an instrument essential to tribal culture: The life and music of adivasis in Dang – Gujarat

To read the full story and view more photos, click here >>

‘Pawari’, is a traditional instrument of the Dangis. It has been regularly used in all the prominent functions and festivals in Dang. In Dhule of Maharashtra, Pawari has been used mainly in weddings. But in Dang, it is frequently used, especially in the Dang Durbar, a spectacular annual festival held in the district for three days during Holi. Today, however, only a very few individuals play it.

The Pawari is made of wood obtained from locally grown trees, with a beak like structure attached and painted in bright blue-silver combination. […]

Each tune emerging from the instrument resembled some instrument – Indian, European and host of other things we could not identify. Ramdas boasted that his father had played it in all of the tribal festivals and annual celebrations around the totems. He was then speaking about the essential tribal culture which he took pride in, without realizing that minutes ago he was all praise for the Hindutva which had treated the tribals as Rakshasas and Kirathakas.

 

(I came across this instrument, Pawari, during my field visits in an internship with Centre for Social Justice (June 2013). It is an organization that is primarily working for the welfare of the tribals in Dang district, Gujarat.)

Source: The life and music of adivasis in Dang, Gujarat
Address : http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/articles/the-life-and-music-of-adivasis-in-dang-gujarat/
Date Visited: Thu Jan 29 2015 15:32:47 GMT+0100 (CET)

Learn more about Adivasi culture and daily life here: http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/categories/adivasis >>

Public access to PARI is free. The site is run by The CounterMedia Trust. A more informal body, the CounterMedia Network, supports and funds the Trust and its primary activity through membership fees, volunteer work, donations, and direct personal contributions. This voluntary network of reporters, professional filmmakers, film editors, photographers, documentary makers, television, online and print journalists, represents PARI’s biggest asset. Besides, academics, teachers, researchers, techies and professionals from many other fields have also donated their expertise free of charge to establish the entity and design the site. PARI will need money to create content beyond what we can get done free, and will aim at crowdsourcing for that. Rural India can never be fully ‘captured’ and the content up on this site consists of fragments of many giant realities. We can expand our coverage of those many worlds only with the widest possible public participation.

Source: About PARI
Address : http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/about/
Date Visited: Thu Jan 29 2015 19:24:10 GMT+0100 (CET)

Sandeep Silas, The Hindu, 

SAPUTARA Gujarat’s only hill station offers a welcome respite from urban greyness

[…] We reached the entrance to Saputara, 1,000 metres above sea level, the only hill station of Gujarat. The district, Dang, is predominantly tribal. Music from an instrument called the ‘pavrivadan’, made out of bottle gourd, welcomed us. Hindu mythology says that Lord Ram spent 11 years of exile in the dense forests of Saputara; the story of the woman feeding jujube to Ram is rooted to a place called Shabridham, about 80 kms from here. There is a statue of a serpent deity on the banks of the river Sarpaganga, who’s worshipped by the local tribals. Saputara has a lake in the middle of the hills. […]

Source: Over and above – The Hindu
Address : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/over-and-above/article4327190.ece
Date Visited: Thu Jan 29 2015 19:36:03 GMT+0100 (CET)

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Video | Glimpses of Warli and Konkana oral folklore, myths and legends: An introduction by Tamarind Tree – Maharashtra

Uploaded on Nov 15, 2009 This video is an introduction to the Oral History Project by Tamarind Tree, Dahanu. It provides a glimpse of the oral folklore, myths and legends of the Warlis and Konkanas – tribal communities residing in western India. Source: ▶ Oral History – YouTube Address : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w_2vncBMNM&list=PL6F8FF0BA53B5F2D9 Date Visited: Mon Feb … Read more