 The Founders |
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Samandar Manganiar Director & Music Composer
Samandar Manganiar was born in 1971 in the village of Jhaphli Kalan [Barmer] in the western desert region of Rajasthan. He belongs to a family of hereditary professional musicians and was initiated in music from his early childhood. He learnt the traditional art of Manganiar Singing and Composing as well as playing the Khartaal from his father, Akademi Awardee, late Ustad Siddique Manganiar. He learnt Jaangda style of singing from late Ustad Bhoongar Khan. He has mastered a large repertoire of the traditional songs of the Manganiar community which he renders with great verve and sensitivity. He has come to be known as an outstanding Folk Singer and Khartaal player of this region. Samandar has been a practitioner of Folk & Sufi Music and later attained fame in the field of Creative Music. For his compositions and various recordings made for Music Today, All India Radio and for films, he is recognized today as a leading music composer of Rajasthani and Sufi music. Samandar has sung and shared stage space with, worked on music compositions, and, recorded with some of the leading musicians, artists, music directors and film makers of India and abroad. He has sung with and accompanied the two leading popular divas of the subcontinent-Abida Parveen from Pakistan and Smt. Shubha Mudgal, and others like Sanam Marvi from Pakistan, Smt. Konkana Bannerjee, Smt. Anuradha Pal, Ustad Sultan Khan, Shiva Mani, Hans Raj Hans; whirling dervishes from Turkey, Abdul Karim Al-Kably's group of musicians from Sudan, Mahsa Vahdat and others from Iran; Sultana Choudhuri with Bauls and Runa Laila from Bangladesh; Nurul Hasan Qawwal from Awadh; and Ghulam Nabi Namtahali from Kashmir. He has worked with a group of Flamenco dancers and musicians led by Ms. Zacky from Spain; the Jazz music group lead by Mr. Hanks from Netherlands and the Tanttz Group of dancers from Berlin, Germany. He has worked with Muzaffar Ali several times in the productions Jahan-e-Khusro in Delhi, Sada-e-Sufi in Chandigarh, Punjab, and Sufi Sartaj in Kashmir. He has worked with film personalities Gulzar and Bhupen Hazarika on composing Assamese, Marathi, Bengali and Gujrati songs and music for children at the Children’s Film Festival in Udaipur. Samandar was part of an Audio CD of Folk Music by A.R. Rehman. He composed
music and sang for the French adaptation of Girish Karnad’s play, Hayavadan, at
Asia Drama Festival in Limo, France, in 1997 directed by Asil Raish and Aryen
Muskin of France. He has worked with many dancers of India, among them, Kathak and Bharatnatyam gurus and performers like Dr. Padma Subrmanyam, Dr. Shashi Sankhla, Mallika Sarabhai, Shobhana Narayan, Chetna Jalan, Pt. Rajendra Gangani, and Rekha Thakar. He also sang for Ms. Manjari Caturvedi. Samandar has baeen working wiwth Kathak dancer, Ms. Anurag Verma on the concept of Sampravaahi: The Confluent Streams, a presentation where Manganiar Folk Music and Jaipur Gharaana Kathak traditions flow together, aiming, through their choice of repertoire and manner of presentation, to preserve and bring to the fore gems of Rajasthani musical compositions that are today in the danger of being lost forever out of neglect.
Executive Director & Choreographer Anurag was trained in the intricacies of Jaipur Gharaana Kathak at Kathak Kendra, The National Institute of Kathak Dance, New Delhi, as a student of Diploma Honours and Post Diploma Courses. Her initial training in the dance was under gurus Shri Babu Lal Patni and Shri K. C. Prakash in Rajasthan. Fortunate to
have received guidance and a long association under guru shishya parampara with
Pt. Rajendra Gangani, Anurag, one of his senior most disciples, has tried to imbibe and represent her Guru’s
path breaking and charismatic style of presentation as well as the traditional paran
ang of the Jaipur Gharaana that he inherited from his father and
Guru, Pt. Kundanlal Gangani. Her solo recitals have established her creativity,originality, and a quaint beauty of style as well as emotive intensity. A keen
interest in and exploration of the Rajasthani roots and character of the Jaipur
tradition of Kathak led her to the choreography of Sampravaahi,
her brainchild. Through this ensemble of Manganiar Music and Jaipur Kathak
traditions, two complimentary art streams from Rajasthan, Anurag has, at the
same time, endeavoured to present the treasure of Manganiar music, laden rich
and decorated with the classicality of Kathak, blending subtle and evocative
dancing with the poetry and varied themes like valour, festivals, devotion, the
beauteous, etc. of traditional Manganiar songs, while providing a rich musical
base for Kathak presentation. Anurag and her co-artist in this
venture, Shri Samandar Manganiar, aim, not at presenting any kind of
attempted fusion but rather a close and bold interaction between the two streams
so that what meets the eye is pure
Kathak dance and what is heard is, by far and large, pure Folk music and song. Anurag has choreographed Group and Solo Choreographies for 'Bali Spirit Festival' 2011 at Ubud, Bali; in UK and Scotland in 2010; the 'Mini Festival of India' in Indonesia and Malaysia in 2009; the 8th National Doordarshan Awards in Jalandhar 2009; for The Press Club of India in New Delhi; for PEDICON 2011 and AICOG 2009, the National Doctors' Conferences in Jaipur; and elsewhere, |
Samandar also has to his credit a long experience of serving the people of his region through NGOs like Lok Rang Parishad, Jaipur and Folk Heritage Foundation supported by UNICEF, Jaipur. He helped conserve and promote Manganiar music through Lok Rang Shala, a Residential Camp at Shiv, Barmer, supported by Department of Tourism. He has helped promote the traditional Singing Styles of the Rajasthani Women, especially those of the Manganiar community. He has run Workshops for manufacturing rare Musical Instruments like the Kamaayacha, Saarangi, Surinda, Sataara, Khartaal and the Saraai Dhol through his NGOs besides taking up many educational, social, development schemes and projects for the welfare of rural areas, such as those for the Kanjar community. He has been a Trainer in several Workshops and organized and participated in Seminars such as CCRT Camp at Borunda; Seminar on Manganiar Gaayaki at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur; World Music Seminar by Music Village, London; Seminar on Folk Deities by CCRT at Doon School, Dehradoon, U.P. and trained about 100 Langa and Manganiar children at a Workshop in Udaipur to prepare them for a presentation during Republic Day Parade in 1992 in New Delhi. Samandar has been honoured with the National Youth Cultural Award by Nehru Yuva Kendra, Government of India; the Hukum Singh Award by Hukum Singh Foundaion of Jodhpur; and the Music World Series 2002 Award by Rasa of Netherlands. Samandar is in the Best of Rajasthan list of artists in the Department of Tourism, Art and Culture, Government of Rajasthan, and an empanelled artist with the ICCR.  presenting Sampravaahi to critical acclaim. She has also participated in ' Casa Asia Festival ' in Spain; 'India Week In Bavaria'; ' Centenary Celebrations ',Norway; 'Standard Bank National Arts Festival' Grahamstown, South Africa, and, performances sponsored by Canada National Arts Centre.
Anurag as been teaching her dance form since 1998. She has taught at Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra and Sangeet Bharti in New Delhi and conducted several Kathak Workshops. She has been training students in Kathak Dance as Sahayak Nritya Guru at the Jaipur Kathak Kendra, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur, since July 2005. She has worked as Assistant in the Dance and
Documentation Sections of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. She co-ordinated a Seminar on the present state of Kathak Dance in Rajasthan, organized in Jaipur under the joint aegis of the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi and Jaipur Kathak Kendra in March 2007. Anurag is a Post Graduate in English Literature from the Delhi University. Anurag has been honoured by the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academy with its first Yuva Puraskar in July 2001. |
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