I saw this outstanding group live at last year's Sydney Festival; really great stuff.
The Manganiyars are a community of musicians in an Indian 'caste' sense, in that the skills are passed down from father to son, through the generations.
I use scare-quotes around 'caste' because they're not Hindu but Muslim, but they're the ones who are traditionally engaged to perform at peoples' significant events, like weddings, so they're a great example of the ongoing friendship & respect between different Indian communities, that existed before partition, and often continues to this day.
The (Indian) producer of the group gave a short talk after the performance about this, and joked about how they all have the surname Khan (King), so it can be difficult in these times to get dozens of such guys through immigration procedures at the airport. posted by UbuRoivas at 2:24 PM on December 24, 2010
they're a great example of the ongoing friendship & respect between different Indian communities, that existed before partition, and often continues to this day
I was really surprised to see how well Hindus and Muslims get along in India, for the most part. posted by me & my monkey at 9:28 AM on December 25, 2010
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The Manganiyars are a community of musicians in an Indian 'caste' sense, in that the skills are passed down from father to son, through the generations.
I use scare-quotes around 'caste' because they're not Hindu but Muslim, but they're the ones who are traditionally engaged to perform at peoples' significant events, like weddings, so they're a great example of the ongoing friendship & respect between different Indian communities, that existed before partition, and often continues to this day.
The (Indian) producer of the group gave a short talk after the performance about this, and joked about how they all have the surname Khan (King), so it can be difficult in these times to get dozens of such guys through immigration procedures at the airport.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:24 PM on December 24, 2010