Cross-cultural show a huge draw at Biennale

Artistes from India, South Africa portray subaltern angst

A 90-minute performance by artistes from South Africa and India on Tuesday night turned out to be a huge draw at the ongoing Kochi Muziris Biennale.

It became a unique cultural marriage when they shared the platform to enrich a night with lyrics in several languages and music invoking the spirit and politics of the underprivileged.

The protagonists in the theme comprised miners, peasants, headload workers and adivasis from both nations.

The Insurrections Ensemble’s concert was based on the group’s fourth production, which is just three months old. Kochi played its debut stage in India, where the 14-member team led by South African poet-sociologist Ari Sitas and Delhi-based researcher-singer Sumangala Damodaran presented an experimental assortment of literature and orchestra.

With four vocalists backed by eight instrumentalists seated behind them in a semi-circular shape, the recital had an introductory note delivered by Delhi-based poet T.P. Sabitha. Speaking in English and reproducing its essence in her mother tongue Malayalam, the former lecturer recalled the formation of the Insurrections Ensemble in 2010 soon after Ari and Sumangala met in Delhi.

That paved the way to a bi-national and multilingual cultural endeavour. Soon, it gathered styles ranging from the traditional to the avant-garde, from tunes that banked on Indian ragas and Zulu scales to electronica which encompasses styles such as drum and bass, trip hop and downtempo.

On Tuesday, the troupe came out with 18 items from its latest production titled ‘Threads of Sorrow’. The ditties took the audience thorough a roller-coaster, taking off with a sense of despair but concluding on an optimistic note that sounded high with songs of hope. The poems were in languages such as Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, Hindi, English and the African languages of Zulu and Xhosa—the other poets being Vivek Narayanan, Tina Schouv, Malika Ndlovu.

“The backdrop of the concert is the rising fundamentalism in the East and West, across the Global South and the North,” said Sabitha, daughter of poet K. Satchidanandan.

“The attempt is to weave together a narrative of creative struggle and haunting lament.”