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Former Bahrain resident Akshatha Shetty has embarked on a mission to preserve dying Indian music and culture through The Forgotten Songs Collective (TFSC), an initiative by her non-profit organisation Rest Of My Family.
A travel-based, social-work-through-art venture, Rest Of My Family aims to spread awareness about the ‘ill effects of capitalism’ through art-based collaborations and community development projects.
“We are at a crucial juncture where the oldest generation in many tribal and rural communities around India are the last ones carrying precious knowledge about their history, culture, folklore, songs and art forms,” the 36-year-old told GulfWeekly, “and while it used to be passed down through the spoken word, this tradition is fast disappearing”.
“The Forgotten Songs Collective is a multi-media art project that aims to celebrate, raise awareness about, preserve and catalogue dying tribal and folk music, songs, stories and cultures through collaborations with musicians, film-makers, visual artists, and cultural and social organisations.
“We are working with the Biate tribe of Dima Hasao district in the Northeast Indian state of Assam for the first leg of this project.”
The idea for TFSC struck co-founders Akshatha and her husband Piyush Goswami on one of their earlier visits to Dima Hasao.
“About six years ago, we were travelling for our Drive For Change campaign when we met Lallura Darnei, an elderly tribesman from the Biate tribe, who told us that with his death, their songs, traditions, and stories would come to an end,” she said.
Drive For Change was one of the first initiatives launched by Rest Of My Family in 2015 with an aim to document social issues in rural and tribal areas by living with, talking to and observing the communities.
“We realised that our efforts were so often focused on building a better future for the communities that we forgot to look behind at the rich culture and tradition that is fast disappearing,” Akshatha explained.
Since launching TFSC in late 2017, there have been numerous developments.
Akshatha and Piyush are in the process of collating the information they gathered on their visits to Dima Hasao, as well as reaching out to people in the Biate tribe for more information, all of which they will archive as written content, audio files and videos on a dedicated website.
“We have initiated talks in a school in Dima Hasao’s Thingdol village, run by some of the tribe members, to make cultural classes a regular feature, where the Biate elders will teach students traditional songs, ancient musical instruments, dance forms and folklore,” Piyush revealed.
“In 2018, we invited renowned Indian electronic musician and sound designer Vinayak^a aka Vinayak Karthikayan to spend a couple of weeks with the community, engaging with them, understanding their musicality and recording their sounds. The collaboration resulted in a music album. In 2022, Vinayak and artists from the Biate tribe presented an audio-visual showcase at the famed Magnetic Fields Festival.
“Last year, ancient songs, dance forms and folklore were incorporated in the tribe’s highly regarded Nulding Kut festival, which until then featured traditional music and dance set to western melodies. Further, the community organised a cultural festival where the elders from different villages gathered to perform their ancient songs and dances. We are in talks with them to have more of such events,” Akshatha added.
A documentary following the journey of Lallura Darnei and other elders of the Biate tribe of Assam and Meghalaya is also in the pipeline. The film uses interviews, archival footage and a narrative voice to delve into the extinction of indigenous cultures. Additionally, it seeks to highlight pivotal factors such as technological evolution, influence of mainstream pop cultures through the internet and television, and religious conversion of indigenous communities, all of which have a crucial role in exacerbating the crisis.
“Through this documentary, we hope to start a dialogue on the need to preserve the fast-fading cultural heritage while also advocating harmonious ways of co-existing amidst diversity,” the former Indian School Bahrain student added.
Akshatha was born and raised on the island and lived here with her family until 2004.
“I grew up with my siblings Ashvitha and Ashwin in East Riffa and have very fond memories of Bahrain. My father used to work with Amiri Court and my mum was a homemaker,” she said.
“I studied in Bahrain and laid the foundations of my writing career there and while it’s been nine years since I last visited the kingdom, I look forward to returning sometime in the future. I have extended family there and would love to show my husband, Piyush, where it all started,” she added.
Moving ahead, Akshatha hopes to work with the Gond tribe in Bastar district in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh for the second phase of TFSC.
“We have spent several years engaging with the Gond community, since our Drive For Change days. Introducing The Forgotten Songs Collective to them is something we are looking forward to,” she added.
“We’re always open to collaborating with artists across all spheres of art for our cultural projects such as The Forgotten Songs Collective,” Akshatha and Piyush noted unanimously.
For details, visit restofmyfamily.org or follow @theforgottensongscollective on Instagram.
