Sumitra Maina, 2008 (excerpt)
Running time: 4:58 minutes / SD / colour

Sumitra Maina sings with the Mithu Khan Langa Group during the 2007 Rajasthan International Folk Festival. The repetition of the verse and melody begins to haunt us as we listen to the piercing voice behind the veil.

Camera: Sylvia Safdie

Editing: Brigitte Dajczer, Sylvia Safdie

Audio: Sumitra Maina and the Mithu Khan Langa Group recorded on location at the Rajasthan International Folk Festival, 2007.

About the music: The Langas are Muslims and who are an exclusive hereditary community. They originate from the Northern dessert state of Rajasthan. The Langa’s main traditional instrument is the sindhi sarangi which is a bowed stringed instrument with a skin membrane sounding board and many sympathetic strings. The Langa sing and play the dholak (double-headed barrel-drum), the kartal (wooded clappers), the morchan (jaws harp), and the ubiquitous harmonium. They speak of music being ‘in their blood.’