TALE OF THE MUSIC BEYOND TIME
Mangu Khan is from a small village known as Bhadres in the district of Barmer, Rajasthan. He is lives at a place which is surrounded by 20 sand dunes. Mangu is merely 30 years old. He is a Manganiyaar and like every Manganiyaar, in Rajasthan, he is following the age-old traditions of the precious folk musical culture. To earn for a living Mangu does various shows arranged by the government, he also increases the grave of the Rajput weddings and occasions, many times he is being called up by event managers who get him shows across the country.
One thing that makes Mangu very different from rest of the Manganiyaar is that he is very much aware of lack of education and willingly wishes to do something about it. He wants to see progress in Rajasthani culture and art. He wants to eradicate the evil problems like that of lack of education from Rajasthan. He feels heartbroken that due to lack of education there won’t be much songwriting in future and slowly the folk music will die. These progressive thoughts never kept him away from completing his education, rather he was so motivated towards completing his studies that he did MA NET from the university. He realized that the artists in Rajasthan are lacking in their education, so help and support them in every way possible he established the Panihaari Folk Sansthaan back in 2010. Mangu also teaches authentic Rajasthani music to small children from various nearby villages. He trains them for national as well as international level competitions. Mangu aims at reviving old folk music amongst youngsters.
Mangu could have become a lecturer in a government college and could have had a very easy life. But his aim in life led him to his roots and he followed it for folk music. He realises that it is very important to deal with the event managers are they can be very ruthless in terms of behaviour and fairness with the artists. Although he is very optimistic about Anahad’s efforts. Mangu is very much aware of the virtual world of internet and has always been keen to make a website for himself but could never get one because of a hefty amount that web designers used to ask. He with his conscious efforts has made good contact with the Rajasthan tourism and cultural department zones.
His group follows him with his efforts of making their community and society a better world. They have been emphasising for 6 years on their mission to the upliftment of the folk music culture in Rajasthan.
Upon asking about the music they laugh and tell that when a Manganiyar cries, he cries in raag. They stated that at times it is difficult when they visit any outside city from Rajasthan as people wish to hear more of Bollywood than authentic folk. They sing all kind of authentic folk songs whether it is about any Royal wedding, for Gods and Goddess. The music that they sing is always in Marwari language. Their whole family sings, even their wife but as per their traditions, they can’t sing in front of the male population, therefore, they sing only for the female population.
The groups wish to take their children to a higher level with the help of local organisations. Mangu wants to take forward the legacy of Koma dada (Komal Kothari) whom he considers his idol. He wants to uplift the Manganiyaar community just like his Komal dada. And then he concludes with his song: