Folk Music of Pakistan 1975-76

by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy

This 60-minute ‘Sounds-and-Stills’ show of Pakistani folk music is based on Nazir Jairazbhoy’s three-week fieldtrip to Pakistan in 1975, sponsored by The Smithsonian Institution in collaboration with Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk Heritage, Pakistan), and the resulting weeklong visit of Pakistani musicians to perform at the Festival of American Folklife in Washington D.C. in 1976. The fieldtrip extended from high in the Hindu Kush mountains to the southern areas of Sindh, with recordings from all four provinces - NWFP (Peshawar), Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sindh - as well as Kafiristan (Birir Valley). All recordings were made in Pakistan in Sufi shrines, villages, and other contexts, or in Washington, D.C. Mystic songs, joyful instrumental renditions, wedding laments, and jubilant dance music convey a beautiful and variegated soundscape, especially appropriate to release at this time to counter the media images of Pakistan prevailing today. MORE

 

 

MUSIC FOR A GODDESS

by Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy and Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy


This narrated DVD explores the sacred music, dance and rituals of devidasis and devidasas, women and men dedicated to the goddess Renuka/Yellamma. Worshipped by millions of devotees in the border regions of southern Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, and adjacent areas of India, this fertility goddess is best known through media representations and social activism protesting practices linked to sexuality and prostitution. Her musical and social traditions have parallels in the devadasi (women dedicated to male deities) system in Tamilnadu before its reform and classicization in the early twentieth century. MORE

 

FROM AFRICA TO INDIA

Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora

Sidis descend from Africans who sailed across the Indian Ocean to the west coast of India over many centuries. This documentary project explores the expressions of their Indian and African cultural heritage. MORE

THE SIDI MALUNGA PROJECT

Rejuvenating the African Musical Bow in India

This 42-minute documentary chronicles a one-week malunga training camp held at Desert Coursers Nature Resort in Zainabad, Gujarat in February 2003. MORE

Folk Musicians of Rajasthan

by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy

 

A 45-minute narrated video program which reflects a wide variety of traditional songs, dances, and rituals little known outside of Rajasthan. Accompanied by a 26-page booklet containing additional information and texts. MORE

Folk Performers of India

by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy

 

A 45-minute narrated video presenting 9 different acts of magic, impersonation, puppetry, acrobatics, animal trainers, and other feats accompanied by music, with translations of the spoken texts. Accompanied by a 22-page booklet of additional information, texts and translations. MORE

Bake Restudy 1984

A one-hour video narrated by Nazir Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin.  The authors return in 1984 to the original sites of Arnold Bake’s 1938 South Indian fieldwork in order to solicit responses to his photographs and audio recordings of numerous performance traditions in an examination of continuity and change. MORE

 

Retooling a Tradition: A Rajasthani Puppet Takes Umbrage at his Stringholders

 


A 47-minute “fictive” video documentary by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin. MORE

Musical Instruments of KACCH and its Neighbors

 

A narrated discovery of a musical and cultural continuum posited along the India-Pakistan border.  MORE

THE STORY OF A MUSICIAN:Ustad Yunus Husain Khan

 

This 38-minute videotape by Arundhati Neuman actually covers three stories: the social structure of Indian music, the features of a particular musical stylistic school known as the Agra gharana, and the major representative of this style, the late master, Ustad Yunus Husain Khan. Combining live performance footage with interviews, musical excerpts, photographs and other illustrations, this documentary offers glimpses into the environment that inspired these musicians. MORE

AT HOME with Master Musicians of Madras

volume IV: South Indian Classical Music House Concert with M. D. RAMANATHAN (vocalist), T.N. Krishnan (violin) and Umayalpuram Sivaraman (mridangam)

VOLUME IV Manjapara Devesa Ramanathan appears in rare video footage recorded by Fredric Lieberman and Amy Catlin in 1977. MORE

AT HOME with Master Musicians of Madras

volume 1: T.N. Krishnan (violinist)

 

VOLUME I  follows a day in the life of world-famous violinist T.N. Krishnan... MORE

 

HMONG MUSICIANS IN AMERICA

1978-1996

 

This 58-minute video tells the story of two senior musicians from Laos who play instruments and sing for a variety of American audiences, adapting their presentations for Hmong and non-Hmong listeners of all ages. MORE

FROM CHINA’S SW BORDERS:

Minority Dances, Songs and Instrumental Music
of Yunnan


A two-part survey of dances, songs, and instrumental music performed by minorities of Yunnan Province, beautifully recorded by Li Wei and Zhang Xingrong of the Yunnan Art Institute, 1984 to 1999. MORE

 

From Angkor to America:

The Cambodian Dance and Music Project of Van Nuys, California, 1984-1990

 

A 37-minute video by Amy Catlin. This narrated history of a community-based arts project is told in the first person by a teenaged Cambodian girl, Pinthang Ouk. The video frames the present by explaining the historical antecedents and religious basis for classical Cambodian dance and music, using live video footage and archival photographs. Twelve dances are shown in traditional and innovative settings, for which ten songs are given in the companion Songbook below. Classes show teaching methods for students ages 11 months to 20 years. MORE