CHENNAI: As Pride Month draws to a close, Bengaluru-based Solidarity Foundation will shine the spotlight on Jogappas, the transsexual folk artists from
Telangana,
Karnataka and
Maharashtra, who have collaborated with Carnatic vocalist T M
Krishna on a music video.
The video will be released at 5pm on Wednesday on Solidarity Foundation’s social media pages and will include a live performance featuring Krishna, Lakshman Bhonsle, Rakhi Pasare, Sagar Bhaskar, Siddhamma, and Dawal Saheb.
The Jogappas, a community of folk artists and devotees of goddess Yellamma, previously joined hands with Krishna to perform across the country. “They’re a small but vibrant community. Their songs are in the structure of devotional music to Yellamma, but also include their own social structures, mores, rituals and feelings,” says Krishna.
Solidarity Foundation, which works with non-English speaking sex-workers and sexual minorities, began working with the Jogappa community around 2010.
“We’ve researched the aspect of inclusion and exclusion of Jogappas — the peripheral space they occupy as a community believed to be chosen by goddess Yellamma, but also the lack of agency that comes with not being able to shed that label,” says Shubha Chacko, executive director, Solidarity Foundation. “In this particular collaboration, we wanted them to be seen as artists. There are stark contrasts in this collaboration in terms of gender culture and forms of music, which opens conversations about caste and sexuality as well – which may be difficult but possible.”
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