Celebrating the Gond life through clicks and melodies!

Giving a glimpse of the societal milieu of the Gond tribe, a photography exhibition titled ‘

Raj Gonds

of Adilabad’, showcased an assortment of images from the life and times of the aboriginal tribe on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s

Indigenous

People on Wednesday.
Rare clicks by legendary anthropologist

Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf

and his student,

Michael Yorke

were exhibited at the do and was followed by a traditional Gond musical performance by Kumra Lingu and his troupe of Thoti musicians and singers.

Kumra and his troupe commenced with a musical narration of a popular mythological legend in the community describing how creation began. With Kumra shouldering the responsibilities of the jatur (a traditional string instrument of the Gonds), the troupe sang about how water, moss, air and finally Adi Shakti came into existence. Kumra was ably accompanied by Kumra Sonu Bai and Marsukola Kalavati on vocals,

Kumra Raju

on dholak, Marsukola Prapbudas on dhakki and Vedma Ramu on percussion.

The second half of the performance was enriched with the story of Pandi Kupar Lingu — who the Gonds believe created all the lineages and defined the structures and customs in their society. To make the performance more authentic and captivating, Kumra Lingu picked up a traditional bowed string instrument called keekri and his mastery over it swayed the audience.
The evening ended with Kaarun Song. The song, which mourns the death of a person, speaks about the immortality of a soul and how it gets reincarnated as newborns and continues to live in the community.

The audience encouraged the performers throughout the recital with thunderous applauses and thanked them for giving an insight into the tribe’s indigenous culture.