Unurum Fest curated by Aakshat Sinha at Fakir Mohan University
(26th and 27th November performed in two parts)
I hear a song from far
The song comes from deep within
The song that can transcend to the world of spirits
The cry to seek answer cry to heal
Seeking blessing to protect them
Deep call to the eternal world
The world is not visible to the naked eye
I hear a whisper from far
I hear the songs from far
They call nature healers to the nature spirit
I hear the songs from afar.
Inspiration for the performance was shamanic prayers done by Saura tribes performed with the rice grains to make a connection to the spiritual world, the world that is difficult to understand by the rational world. For several weeks I heard these rituals and prayers it resonated in my subconscious for many days. The idea for my performance was in response to this resonance in my subconscious mind.
The concept for this performance considered the rituals and shamanistic practices of tribes in Orissa and the shamanistic ritual they performed. As a matter of interest, I did elaborate research on Saura Tribes and wished to work with the tribes of Orissa. The first-day performance was a solo as the tribe from the nearby region did not come, which allowed me to perform my ritual solo with paddy grains. A great atmosphere developed where all the energies synchronized for these rituals. The performance started with half a kilometer walk with paddy grain in a bamboo container dragged with a rope tied to my shoulder grains were falling on the road forming a trail of grain on the path I walked. The performance was to connect to nature spirits, seeds, and plants in the region.
The performance ritual was performed with an audio prayer by the Suara tribe and a live prayer to connect to 'nature's spirits. As part of the paddy grains were already placed in different circular forms on the ground after the rituals, I gave paddy grain to some of the audience and asked them to make some text forms. A large audience participated in this text ritual words were written, erased rewritten by many audiences, and then there was the closing of this ritual. This performance ritual was collaborated by audiences in large numbers with text rituals. The idea was mainly to connect to the land, Eco space, and the spiritual world to respond to audiences. The performance was an intense act to transform and transmit the message of conserving and respecting Mother Nature.
Part Two performance continued to 2nd day
The performance work continued on 2nd day to clear the grain on-site with a ritual. This time, I was lucky as the nearby mundri tribe came to perform with me and collaborated for the performance without making any changes to their act wanted them to be natural and perform their rituals as per their tradition to fit in their way as a custom, we both bowed to each other to show mutual respect. I requested them to perform to do their ritual dance performance as I cleared the paddy grains. It was a finishage performance act where I tried to clean the paddy grain spread earlier. The ritual was to protect the grains and respect them as our food. This two-day performance was experiential and transformational for both my audience and me. It was like experiencing catharsis and subconscious transformational experience to learn about their ritual and adopt it.
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