{"id":1592,"date":"2019-08-01T02:22:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T01:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalindianstories.com\/?p=1592"},"modified":"2019-08-01T02:25:17","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T01:25:17","slug":"mcr-uni-engages-with-bengalis-to-promote-peoples-traditional-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalindianstories.org\/index.php\/2019\/08\/01\/mcr-uni-engages-with-bengalis-to-promote-peoples-traditional-music\/","title":{"rendered":"MCR Uni engages with Bengalis to promote peoples\u2019 traditional music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester University enhanced its engagement with the South Asian diaspora at a recently held workshop on live performances of Bengali folk music. <\/b><\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Manchester University academicians and art historians from Modern India and humanities departments, engaged proactively with the South Asian diaspora in Manchester through\u00a0an event and workshop: SINGING HERITAGE: AN AFTERNOON OF BENGALI FOLK SONG PERFORMANCE, in end July. <\/span><\/p>\n

Organised by Dr Anindita Ghosh, Professor of Modern Indian History, HNAP Co-ordinator, Faculty of Humanities at the University at the\u00a0Heaton Mersey Community Centre, the\u00a0<\/span>unique event was about Bengali folk songs related to migration of the Bengali community from Bangladesh into the north-west in the 1950s and 1960s. <\/span><\/p>\n

It recalled the tremendous sacrifice of some of the earliest generations of migrants from Bangladesh, working as mill and factory workers, who went on to settle down in the UK. Bengali Indians and Bangladeshis both were attracted to attend this event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The songs sung at the event spoke of feelings of parting, loss and exploitation as workers migrate from their homelands and villages to work in cities and towns, and other locations. Elderly migrants recalled the struggles of their times and described how significant these folk songs were in creating bonds of community and friendship. <\/span><\/p>\n

People would sing at the end of a hard-working day – often with improvised musical instruments like kitchen utensils and plates – to warm their hearts and souls, and to remember the land they had come from. The weaver\u2019s song, rickshaw puller\u2019s song, fisherman\u2019s song all were so closely linked in rhythm to the ballads of Lancashire.\u00a0 Essentially those were the songs, music , culture of the working class irrespective of boundaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

A workshop in the latter part of the event brought together people in a friendly, informal discussion on the importance of Bengali songs and culture for the migrant community in the 1950s and 60s. Participants cried and hugged each other, and younger generations were grateful for the memories that had been captured and reminisced through the workshop.<\/span><\/p>\n

In thinking about these songs, there can be traced striking similarities with songs from the nineteenth century in Lancashire, more specifically, ballads registering the misery of modern industrial living and labour. Jennifer Reid, broadside ballad performer and local historian, has established exciting linkages between Lancashire and Bengali folk songs on similar themes, particularly with the textile industry. She also sang at this event. She played for the audience clips of weaving songs she had collected on her recent trips to Dhaka, teasing out the similarities with the Lancashire songs.<\/span><\/p>\n\r\n