People’s Music

SAF Special Project

We create music when we are happy. We create music when we are sad. We make music to accompany work. We make music for relaxation. There is music that brings entire communities together. There is music that only the truly sophisticated aficionado can appreciate in all its subtleties. There is no feeling that music cannot convey. There is music for every occasion, including protest and resistance.

This sound and animation installation presents music of protest, resistance and social engagement from the Indian subcontinent over the last 80 or so years, from colonial times to now. People’s Music showcases material from different languages and regional contexts on everyday concerns of livelihoods, work, hunger, strife, war and conflict. This sound and animation installation stretches along the Mandovi promenade and celebrates the creativity of anonymous poets and musicians, working people, as well as highly celebrated artistes. People’s Music is an experience to enjoy and be inspired by.

Sumangala Damodaran 

Sumangala Damodaran is an economist and a musician. She been involved with teaching and research in Economics, Development Studies, and Popular Music Studies at Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) for eight years now, after seventeen years teaching at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University.

She is the author of The Radical Impulse – Music in the Tradition of the Indian People’s Theatre Association based on her research, and has also collaborated with poets and musicians from South Africa for a project titled ‘Insurrections’. She is currently engaged in researching the relationship between music and migration, particularly of women in slavery.

Sudhanva Deshpande

Sudhanva Deshpande is an actor, theatre director, and publisher. He’s been with Jana Natya Manch since 1987, acting in, helping devise, and directing dozens of plays, both on the streets and in closed spaces. He’s performed and led workshops in several countries including Palestine, South Africa, the US, UK, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands. Deshpande also co-directed two documentary films on the theatre legend Habib Tanvir and his group Naya Theatre, and has taught at several institutions, including National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Since 1999, he has been Managing Editor at LeftWord Books

Shaaz Ahmed 

Shaaz Ahmed is an Innovative storyteller who works with multiple mediums and methods to construct visual narratives.

He studied Animation Film Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. His last film Talking Walls fetched him multiple accolades nationally and internationally. His recent body of work explores art animation and unique animated Installations in spaces like hospitals, educational institutions, and restaurants.