The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Kabir’s “dohas” get the message across

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Thursday, Jun 14, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Kabir’s “dohas” get the message across

Special Correspondent

National conclave on ‘Towards a People’s Alliance’

Spontaneous: Participants of a national conclave on ’Towards a People’s Alliance’ break into a jig at a cultural programme held at LalithaKala Thoranam in Hyderabad on Wednesday. -

Hyderabad: The third day of the national conclave on ‘Towards a People’s Alliance’, a gathering of marginalised groups, communities and voluntary workers here on Wednesday saw Kabir’s ‘dohas’ being used as a tool for communication to get the message across.

‘Har mahila maange Azaadi, har bachcha maange Azaadi, har gaun maange Azaadi’ went the lines that were sung aloud from the cultural platform.

Such was the power in the lines that everyone, including Johannesburg-based Chief Executive, ActionAid International, Ramesh Singh, shook a leg or two on the dais in wild abandon to the rhythmic beats.

Translated into English, the words mean every woman, every child and every village demanding freedom.

Karma dance

If that was the cultural offering in the afternoon, between discussion sessions, the gathering feasted eyes on Karma dance, related to the festival that falls in August. With a symbolic branch of the Karma tree in the middle, dancers move around it, to the tune of one-liner lyrics, sung repeatedly in chorus and in rhythm.

It was followed by the Khasi dance from the North East, a sort of Thanksgiving for a good harvest, peace and prosperity of the entire community.

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