They were their own kind of performance, where music, and personality was refashioned by circumstance into something more intimate, more necessary, even as what we considered intimate and necessary was being re-thought and re-defined. It was soon made clear that these were not replacements for live concerts. In between singing songs he would casually explain the meaning of certain words of the ghazal he was singing, its etymology, the melange of ragas he has at his employ, how the harmonium, what we consider a quintessential Indian classical instrument, is actually a Western import, and how identity, like most things, is constructed over decades, sometimes centuries. Another time, he invited his sister, actress Mira Sethi, on his live, as they read paragraphs from Arundhati Roy’s God Of Small Things. The following Instagram live session he invited a friend and academic to discuss words like kanjar and mirasi, highlighting their origin, their context, and usage over the years. Some called this a casteist slur, while a fan made an hour-long video of this 4 second clap-back on repeat. When someone commented “Ali Sethi kanjar!”, he replied immediately with “Beta aap ka pura khandan kanjar!”. There was no pretense of perfection.īut what living room is entirely civil? There were bursts of verbal spats, where trolls descended on his Instagram live sessions, noting how he releases fewer original songs than covers of famous ghazals. Some mornings he would sound more gruff than usual. He was also comfortable with us, his discerning but dove-eyed audience. He would stumble on the high notes, re-do it, apologize, and make the same mistake again he was more comfortable with the lower octaves. It was an odd admixture of riyaz, a rehearsal, as well as mehfil, a gathering, where music was both the point and the distraction from the point.
Hour long stretches of music, taking up and weaving random threads of conversation from the comments, these Instagram lives weren’t performances as much as a digital living room with bursts of music, a harmonium being dexterously fingered in the background. A year on, we look back at what he is doing differently, and how artists can use tools of digital intimacy to re-define what it means to be a star.Ī post shared by Ali Sethi A Digital Living Room But there was something both different and comforting about what Sethi was doing. Sethi, too, took to Instagram live every day, for his 168,000 followers, around 11:30 p.m.
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Krishna, Ankur Tewari, Shubha Mudgal were performing in digital concerts, many of which were free of cost, setting up their own camera, equipment, and lighting. Most took to Instagram and Facebook live old institutions like the National Center For Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, were putting out recordings of their old live-shows, while musicians like T.M. The shut-in that began in March last year, dried up live gigs and concerts for musicians.
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The elder son has migrated to Mumbai, the second son is greedy and full of false pride and the daughter wants to pursue higher studies in order to escape the fetters of the Wada.Ī poignant commentary on the changing culture-scape of Maharashtrain households.Ali Sethi, the 36 year old Pakistani writer and musician, born and bred in Lahore, currently based out of East Village, New York was first morphed into a musical icon by Coke Studio Pakistan ( Ranjish Hi Sahi, Gulon Main Rang, Aaqa ), and then refashioned into a household Instagram companion through the COVID-19 lockdown. Urbanisation, consumerism and modern times have taken their toll and the Wada is crumbling and the family is splitting.
It is now on the brink of decadence following the death of its owner. Wada Chirebandi is also one such home in the rural settings of Maharashtra. Wada refers to the ancestral home which houses a joint family and is thus the hub of Indian family values. Written 35 years ago, this play still remains relevant as writer Mahesh Elkunchwar reasons, "Wada is not a simple family drama it is more than that, a document of social change, political change." The play spotlights the decline of the Wada culture in Maharashtra.