Thoti tribe members from Adilabad preform with traditional instruments like Kikri, Juttur and Dhaki in Hyderabad. | Photograph: Nagara Gopal
Musical instruments of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribal and folkloric communities, particularly those of the Telangana region, will be the focus of a seminar organized by the Nantes Indo-European Advanced Research Network (IEARN) in France.
Jayadhir Tirmal Rao and Gudur Manoj – the team of ‘AadyaKala’ – will present a paper titled ‘Material Culture in Museums’, on ironwork, manuscripts and tools that illustrate musical instruments of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribal and folkloric communities. in their daily lives.
Mr. Rao, a well-known researcher, scholar and founder of the Adi Dhwani Foundation, along with Manoja, will also present the contributions of his painstaking work of collecting material over four decades and his efforts to establish five museums. It also includes details about the artifacts and nuances of their manufacture, their peculiarities and utilitarian purposes.
The seminar and workshop will be held from December 13 to 17 at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Nantes under the title ‘Towards India-Africa Humanities Dialogue’.
Daniel Negers, associate professor of social anthropology at Inalco – Langues O’ Paris, who is a member of the Aadya Kala group, would also speak about the efforts of Mr. Rao and Mr. Manoja.
The team will depart for Paris on December 4, 2022, where Vishal V. Sharma will meet India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UNESCO, besides curators and other important officials from various museums.