Music lovers in Hyderabad will have a unique opportunity to observe various rare tribal and folk musical instruments from Telangana and the Deccan region at 'Adi Dhwani' – an exhibition that is set to open its doors later this week.
The exhibition will be held between November 9 and 13, from 11.30 am to 8.30 pm at the State Art Gallery in Madhapur.
The organisers of the event said that this was the first such exhibition in the Telugu states, and over 120 instruments categorised into wind, solid, string and percussion will be on display.
"The required work has not been done in the areas of tribal and folk arts. The features of modernity and urbanisation have made the lives of the artists scattered. Their indigenous collection and lifestyles have been diminishing day by day, and some are lost forever," said G Manoja, the convenor of Adi Dhwani, in a statement. Manoja is a professor at the Palamuru University in Mahbubnagar, and heads the Department of English.
The instruments have been collected over three decades with a lot of field work for research by academics. Most of the instruments were collected by renowned academic Prof Jayadheer Tirumala Rao.
"We strived a lot to trace the artists and instruments. If there was an instrument, the artist was no more. In some instances, artists were alive but the instruments had perished," Manoja said.
The organisers said that the goal of the exhibition was not purely to look at the instruments as something from the past, rather, to work towards their resurgence and perpetuation.
"It is very encouraging to observe some of the groups, sub castes and sects preserved their instruments. In order to safeguard the legacy of their music, we thought of picking up new artists and to inculcate interest in them to learn these traditional instruments, so that they escape the ring of extinction," Manoja added.
The organisers also hope that after the exhibition, a 'Museum of Folk and Tribal Musical Instruments' is set up in Hyderabad, to permanently display the instruments and urge the younger generation to pick up the music.
TNM had earlier spoken to Dasari Kondappa, one of the last few players of the Burra Veena, a stringed instrument unique to the state. Watch the video below.