"The Manganiyar Seduction"

Generally, music serves as background in the theatre. This time it’s the other way round: Roysten Abel utilises the theatre to create a magical surrounding for music. “I wanted to stage the music like a play, with lights and scenery”, explains the director from Southern India. He places the musicians in forty booths reminiscent of Amsterdam’s red light district due to their red curtains. They are Manganiyars, of the musicians’ caste, who traditionally sang their ballads before the kings of Rajasthan. “In Amsterdam’s red light district it’s all about the seduction of the body. Here, the soul is seduced”, Abel interprets the astonishing setting.
“The Manganiyar Seduction” raises a single voice and develops a complex musical construction with traditional Indian instruments and singers from three generations. The Sufi poems set to music praise Allah and tell the story about the birth of Krishna with melodious, enchanting music that transports the listeners to the desert of Rajasthan.


Trailer THE MANGANIYAR SEDUCTION!