Music maestros come forward to harness talent of inmates in Jammu central jail.
When Pt Bhajan Sopori played santoor and sang bandishes he could not believe the audience will be so much talented to replay the same in their melodious voices.
Welcome to the central jail Kotbalwal Jammu, the house for 500 hardcore militants, stone-throwers and other criminals. This jail is now writing a new history by becoming the powerhouse of talent for the maestros who want to launch the albums of the prisoners having aptitude in music and poetry.
“I was initially skeptical about the response I would get from the jail inmates. The way they sang along with me and reciprocated my bandishes was wonderful. I can say with all my experience that a history was created”, said Pt Sopori.
Such was the impact that Sopori decided to develop the skills of prisoners and launch their albums. “I told them if some one is a writer or poet he could give his work to me which I could get it corrected or edited so that it could be used as lyrics. And if someone can sing, we could further work on his skills and launch his album under the banner of SaMaPa (Sopori Academy of Music and Performing Arts)”, said Sopori.
The aim of such concerts is to educate and reform the prisoners besides help them earn a place in society. “When they go home they should not feel dejected. Our aim is to educate them through music”, he said.
Under this initiative, santoor maestro and music composer Abhay Rustum Sopori will introduce workshops to teach instrumental and vocal music to prisoners. “SaMaPa will also try to create an orchestra featuring only the jail inmates. The prisoners go through lots of stress and there is an expressionless behavior in them and he intends to create a musically inclined sensitivity in them”, said Abhay.
Jail authorities are also pining hope on musicians to help in reforming the prisoners. “Music is a way of expressing emotions and feeling. We want to have regular (musical) programmes. We also want to train prisoners to learn music. We want to utilize their jail term properly”, said Naveen Agarwal, additional director general of prisons.
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