Exploring Partition, through music

Using music, the voices of Manto, Ali Sardar Jafri, Daman, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Amrita Pritam as well as personal accounts of ordinary people who survived the tragedy of Partition, come together to weave a retelling of the holocaust that tore our country apart, in Partition: Stories of Separation by Sonam Kalra & group. 

On stage with multiple award-winning singer and composer Sonam Kalra, is well-known Indian theatre actor, Salima Raza as well as an ensemble of musicians led by sarangi virtuoso Ahsan Ali. Also collaborating with her is one of India’s top visual artists, Gopika Chowfla and poet Deepak Ramola. The show made its debut at The India Habitat Centre’s Stein Auditorium in August 2016. The artistes were invited to showcase excerpts of their work in Muscat in December, 2016 and at the London School of Economics 70 years of India meet in March, 2017. They also showcased at Bikaner House, New Delhi to commemorate 70 years of India. “I hope that through this performance, the music, delving deeper and social media, we can enable a channel of communication where we can reach out to each other as people, neighbours and children of the same land,” says Sonam. Excerpts from a conversation...

As a kid, did you hear stories that made you think about this tragic period in Indian history?

The words of the Punjabi poet, Daman have resounded in my mind from the first time I read them and in many ways, these lines have been the stimulus for putting this project together. Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve heard stories about the Partition. Both sides of my family came from the part of Punjab that is now in Pakistan. My mother’s family was from Rawalpindi and my father’s from Sargoda. Even though I did not have to live through the pain of partition myself, I have always been moved to tears when talking about it with someone. I’ve often wondered why I should feel so deeply about it — perhaps it lies embedded in the memory of my DNA. And perhaps, it is this pain that has led me to question this further. I have always wished for peace between the two nations because every time I meet someone from the other side, I have found an underlying sense of kinship and love.

You have blended music, theatre, video and design to tell these stories. What was the thought behind using different mediums?

I wanted to use video, music and theatre because I incorporate as many voices and mediums to retell what happened, into this performance as I could. The first-person accounts on video are extremely moving and compelling, the actor recites passages of poetry as well as narrates stories and the music we have composed, is in many ways, a lament but also talks of a hope, bringing to life the poetry in the show.

Why do you think the younger generations, those whose lives have directly not been impacted by the tragedy, need to know about it?

It has been 70 years since the Partition and for many reasons; I decided to explore what the Partition meant, through music. Many of the stories we have heard from our grandparents will be lost with the passing of the older generation and they need to be preserved, honoured and to serve as lessons for generations to come. I hope that in revisiting these stories, we are able to empathise, ponder and realise the way forward — hopefully, a way of peace and co-existence based on a shared grief, a shared loss, a shared history and a shared love.

How did you go about putting together the show? 

I spent over a year researching the works of poets and writers from both sides and composed the music for this performance based on their poetry and inspired by their stories. I also worked with a contemporary poet — two of his poems are used in the show. 

Partition: Stories of Separation by Sonam Kalra & group tomorrow at 6.30 pm at NCPA.