Maraa - a media and arts collective

Name: Maraa - a media and arts collective
Address: No. 8, Roshni, Binnamangala H Colony, 1st Main Road, HAL 1st Stage, Bangalore, 560038, IN
Telephone: +916366646052
Rating: 5

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Maraa - a media and arts collective

media and arts collective based in Bangalore and Delhi. maraa, means tree, death, woman, roots, rain, demon... We are registered as a public charitable trust.
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Maraa is a media and arts collective, founded in 2008. Rather than a thematic focus on issues, our arts and media practices are located at the intersection of gender, labor, caste and religion. We highlight imaginations and histories that are systematically suppressed, censored and reductively framed. Our work involves research, writing and documentation ; curation, practice and production. We bel

ieve everyone has a right to access and use media, and work to democratize and diversify its use. Critical of the biases and gaps in mainstream media, our work highlights connections between media ownership, technology and social realities. In contrast to approaches that use arts and culture instrumentally to achieve other purposes (political or economic), we see cultural politics as a primary site of our work. We are attentive to differences in lived experience, worldviews and aspirations that can challenge the dominant frames within which knowledge is produced. Through creative practice,we highlight daily discrimination, violence, resistance and resilience. We imagine our work as a long continuous journey of learning and unlearning, breaking and forming. www.maraa.in

22/03/2024

CONSTRUCTIONS OF MASCULINITY
We are very happy to launch the executive summary of a research study on the "Construction of Masculinity", that has been a labor of love, filled with challenges, learnings and epiphanies.

The study sought to critically review approaches to masculinity within the development sector, highlighting patterns, challenges and assumptions. We spoke to 24 different civil society organizations and unions across the country who are working on masculinity. Along with this, we invited 11 individuals from diverse socio-cultural contexts, to produce ethnographies on the formation of masculinities in their daily lives. They reflected on their own life and play of masculinity within the self, home and relationships, community, work space, public space and media in their life. As primary researchers we also shared and included our own experiences.

The responses reveal the close and significant intersection between caste, religion, labor, media, s*xuality and masculinity. They provide evidence that masculinity needs to be situated contextually, and development sector approaches must move beyond merely 'engaging with boys and men.'

We realise we have only scratched the surface, and there remains more to be explored with regard to creating space for diverse definitions and expressions of masculinity & challenging the dominant ideals of masculinity that we all feel encircled by. Recently we launched a fellowship program to open up a space for creative explorations around masculinity. The response has been overwhelming and we will announce selected fellows shortly. We are also in the process of developing multi lingual workbooks that can help initiate conversations on masculinity in diverse social contexts.

The full length research study will be released shortly. In the meantime, please do circulate the executive summary & share your thoughts and feedback with us!

https://maraa.in/portfolio/masculinities-research-study/
Painting by our dear friend harish

08/03/2024

On the occasion of international working women's day,
a call to dismantle oppressive, rigid, moralistic masculinities
to create fresh ways of seeing and being,
that are playful, fluid, sensitive and equal.

APPLY NOW: https://www.maraa.in/mirrorsfellowship

05/03/2024

MIRRORS
A creative fellowship on masculinities
This fellowship program creates an open space for diverse expressions of masculinity. There is no fixed definition, no single experience. We wish to challenge ‘ideals’ of masculinity that make people conform. We also hope to illustrate the playful imagnations around masculinity to break down structures that are rigid, oppressive and moralistic. The fellowship is a way to creatively question the daily performance of masculinity, through habits, practices, norms, symbols and visuals. You can pick any form you wish - dance, theater, comedy, film, visual art, painting, writing, music etc to create a piece of work. We hope these works will allow us to unsettle our ways of seeing and thinking, and sense the fluidity in the world around us, through diverse sounds, textures and colors. These do not need to be fully finished works, but can also be presented as the birth of an idea, something on the verge of ‘becoming’. The works should have a feminist approach, in line with the findings of the research study. The final showcase will take place in October Jam 2024, maraa’s annual arts festival.
APPLY: https://www.maraa.in/mirrorsfellowship

20/02/2024

https://map-india.org/map-events/truth-dream/
SAVE THE DATE for this SPECIAL EVENING
release of KANNADI, a book that resulted after conversations with friends in TRUTH DREAM.
Written by Ravi Ranjan
The book will be released by our darling RUMI HARISH
In conversation with Chandini Gagana and Ekta Ra

Followed by TALKI, a play that will take you the subterranean side of the city, to give a glimpse into a transitioning world.

February 24, 2024 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Join us for a day of stories and theatre centred around the TRUTH DREAM project — a photo exhibit developed by Payana, in collaboration with Maraa, a media and arts collective. Payana is an organisation that works for the rights of people who identify as s*x...

16/02/2024

This evening, our friend who came with his play in 2008 for the very first October jam, with his group pandies with two plays. Sanjay Kumar is back in Bangalore with his new book. Hope you all can make it.

About the Author:
Sanjay is a practitioner of activist theatre. As the founding President of Pandies’ theatre and the director/chief facilitator of its productions and workshops from 1993 onwards, he has been creating performances with and for the marginalized in India for over 20 years. He has directed over 40 plays for the proscenium, many kinds of activist plays in communities over the country and worked in close conjunction with many groups and communities enabling the young of these to create their own problems around their own problems and visions.

About the Book:
Drawing on the writer’s experience of three and a half decades of performing, teaching and writing theatre, this book explores the performance practice of a theatre group (pandies’ theatre, Delhi) by placing this practice in a frame of international activist theatre movements. The teaching aspect provides a historical backdrop and the writing of plays adds depth and sharpens the political position. It identifies theatre as a force for changing society across the centuries and beyond national borders. The book examines a large variety of theatrical experiences, including well-known forms of proscenium, workshop and street theatre.

12/02/2024

Looking back is like a sunset.
we set up maraa with the dream of being able to sense the world for what it is,
staying grounded and rooted to the spirit of interdependency.
Changing shapes and forms, we are here now.
16 years later, still small, realising that there is still so much more for us to learn.
Thank you all for being part of our journey.
To finding new ways of seeing and making.

much love,
angarika, anushi, nihal, ram and ekta
team maraa

07/02/2024

After a warm opening,
We are back with another open mic!

At maraa, we have tried to find ways to create spaces to support emerging comedians. Particularly voices that can diffuse & subvert the stereotypes and hierarchies that exist in the mainstream stand up comedy circuit. In conversation with our friends, they've often shared how difficult it is to find spaces where they can perform their sets without fear of censorship, judgement and morality : intrinsic to the very form of comedy.

Happy to support a new initiative in collaboration with Tribe@Dhwani to host open mics and comedy shows in the city, as a way to support emerging comics. A space to perform, laugh, fail, and try it all over again!

📅 **Date:** -8th Feb 2024
⏰ **Time:** 9.00 pm - 10.00 pm
📍 **Location:** Dhwani, Indiranagar

All are welcome but you can support us by buying an optional ticket. Link in bio!

02/02/2024

ATTENTION BANGALORE!

In addition to our terrace which is open for workshops, rehearsals, performances, we are also opening out this room in our office for rent. Perfect for meetings, writing, studio work, or just some time for yourself. Located in our beautiful office, just off 100 feet road, in the quiet serenity of Hutting Colony . In addition to the room, there is a common balcony and terrace that you can use if you wish to. There is also delicious lunch, tea&coffee.

As for us,we are a small team. We use the office for team meetings, workshops, rehearsals and jams with friends and artists. If you'd like to share space with us and want to know more, send us a DM!

01/02/2024

At maraa, we have tried to find ways to support emerging comedians. Particularly voices that can diffuse & subvert the stereotypes and hierarchies that exist in the mainstream sta d up comedy circuit. In conversation with our friends, they've often shared how difficult it is to find spaces where they can perform their sets without fear of censorship, judgement and morality : intrinsic to the very form of comedy.

Happy to support a new initiative in collaboration with to host open mics and comedy shows in the city, as a way to support emerging comics. A space to perform, laugh, fail, and try it all over again!

📅 **Date:** -4th Feb 2024
⏰ **Time:** 9.00 pm - 10.00 pm
📍 **Location:** Dhwani, Indiranagar

Ticket link
https://insider.in/after-hours-comedy-drinks-feb4-2024/event
https://in.bookmyshow.com/events/after-hours-comedy-drinks/ET00385672?webview=true

31/01/2024

Celebrating multiple imaginations of s*xuality and poetry with Shals Mahajan and Joshua Muyiwa. Join us tonight at 7 pm via the link in bio!

30/01/2024

Q***r poets collective & maraa
Present
POET IN FOCUS
Featuring
Shals Mahajan ()
&
Joshua Muwiya ()

31St January I 7-8pm

Join us for this beautiful sharing between two poets, as they share what drew them to poetry and how their lived experience flows into their poems (and vice versa!). The poets will be reading from their respective collections, followed by an interaction with the audience.

About the poets:

Shals Mahajan is a writer, activist, layabout, part feline, somewhat hooman genderqueer fellow who lives in Bombay, but mainly in their head. Their published works include Timmi in Tangles and Timmi and Rizu and Reva and Prisha. They've also co-authored No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy.

Joshua Muyiwa, not yet 39, started writing because he was told, ‘it is time to stop seeming arty and pretentious and actually earn the tags by doing something'. He's a poet-performer, columnist, freelance journalist, who has written on art & culture, food, gender and s*xuality for local, national and international publications. He won the Toto Award for Creative Writing in English in 2012, won the Emerging Poets contest by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective in 2017, was a recipient of the Gender Bender Grant 2019, where he collaborated to make Camp: Notes on Bangalore, a series of eight videos installed on old-school TV screens. He has also created Come, Lie With Me, a duration poetry performance in 2020 within the framework of Five Million Incidents 2019-2020, realised by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan in collaboration with Raqs Media Collective.

*This is an online event. Please join through this link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89818185622?pwd=03MRPcDBDIolfXfOLXMNAZLYUPzCsa.1
Spread the word, all are welcome!

23/01/2024

Amidst the din of orange, we wanted to share our experience of a week spent in Shamli, Western UP, to instill hope in the act of making, sharing and collectivising.
& maraa were hosted by the spirited , that is doing incredibly nuanced work on ground, to diffuse hate and discrimination. We traveled to the villages of Ahmadgadh, Kandhla, Rashidgadh, Dhanaina and Agdipur, to perform in people's homes, the panchayat halls, and health centers. Each space was quickly transformed for an intimate viewing and no set up was complete without the help of the local electricians who had to come repair our board!

We met women from different faiths, beliefs and worldviews who huddled together in the biting cold to watch the performance. An hour or two away from their daily routine, to watch a show that is nothing like anything they've seen before, yet closely resonant, somewhat familiar..

The discussions that followed the show laid bare the web of moralities that ensure violence is intact: mahila hi mahila ki dushman hai ; agar doosre jaati mein pyar ho jaye, toh kaam aage nahi badhega, apni marzi se shaadi nahi ho sakti.. yet in between the claustrophobia, there is always room for playful escape, for wily negotiations, for a resistance that we may not immediately recognise. It is not always what it appears ; as the lyrics of a song the women played for us after a show, "chunni ke neeche lagave perfume".

We learnt alot from the & their community leaders, particularly how to accept and work with differences, with the hope of finding a common language..given the intensity of the political climate, this feels more necessary than ever before. To not rest easy in our own stereotypes about others and not get complacent in our gaze on the world.

A big big thank you to the team, Revati Laul, Ashvani, Furkan bhai, Rajan, Sunny, Ruksana Didi and all the community leaders who ensured all of us drank hot water, ate well, slept comfortably, and opened up their world with us, around the crackling fire. It is rare to meet groups that really respect and believe in the arts with such humility and warmth. We will be back, shortly!

21/01/2024

Kudos to the news minute team for putting this out at this moment. Before tomorrow, there is history.

There is a complacent narrative about south India that we are somehow better than our compatriots in the north. We are no doubt ahead in material terms: education, healthcare, infrastructure, industrial performance, employment and such. But it would be dishonest to attribute this imbalance to any inherent gap in intellect, ability or culture between north Indians and south Indians.

There are many historical and geographical coincidences that are responsible for this lopsided growth. Yet, the politics of the land and social policies are thought to be the only reasons for our progress. Some would say we are more prosperous because we are more socially progressive.

Are we really less casteist, sectarian, or patriarchal? Is southern Tamil Nadu any safer for Dalits than western Uttar Pradesh? Is coastal Karnataka safer for Muslims than Gujarat? Are Adivasis in Attapadi in Kerala doing better than their compadres in Dandakaranya? Are the men in south Indian cinema less predatory towards women? Is there a material difference between the feudal tendencies of Thakurs, Rajputs, Patels, Jats or Yadavs and Vokkaligas, Reddys, Kammas, Nairs or Thevars?

There is no easy way to answer these questions, not the least because social attitudes are hard to measure. But it becomes important to ask these questions when the entire nation appears to be in the throes of a casteist, sectarian, patriarchal ideology. As in the north, Hindutva activists are going door-to-door in every district of the five southern states, reminding people to celebrate the inauguration of the temple in Ayodhya and the man doing the inauguration.

Where does that leave a group of journalists like us who are in love with the Dravida homeland? I suppose it pushes us to be more demanding of that which we love.

The News Minute is a political outlet in the sense that we report on the political economy. But for those who follow our reporters and editors closely, we are a political outlet in the sense that each of us is a political person who is transparent about their ideological inspirations.

It’s with this sentiment that we commissioned a six-part series of stories to remind our readers of the historical factors that have today emboldened saffron-clad activists to boldly walk up to our doorstep and demand our loyalty to their cause.

The six reporters travelled back to the 1980s and early 1990s to find that, much like today, no part of the peninsula was untouched by the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Karnataka was as enthusiastic then as it is now about militant Hindutva. But the other states in the region weren't entirely immune to the flames of hate.

These stories should challenge whatever complacencies we might entertain about southern exceptionalism. They focus not just on the excesses of right-wing extremists but also on the failure of the so-called secular parties to walk their talk.

Lakshmi Priya’s visit to Pudupalli Theruvu in Kerala’s Palakkad forces us to relive one of the most heartbreaking episodes of that turbulent period. She exhumes details from the cold-blooded killing of an 11-year-old Muslim girl by the Kerala police, who tried to justify the atrocity by accusing the child of leading a violent mob.

The second Kerala story by Cris reminds us that while the state was relatively peaceful compared to the rest of the south, the tumult of those days gave the Sangh Parivar its first opportunity to mobilise sympathisers at the grassroots level.

Akchayaa Rajkumar’s story from Tamil Nadu traces the origin of today’s surge to 1981. That’s when 1,500 Dalits converted to Islam in Meenakshipuram to break out of the Hindu caste system, which had a vice-like grip on them in the land of Periyar. The mass conversion provided the first spark that ignited the Ayodhya movement across the country.

Balakrishna Ganeshan writes about the contribution of undivided Andhra Pradesh in the mayhem of the 90s by recalling that at least 23,000 kar sevaks from the state travelled to Ayodhya for the demolition of the Babri mosque. Of them, a group from Karimnagar, the constituency of the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, was handpicked by LK Advani to lead the kar seva.

In the second story from Telugu land, Jahnavi Bathala provides an insight into the fascinating life of a world-famous sweet maker, business tycoon, and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement’s money man.

In a journalistic quest to uncover the foundation of Hindutva’s rise in the 1990s, Karnataka would require its own separate series. Shivani Kava’s story tugs at the most prominent strain in this complex braid: a soft-spoken seer from Udupi who became the national face of the Ayodhya disturbances. Shivani’s story is also helpful in understanding the exodus of the powerful Lingayat community from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the rise of BS Yediyurappa.

Through our reportage and commentary, TNM’s journalists strive to hold south India’s political leaders to the highest standards. It is both a professional commitment and a labour of love to protect all that we cherish about the place we call home. In this time, when millions are being poured into the politics of autocracy and hate, the few thousands you spend on us is an investment in the politics of democracy and love. For that, we are eternally grateful.

19/01/2024

Last two slots left!
Join us for an acting workshop with , theatre artist, teacher and film critic. Now, more than ever, is the time to tell stories that can shake up our ways of seeing and thinking. A 4 day workshop exploring sound, silence, gesture and words, this is a fabulous opportunity for beginners and those with experience, alike!
Sign up now!

08/01/2024

BILKIS BANU, may you sleep well tonight.
We are all with you.

Bilkis Yakub Rasool’s Statement
January 8, 2024

As the Supreme Court bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan quashed the remission granted to the 11 men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering 14 members of her family in 2002

Today is truly the New Year for me. I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again. This is what justice feels like. I thank the honourable Supreme Court of India for giving me, my children and women everywhere, this vindication and hope in the promise of equal justice for all.

I have said before, and I say again today, journeys like mine can never be made alone. I have had my husband and my children by my side. I have had my friends who have given me so much love at a time of such hate, and held my hand at each difficult turn. I have had an extraordinary lawyer, Advocate Shobha Gupta, who has walked with me unwaveringly for over 20 long years, and who never allowed me to lose hope in the idea of justice.

A year and half ago, on August 15, 2022, when those who had destroyed my family and terrorised my very existence, were given an early release, I simply collapsed. I felt I had exhausted my reservoir of courage. Until a million solidarities came my way. Thousands of ordinary people and women of India came forward. They stood with me, spoke for me, and filed PIL petitions in the Supreme Court. 6000 people from all over, and 8500 people from Mumbai wrote appeals; 10,000 people wrote an Open Letter, as did 40,000 people from 29 districts of Karnataka. To each of these people, my gratitude for your precious solidarity and strength. You gave me the will to struggle, to rescue the idea of justice not just for me, but for every woman in India. I thank you.

Even as I absorb the full meaning of this verdict for my own life, and for my children’s lives, the dua that emerges from my heart today is simple – the rule of law, above all else and equality before law, for all.

Bilkis Bano, Jan 8, 2024
(Issued through Adv. Shobha Gupta)

06/01/2024

Bangalore!

We are very happy to start the year with an acting workshop by our dear friend Pritham Chakravarthy. The workshop will guide participants on different ways of telling stories so that we might be able to imagine the world around us differently..with an alertness and sensitivity. A play between gesture, speech, silence, do not miss this opportunity to work with one of the finest and subversive performers of our times!

Registration details in poster, entry is first come first serve.

02/01/2024

FIREFLY WOMEN
14th Jan | 7pm | Maraa, Indiranagar

Link to tkt and RSVP: https://linktr.ee/fireflywomen

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE:
"Firefly Women" is an interactive Physical that explores ideas of feminist utopia against the backdrop of letters written from jail by three women. The piece attempts to find inroads into solidarity, collective dreaming, resilience and hope in dark times.

[ Important note: The show at Maraa will be on the terrace with no lift access. ]

performers: Priiya & Manjari | dramaturgy: Nisha Abdulla | sound: Neel Chaudhuri | costumes designed by Sandhya Raman ( Tailoring by Team Desmania (Tilak Singh, Pawan, Ajit Singh)| set constructed by Jaan Mohammad | puppets made by Shobhit Tandon & Manjari | mediation & wellness: Jasmine Yadav | poster photo by De-Da Productions | directed by Manjari Kaul

21/12/2023

Another day, another show, another wedding hall.
It feels like poetic justice to transform wedding venues into spaces for theatre. "How many brides must have stood here in silence and fear? Today's show is dedication to them". The discussion took a while to start. Can the Bahu speak in front of the saans, and the saans in front of her Bahu? The usual impulse to blame "samaaj" for everything, slowly crept deeper and closer to ourselves. The silence, tension and jealousy between women. The violence of tradition. "Puri zindagi seva mein chali jaati hai". No time for a cup of tea. It can only change if we shake ourselves. Do something different. Stand up for each other.

Post the show, we crossed over to the main chouraha in the village. Not a woman or girl in sight. We stood there drinking a cup of tea together. A few women from that village confessed they had never dared to stand there alone, let alone drink chai. Here's to the thrill of a first.

The sun began to set as we loaded the car for the drive back to Bhopal. One of the actors shared that the women in the audience reminds them of themselves a few years ago. Theatre was a route to freedom. The work has begun. There is a long way to go.

19/12/2023

"कान गरम हो गए, कुछ पल दिल को भिड़ से गए"
Our opening show in Paradsinga was at a government boys school. As the school children trooped back home, the women came by to watch the show. In the discussion after, one of the women said, सब कुछ अनुभव किया है, लेकिन response कभी नही दिया". The performance shakes up memories that have been dormant a long time..on watching, we suddenly find ourselves in the scenes. मां को बेटी की सहेली बनानी चाहिए. All the mothers in the audience shared how difficult it is anticipate what might happen to their daughters. "लड़की भटक जाती है, कच्ची उमर रहती है" to which one of the actors promptly responded, how come we are quick to get the girl married to total stranger but so worried about her safety if she dares to fall in love? The pot was stirred. Later, we were discussing, what do we seek for in an audience? Disagreement or consensus? How can we open up the space more for women to share how they feel, what they have experienced, particularly when they are seated right next to their daughters/sisters/ in laws? New questions & realizations are surfacing with each show..

17/12/2023

On the road with Freeda
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Our opening show in MP was hosted by the warm and generous team of educators at . We spent the day soaking in the winter sun that filters through their beautifully made classrooms. Toward the evening, the women from the nearby villages came for the show, having stolen a precious hour away from household duties and family obligations. We were nervous about the show because one of the actors, Mamta didi, fell sick right before and was unable to perform. The team was shaken, but filled the space with ease and determination. Watching women watch the show always reveals a different play..expressions range from softness, skepticism, a quiet smile, sorrow, incomprehension. 'marriage changes a woman's life completely' shared one of the older women, after a long pause. The performance reminded us of a lost time. Someone said she didn't understand anything. Others pieced together their own meanings, chronologies, connections..at one point we all fell silent and just sat looking at each other..

Listening to the discussion we were reminded me of a similar afternoon, 3 years ago, when we (anushi & angarika) performed Chu kar Dekho for an audience of women, a few of whom would go on to become the actors of Freeda. After the sharing, there was a similar pause and resonance. We extended an invitation to join a theatre making journey. One performance led to another..and here we are now. Where does this road go next?

For now, we head off into the night for the next series of shows, in chindwara district. Follow us & for glimpses from our tour!

15/12/2023

returns with another series of feldenkrais. Come by if you'd like to end the year on a note of restoration, reconnection and alignment.

Michel combines his dance experience and the Feldenkrais Method in workshops, to offer the participants a space of creativity and self-discovery. Through slow movement explorations from the Feldenkrais Method and variations of actions in a larger range, he leads people from functionality to a better quality of movement. This first step can then become a new foundation, for work in dance, in improvisation and in performing arts or, in general, by increasing people’s sense of listening to themselves and to the others, and from this open state of being, to find more spontaneous responses in life’s demands and interactions.

Address

No. 8, Roshni, Binnamangala H Colony, 1st Main Road, HAL 1st Stage
Bangalore
560038

Opening Hours

Monday

10:30am - 6am

Telephone

+916366646052

Website

http://maraa.in/

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Videos

Last few slots available for Pritham Chakravarthy's acting workshop. 25th -28th January. 4-8pm. Register on +91 78388 19669. Exploring ways of storytelling through sound, silence, gesture and play. Do not miss a chance to learn from this fabulous performer!

In the past couple of years, @kinaripurrs has emerged as one of the foremost voices for the LGBTQ+ community in India's hip-hop scene. She celebrates her identity as a kinnar in her lyrics ("pretty avaz baby mai kinnar" on "PURRRRR") and also brings her firsthand experience in Portland's ballroom community to India (as on her debut EP Jimmy Vogue, released Nov 2021). Sampling disco tracks, riot grrrl rock, house music, clips from Paris Is Burning, and interviews with Indian trans activists consistently demonstrating a singularity of vision.Her latest project, a collaborative LP (smart girls don't pass) with Delhi-based trans producer nasbandi, flips archival recordings of legendary house-mother Carmen Xtravaganza and features Delhi's iconic singer-songwriter Pho. Her upcoming hip hop mixtape 'Kattar Kinar', is releasing later this year under her new stage name, KINARI, will be a radical sonic expression of life in Delhi's Khirkee Extension. Intertwined with the beat of wedding bands outside her window, the coruscating pulse of gaana songs and cuts of Mari Selvaraj films, 'Kattar Kinnar' is a celebration of the present. Because the trans imaginary is found out on the streets, with the people, uncompromising and unafraid. We had the pleasure of hosting Kinari's southern debut during October Jam 2023, where she set the stage on fire with her razor sharp lyrics and fearless style. In this conversation, Kinari talks about the different aspects of her practice, like nerding out on samples, home grown beats, navigating hostile performance spaces and creating music for people like her, to feel 'seen, beautiful and sexy'.

Against the Tide Featuring @rajukumarranjan30 Raju Ranjan is a jangayek, a singer-performer and theatre artist, who performs amidst us people, about our common struggles of equality and justice. He comes from a family of landless agricultural labourers from Ara, Bihar. He has a diploma in Theatre from the Bhopal School of Drama, and he has been active as a theatre artist and cultural activist since a very young age. Raju also works closely with his collaborator Piyush Kashyap, at zeropowercut. Set in Bihar, @zeropowercut.work is a research-and-development lab for collective productions that investigate the role of art, aesthetics and language in how caste is coded in the real. We heard about Raju through @zeropowercut.work and had the pleasure of inviting him for October Jam, where he performed as part of a concert in memory of Gaddar. In this conversation, Raju shares his journey and practice as a performer, raising pertinent questions and meditations on the relationship between labor, culture and the body. Link in the bio for the complete entire interview!

Episode 12 of #AgainstTheTide with Teesta Troupers In 2022, the Teesta Troupers came to life in a jam room below a garage on the Teesta Highway. ‘Trouper’ originates from one who is part of a theatre troupe, who are also no strangers to difficult conditions in the line of duty and thus realizes the show must always go on. Teesta Troupers are a collective of musicians, rappers and songwriters. Their music draws from their experience of growing up along the highway, and reflects the hope, hustle and melancholy of life in the Teesta valley. Featuring Asis aka Sound of the Streets, Anil Aka Mr. Anix, Manoj Aka MJ Humble and Sudeep Aka Dj Sudp. Link in bio for the whole interview!

A glimpse into the journey of Freeda Theatre. A path they chose, paths they resisted. Searching for a room of their own. Freeda takes the stage to challenge notions of beauty, morality and discrimination. Come meet their gaze and see what it leaves you feeling. To finding justice in places least expected. Our first public show is on 19th November at @khulikhirkee . RSVP link in bio, spread the word, all are welcome!

#AgainstTheTide with Nisha Abdulla This episode we are in conversation with Nisha Abdulla. Nisha is a Bangalore based theatremaker practicing as playwright, director, dramaturg, and educator. She articulates her anti-oppressive arts practice as one that places care, curiosity and community at the core of the creation process. She is Artistic Director of Qabila, where her work centers new writing around lived experience and the dissenting imagination. And founder member of OffStream, an artist collective that makes and enables creative projects around anti-caste advocacy.

@ankurtangade and @bluematerialgigs are performing tonight at @bicblr . Blue Material - An All Dalit Dtand Up Comedy Show this time with an extended lineup featuring comics from Beed, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad! RSVP link in bio

Meet @anudeep_katikala . Blue material comic from Hyderabad. RSVP for tonight’s show at the link in bio!

October Jam presents Blue Material | @bicblr | 7Pm Blue comedy is a style of comedy that is off-color, risqué, indecent or profane, including discussion around sex. The color blue is also associated with the Anti-Caste movement signifying the color of the sky, a representation of non-discrimination, that under the sky, everyone is believed to be equal. Which brings us to Blue Material, a stand-up comedy show and collective with an all Dalit lineup. This often takes place as a 90 minute show, featuring 5 comedians from Delhi, Mumbai, Beed & Hyderabad. Our show is grounded within the personal as political; we use humor to highlight the realities of caste and intersecting forms of oppression. RSVP link in bio

@yalgaar14 invites you for a special gathering featuring a fantastic line up of musicians, paying tribute to Gaddar. You don't want to miss this show, RSVP in bio!

#AgainstTheTide episode 10 with @manjeet_not_sarkar This October jam we had the pleasure of host in our dear friend Manjeet. The conversation is a part hilarious part introspective exploration of Manjeet’s work, his ideas around his craft as a comedian and the histories that have influenced it. Link in bio for the whole interview

October Jam “Lightning” presents #AgainstTheTide with Dadapeer Jyman For this episode we are very happy to be hosting our dear friend @dadapeerjyman . Dadapeer Jyman is a Kannada poet, writer, translator, and member of the Queer Poets Collective based in Bangalore. IHis poems and short stories have been published in the leading Kannada newspapers and periodicals. His first collection of short stories, Neelakurinji, Vaishnavi Prakashan, 2021, won the 2022 National Sahitya Akademi Young Litterateur Prize for Kannada, the 2021 Masti Venkatesh Iyegar Book Prize, one of the highest awards for Kannada literature, and was among the youngest, at twenty-nine, to receive the prize and the Rajyotsava award from Gulbarga University.  Dadapeer recently won the TOTO Awards 2023 for creative writing in Kannada. His translation from English to Kannada, published by Chanda Pustaka in 2021, of Purdah and Polygamy: Life in an Indian Muslim Household by Iqbalunnisa Hussain, originally published in 1944 by Hosali Press, Bangalore, was awarded the Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati Prize that recognizes the best translations from any language into Kannada. Link in bio for the full interview.

Fun fact- @gauleybhai made their debut back in 2017 at October Jam. Six years on, an album and several tours later, we are happy to feature them once again, in a special concert alongside their brothers @teestatroupers! This is a show you don't want to miss. RSVP link in bio, show up Bangalore ! Entry free, all are welcome! All donations made at the gig go directly toward relief efforts in the wake of the Teesta floods.

In 2022, @gauleybhai returned to Teesta to set up a space for young musicians in the region to collaborate, jam and make music. A room below the mechanics shop transformed into a jam room, and the Teesta Troupers were born, a collective of rappers, songwriters and musicians. The Troupers collaborated to produce an album featuring songs that induce the melancholy, hustle and everyday life of living and working along the Teesta highway. As we were planning for this performance, we got news of the raging flood that has submerged the Teesta region. Locals have had a premonition for years, but the authorities in charge of building dams across the river paid no heed. Due to profit and greed, hundreds of people find themselves displaced. The death toll is still unknown. We recently heard that the Troupers jam room was also swept away in the flood. Inspite of this, against all odds, the Troupers are making their way to Bangalore for their debut performance alongside @gauleybhai. This a special concert because all proceeds will go directly toward ongoing relief efforts in Teesta. Please come out, show up and stand in support with our brothers from Teesta! ++ we are very happy to have our friends @gauleybhai back at October Jam! RSVP link in bio, show up for an evening of incredible music!

#AgainstTheTide with Rumi Harish Rumi ruminates about his journey with music, his discomfort with the classical form, what his music gives voice to and about writing and painting as a passion that allows him to freely express his inner voice. The ease with which his creativity flows, and the memory of his struggles over the years, keeps Rumi’s spirit ticking. In conversation with Ekta from maraa, we present you AGAINST THE TIDE WITH RUMI HARISH. Rumi Harish is a queer trans man. He has been working in the field of social justice and human rights of various marginalised communities like contract based sanitation workers union, transgenders, queers and sex workers for the last 22 years. He started learning Hindustani classical music at the age of 8 and learnt under 6 Gurus all over India like Late Pandit Ramarao Naik, Pandit Yeshwant Bua Joshi, Pandit Dattatreya Garud, Pandit Indhudhar Nirody, Panditha Aditi Upadhya and Pandith Sudhindra Bahowmick. He is now going through his voice transition and is trying out a new way of singing and use of voice. He has written 3 plays called Sanchari, Liberty Begum and A Journey A to E, and is a regular columnist in EEdina .com. He had focussed on crisis intervention and worked with Sunil Mohan for 18 years. Presently he is focusing to develop the regional cultural aspects of queer and trans communities. Jaunpuri Khayal is his autobiography.

October Jam “Lightning” presents @clanbokkaphod & co. Today 6PM at Samsa auditorium. A rap concert featuring narratives of resilience, of people, of life and of love. A different imagination if the city. We believe the artists and the concert will bring a different energy and charge to this years October jam “Lightning.” We hope to see you all at the show. RSVP link in bio

Against the Tide Episode 8 In conversation with Brahma Prakash. Brahma Prakash is a writer, cultural theorist and Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. His writings and opinions have appeared on various platforms from academic journals to popular media platforms such as Scroll, Wire, Outlook, India Today, Print, Aljazeera and BBC. In this conversation, Brahma talks about his work on unsettling elite categories that have been used to classify folk performance, drawing attention to the pertinent connection between culture and labor. The conversation also explores his journey as a writer, dwelling on notions of body, memory and history. Link in bio for the full episode

Last October Jam’s concert with @pashabhai.cbp , @clanbokkaphod and co was experience to remember. Featuring a lineup of 10 plus artists from Bangalore and in particular Neelasandra, they introduced us to a new imagination of the city. This year we are very happy to be hosting them again this Saturday the 7th of October at Samsa auditorium. This is a concert you don’t want to miss. RSVP - Link in bio

ARTIST APPEAL from Kinari, who will have her debut performance in Bangalore as part of October Jam. Under her stage name FINSTA, she has emerged as one of the foremost voices for the LGBTQ+ community in India's hip-hop scene. She celebrates her identity as a kinnar in her lyrics ("pretty avaz baby mai kinnar" on "PURRRRR") and also brings her firsthand experience in Portland's ballroom community to India (as on her debut EP Jimmy Vogue, released Nov 2021). Sampling disco tracks, riot grrrl rock, house music, clips from Paris Is Burning, and interviews with Indian trans activists consistently demonstrating a singularity of vision. Her latest project, a collaborative LP (smart girls don't pass) with Delhi-based trans producer nasbandi, flips archival recordings of legendary house-mother Carmen Xtravaganza and features Delhi's iconic singer-songwriter Pho. Her upcoming hip hop mixtape 'Kattar Kinar', releasing later this year under her new stage name, KINARI, will be a radical sonic expression of life in Delhi's Khirkee Extension. Intertwined with the beat of wedding bands outside her window, the coruscating pulse of gaana songs and cuts of Mari Selvaraj films, 'Kattar Kinnar' is a celebration of the present. Because the trans imaginary is found out on the streets, with the people, uncompromising and unafraid. SUPPORT OCTOBER JAM https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-arts-festival

Greetings from our friends at @adavi_arts Adavi means a forest full of dancing beings.. @keela_naren & his group have been journeying with the parai, reclaiming and freeing the instrument from it's baggage of caste and discrimination. As part of October Jam, they will be conducting workshops with girls & women, training them on how to play and perform with the parai. They will also be LIVE in concert, setting the stage on fire with their rhythms & taala. To bring all of this to life, we need your support! Show us some love by making a contribution via the link in our bio today! Support spaces for independent arts & freedom of expression!