The students of Mahabhodi never seize to surprise me with
their innate talents. Every week I discover a new child prodigy with some new
hidden gift. The kids are extremely active in cultural activities and all of them
are very used to dressing up in traditional clothing and performing Ladakhi
folk songs for the tourist who come visit our campus, as often as 2 times a
week. This very routine keeps them deeply rooted to their traditions and heritage
while music, dance and community get togethers’ form the backbone of the campus
grounds.
A group of senior class students have a natural ear for
music. Most of them discovered their inclination towards music when as young as
6 years old and each one has an interesting passion filled story to tell about
their love for music. One of them narrated an anecdote of how he wanted to play the
traditional Ladhaki drum, the Dhamal, so much as a child, that he would come
back from cultural shows and pretend-play-it on tin cans just like their big
bhayyas’ did. The students are also a part of a marching band which is one of
the best in the city of Leh. For them music is everything, a stress buster,
their identity, their passion and an out let for their feelings.
As a part of a project, the past two weeks, a group of
senior students decided to bring about a musical revolution in their school and
teach the junior class kids music with the idea of spreading their love for music. They
wanted to initiate it with kids at a much younger age than when they learnt it themselves. They started out but soon realized that there were not enough musical
instruments to teach a class of 30 and so they looked around and came up with
an idea of turning waste materials into musical instruments. They believe that
music is all around us all the time and urge people to notice it too. I love
listening to these kids for hours and their passion filled stories bring me to
tears. I kid you not!
Even at age 14 and 15 the kind of initiative they are demonstrating
is tremendous. The head boy and the school council managed to pull off a week
long project even with their Board exams starting in 5 days!! (If that was me I
would’ve buried my face in books as I used to hate exams as a child.) They also
invited the legendary musician, Sir Angchuk Ralam, also known as the flute man
of Ladakh, to conduct a workshop on how to make innovative music with everyday
items. Most famous for his MTV gig – Sound trippin’ with the song Juh leh, sir
Angchuk Ley now works with the prestigious All India Radio Station, Leh; after having
founded a local NGO, SECMOL and building it from scratch for 3 years. It was humbling to see a man so famous be so
down to earth and he inspired the students with stories about his childhood
adventures, his struggles as a musician, his passions, the value of music and
his words of wisdom. The kids learnt how to make a flute with PVC pipes, a Jal
Tarang with china bowls and the idea of a coconut maracas. The workshop was
followed by a free jam session with a melodious combination of traditional
music instruments playing Tibetan Folk songs to later popular tunes of Bollywood.
The past week, the school has been enchanted in the musical tunes
of Traditional Tibetian and Ladaki Folksongs, Amir khan’s Bum Bum bole, One Direction,
Justin Bieber, Bob Marley, Classic Rock hits and Honey Singh. Jamming with buckets,
dustbins, glass bottles, cardboard boxes and wooden sticks has been more fun
than anything ever! Just being around them makes your soul come alive.
Leaving you with images of the workshop. A video on the whole project to follow soon, stay tuned.
Its not everyday you meet a celebrity so humble and inspiring
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