Echoes of Tradition: Rajasthani Folk Artists

An unheard tale of a hardworking man who loves his culture, family and work. A man who works hard to feed a family of 15 members.

While adapting to a foreign culture and learning it, I want to talk about people who have kept our culture and music alive and have always been an integral part of our society. 

Remember Mame Khan and Salam Ali, the voices behind some of our favourite songs? I wonder if anyone knows where these voices come from. We have never even tried to know about them. So today, I will talk about someone with a great voice, but apparently, he could not grow as these artists. 

I am talking about a singer, a Kathputli artist, and a musician. Someone who has been to Italy, Germany, and America but still lives in a single-room house with 15 people and is the sole earner. I am talking about Mr. Mahendra Bhati. Of course, you don’t know him, of course, you don’t know anything about him, but let us take a moment to understand him and his story. 

In November, I visited the Jaipur slum area of Kathputli Nagar. I, with some of my friends, went to his house. The first thing I observed was how small his house was but how welcoming his family was. I just felt that as the size of houses has increased, people's hearts have shrunk. 

The visuals of his house were something we cannot even think of. Even if I am asked to live in such a place, I cannot, and probably no one of us can. He took us to his house and made us sit, talked to us, and treated us so well that it didn’t feel like we met him for the first time. 

He sang many songs for us without any auto-tune or heavy instruments, but his voice touched the very bottom of my heart. While listening to him, I got those teary eyes. I felt every word coming from his mouth. 

While sitting there and seeing his condition, I felt how we treat actual art. This made me curious to learn more about these artists’ lives. While I got into this, I learned about a scheme by the Rajasthan government that helped local artists by enrolling themselves, which would help them find events for local artists for recognition and work. 

Things like these remain unknown in society, which we, as the younger generation, should be vocal about and know about. There are many such stories and many people who go through all these things daily. There are a lot of people in society who go through all the hardships that don’t even come near us. 

So, we need to understand that what we have is more than enough, and we should appreciate whatever we have for ourselves.