Event Info
- Language: Hindi, English
- City / State: New Delhi
- Directed By: Mallika Taneja
- Produced By: Mallika Taneja
Do You Know This Song?
A powerful play about loss, grief, love, finding a voice and music. A tale about a voice that once was beautiful, unforgettable... and now forgotten. This is a story - of dreams made and broken and a voice that aching to reach out. Revisited. Reimagined. Restrung.
This is a piece about loss and grief. This is also a piece about love, finding voice and singing. At one end lies the dark space of broken dreams, at the other, the slippery slope of happiness... in between, is a tale about a voice that once was beautiful, unforgettable... and now forgotten. In this play, Mallika Taneja collects a long-forgotten voice and its story through interviews collected over almost a year. She finds not only a story but dreams made and broken, and a voice aching to reach out.
Revisited. Reimagined. Restrung.
With her harmonium, a microphone, and some toys and objects from her childhood, the singer/performer returns as an adult to look for the person she lost - a singer and her songs, and much more besides. We now listen to songs through a story that seems all too familiar. As the performer ventures into the land of not- forgetting, we take a journey into the dark, and learn to travel, through song. As she moves between this tale of searching, singing and grief, Mallika invites audiences to join in.
Credit List -
Performance design and Direction Mallika Taneja
Dramaturgy Hansa Thapliyal
Stage and Lighting Design Sangeet Shrivastava
Sound Design Chayan Adhikari, Bindhumalini N
Prop Design Sangeet Shrivastava, Hansa Thapliyal, Vijay Kate, Tanuj Arora , Aman Mohammadi, Drishti Chawla
Script - Mallika Taneja
Songs rewritten with - Rajesh Nirmal
Production Aman Mohammadi | Drishti Chawla
Doll Maker Aman Mohammadi | Drishti Chawla
Songbook Design Bindhumalini N
Tailoring Muzammil | Praveen Kumar
With the voices of Banwari Taneja | Bindhumalini N | Chayan Adhikari | Kajal Ghosh | Nadeera Zaheer Babbar | Sudha Thapliyal | Suhasini Taneja | Sunanda Achar
The piece is based on interviews and conversations with Banwari Taneja | Elizabeth Achar | Geetika Thapliyal | Hansa Thapliyal | Kajal Ghosh | Maude Gonsalves | Nadira Zaheer Babbar | Nandini Guha Rajagopal | Oona Gupta | Raj Babbar | Sudha Thapliyal | Suhasini Taneja | Sunanda Achar
Language Hindi or English with songs in Hindi and English subtitle.
All songs reimagined with Bindhumalini N
Co-Production - The WEB network: La Maison de la danse CDCN Uzès Gard Occitanie | WPZimmer | Beursschouwburg | Black Box Teater | Tanzquartier Wien | Frascati Productions | LES SUBS - Lyon (FR) | Points communs - Nouvelle Scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise / Val d’Oise. As well as Kaserne Basel | Zürcher Theater Spektakel | Nationaltheater Mannheim | SPIELART Theaterfestival
Song Credits -
Vaali -
Original song from ‘Yehudi ki ladki’
Original Composition - Kajal Ghosh
Original Lyrics - Nadira Zaheeer Babbar
Rewritten with Rajesh Nirmal
Jis se Mujhe Mohabbat Hai -
Original song from ‘Meha Ujli’
Original Composition - Kajal Ghosh
Original Lyrics - Nadira Zaheeer Babbar
Rewritten with Rajesh Nirmal
Amma Meri -
Traditional Saavan song
Adapted from Amir Khusrau’s composition
Hayyo Rabba -
Adapted from traditional Punjabi folk song
So Ja re
Composition and lyrics - Mallika Taneja
Music Arrangement and Production by Chayan Adhikari
This is a piece about loss and grief. This is also a piece about love, finding voice and singing. (In the play), Mallika Taneja collects a long-forgotten voice and its story through interviews taken over almost a year. In these, she finds a story - of dreams made and broken and a voice that ached to reach out but found itself shackled in domestic ties. This voice and the songs it had sung - retrieved from fragmented memories, and then straining them - have been placed on stage.
Revisited. Reimagined. Restrung.
We now listen to songs that we may never have heard, through a story that seems all too familiar. As she moves between searching, singing and telling a tale of grief, Mallika invites people to join in.