MYSURU: Padma is a young woman with a mission. A Soliga tribal, native to the serene valleys of the Western Ghats where folk songs were once a way of life, she is determined to revive the music of the mountains in the hadis of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts.
With her arresting, earthy voice, Padma (24) is called the nightingale of the Western Ghats, and is a celebrity in her own right here. She has taken the music and culture of the hadis to Sweden, performing on an international cultural platform, and has now dedicated herself to preserving and promoting tribal songs, dance and culture.
Padma’s life wasn’t always like this in the quiet hamlet of Erakana Gadde Podu, in the Biligiri Rangthanathaswamy Hills in Yelandur taluk. She would have been a regular teenager who would complete SSLC and eventually succumb to the lure of urban life, but fate took a different turn. She started out as a chorus singer, learning from her parents Basavaraju and Madamma, who are local performers, she would sing in the kitchen and drum on empty boxes.
It was the visit of former President APJ Abdul Kalam to B R Hills in 2006 that changed the fortunes of this shy girl. She found herself performing before President Kalam and a huge gathering, to overwhelming applause.
“I was afraid to go up on stage and tried to run away. But my father pushed me and gave me the courage to sing Gorukana, a tribal song that was cheered by the crowd,” she said. Her fears evaporated.With a new-found confidence, she took to music, and was trained by her parents and musicians of Soliga Pushpamala Kala Sangha. Wildlife activist Malleshappa and GlobalKulture founder Arun Sivag, who work with the tribals of B R Hills, were keen to tap Padma’s talent, and enrolled her in Striswara, a programme to showcase talent in women. They funded her visit to Sweden in 2015 to present Soliga tribal songs and dance at a cultural exchange programme.
“Though I was happy to go to Sweden, poor exposure to western culture and English made me weep for the first five days. However, Arun translated everything for me and encouraged me to give my best. The folk songs, lyrics and music enthralled the crowd and we won the hearts of the Swedish people. It was a different experience. I’m happy that I showcased my culture on an international platform,” said Padma.
Her return from Sweden set her on a new path: to train teams of tribal girls and boys in Kollegal, Hanur, Yelandur and Chamarajanagar taluks in folk songs, dance and to play indigenous instruments. She now has about 200 students who perform at the Soliga Festival in B R Hills, and have dedicated themselves to nurturing and spreading the rich local culture.
She has her own musical troupe, which performs at weddings, naming ceremonies and temple rituals. Her music lifts the spirits of the occasion, with fellow tribals joining in the singing and celebrations. Her repertoire contains dozens of tribal and folk songs which her family has collected while wandering through remote hamlets, setting them to tune and propagating them through live performances. Padma, with no formal training in music, has mastered them and dreams of being a playback singer, besides setting up a tribal music school that would be the nucleus of cultural activities of the tribal community.Padma’s concern is that any further neglect would pose a threat to their heritage, and she wants every child to pursue formal studies and have a basic knowledge of medicinal herbs and shrubs, their traditional foods, and of course, the rustic tunes.