ADILABAD: Mellifluous, sweet and arresting. Marsukola Kalavathi, a Thoti tribal woman, could captivate the audience with her vocal rendition of the history and mythology that identify Gonds and Kolam tribes in erstwhile Adilabad district and adjoining Maharashtra State. Recently, at the World Music Day programme held at Hyderabad, she along with her team mesmerized the audience with her singing in Gondi language.
Kalavathi, who is a Thoti adivasi from Thosham village in Gudithanoor mandal in Adilabad district, stood as a special attraction at the programme. There were five other contestants in the show. They were from different places. She stood out from among artists who specialised in Carnatic, Hindustani, Ghazal, Rap and Pop genres. She sang engaging the audience to the accompaniment of keekri, dhakki and dholki instruments.
She also impressed the audience by saying that in the two Telugu States, artists like her were practising singing about legends and historical events of Gond Kola Triabls as they learned from their parents. A large number of music fans flocked the special event organised by Alliance Française and Lamakaan in Hyderabad. She happens to be one of the few remaining Thoti and Pardhan adivasis community women who can recite these stories in full.
The lead singer is always a male among Thoti and Pardhan. Kalavathi is a rare female who has risen to the level of a lead bardic singer (a male lead singer is a traditional norm) with great elan thanks to the teaching she received from her late father Thodasam Bheem Rao, a renowned Thoti artist.
She wanted to go to school but her father wanted her to become an artist and continue singing even after his death to preserve their tribal identity. She, even when she was a child, used to move with her father and learned all the songs while participating in the programmes. She gave several programmes on All India Radio which were uploaded to YouTube by the then AIR coordinator Sumanaspati Reddy.