( Padambhushan KOMAL KOTHARI, Padamshri Anwar Khan and Kalyan Singh Kothari, Secretary of LSS, during the Folk Musical Festival in Paris, during Dec. 1995 )

Dear mentors, friends, students and other society members in this COVID 19 situation I would like to request you all. An Appeal for the Noble Mission’ please do support by your valuable financial contributions for preservation, promotion of Rajasthani heritage folk and culture and making them digitally empowered. Please do click the link for your financial support.

Lok Samvad Sansthan (LSS) – a nonprofit organization, looking for “PATRONS” as “KINGS” – for the Langas and Manganairs families of hereditary professional folk musicians – known as “Jewels of India” from desert their districts – Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer of Rajasthan. They are oral genealogists, storytellers and musicians for upper-caste commonalities in the same geographical area and they carry a unique musical legacy-an intangible cultural heritage for more than four-decade

These folk musicians need our help to preserve, promote, and survive, and need better livelihood prospects not merely to sustain but also to grow and succeed and reinforce our rich cultural inheritance. Since the outset of the COVID19 pandemic, the challenge has widened and sources of revenue have been endangered or will be interrupted in the coming two to three years.

LSS was Registered to vide 91/Jaipur/2000-01 and certified by the Income Tax Department for getting donations with the rebate under Section 80-G/12-A of Income Tax Act, 1961, with Permanent Account Number (PAN) AAAL405D. With the guidance from visionary founder- Padam Bhushan (2004), late KOMAL KOTHARI, renowned folklore authority, the aim was to address the needs and concerns of the traditional musicians of the desert districts. LSS is working for more than 15 years for the revival of folk traditions, which are gradually dying due to rapid commercialization. LSS supported through various interventions and initiatives to save their traditional music that is the “Soul of Rajasthan” and gain popularity in India and globally. They are considered at the international level for their vibrant and legendary singing and their performances are exciting forays into the musical and cultural heritage and have captivated audiences worldwide.

LSS also works towards strengthening the communication resources of the development sector and promoting the dimension of professional orientation in the field of advocacy, communication and media. LSS has been working with government, non-government, corporate and international organizations assignments to address various social development/ public issues, policies and programmes dealing with human development.

The objective of undertaking intervention to raise contribution amounts from far-flung like-minded supporters, participate in this campaign and make a difference.

According to West Zone Cultural Centre, Government of India, there are 12000 registered artists and roughly their population is more than 2 lakhs in western Rajasthan. We will provide support to more than 50 families of Langas and Manganiars – (300 member’s approx.) in our working field in Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaiselmer.

Our raised donation will be utilized as per the above objectives. We will support the artist’s family financially and through various interventions for a period of 2 years.

We hope that under our organization’s wings, they earned a name for themselves at the national as well as international levels.

Our campaign will be led at the grassroots level by executive team leader Mr Nek Mohammad Langa singer of great talent and repute, Nek is a great favourite of the media and has been part of many national/ international reputed festivals/ performances/ Television programs in India and abroad since 1985 and performed with his group in Russia, Turkey, London, Spain, Singapore, Europe, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Fiji, USA and many more countries.

Padamshri Ustad Anwar Khan Manganiar, 60, is a professional Manganiyar musician who is one of the leading vocalists of folk, Sufi and traditional music of western Rajasthan, will also the leader of this campaign Anwar Khan Manganiyar’s deep-throated delivery refracts folk radiance as well as a strong base in classical music.“The Manganiyars make music that is eclectic, free, transcending barriers of language and religion, reflecting the same reverence for Krishna and Allah, using the Dholak and Kamaicha with unique vibrancy.

His repertoire includes Sufi poets such as Bulleh Shah, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Kabir Das as well as Surdas, Meerabai, Tulsidas, and bhajans.

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Points for Justification: Uniqueness

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• We want to create a campaign to lead community self reliance and empowerment and build awareness towards saving folk music that is -soul of Rajasthan.
• Folk artists communities need better livelihood prospect not merely to subsist but to grow and succeed and reinforce our rich cultural inheritance.
• Support and empower traditional (folk and tribal) artists through methodical and sustained development efforts and promote, protect and preserve the integrity and diversity of individual culture.
• Need for mobilization support to perform and entertain and also act as an historian- a maintainer and teacher of traditions of culture. For these performance events, concerts, exhibition, workshops/seminars and other social convention will be organized. This will enable people to develop an understanding of culture and generate an appreciation and respect for the folk form of arts.
• The current generations of Rajasthan folk musicians are facing greatest challenge in adoption to fast evolving digital technology and media to leverage their traditional skills-not just to survive but to flourish. We would support these artists to market and promote themselves and their work through digital tools and establish Digital Platform.
• We will encourage “GURU SHISYA PRAMPRA” through interactive workshops, documentation and training, mentoring and bringing out best practices. We will put these communities in such a way that masses recognize them as “CUSTODIANS “of this indigenous knowledge and true conveyor/mentor.
• We will also focus on old, chronic unemployed, homeless, widows and disabled folk artists, so that quality of life can be improved.

Implementing Partners

We will take support/collaboration of academic educational institutions in each state of India with the objective to reach millions of people.

Deliverable of the Campaign

• Support and relief with focus to lesser-known artists who have yet not made it big, support through outreach and awareness materials, including social media and technology efforts, designed and tailored for the Langa and Maganair communities.
• We will create a digital platform for giving opportunity for the public to utilize or to access any digital device including a smartphone, computer or tablet.
• Our effort through digital philanthropy to engage individual donor to connect people more directly than ever before.

Project Timeline: 3 Months for the campaign to raise funds and pilot project implementation for two years