Essence of Innocence in Folk Roots
Kasam Khan comes from Langha community in Phaloudi, Rajasthan. Kasam Khan is a seasoned singer whose voice touches the soul of people and can connect with them. His voice has such a throw that it grabs attention of each and everyone in the audience. The music by Kasam Khan Langha’s group stays with you, it is so serene. Kasam Khan is an innocent — simple old soul who is happy and contended with everything that he has now. He says everything is God’s gift, if he has put you in a situation there must be reason behind it and the reason will always be for your wellness and goodness. So everything that comes in his life whether good or bad he accepts it with grace and happiness. He is a skilled vocalist and harmonium player, who started learning music from his father from the tender age of 10.
He has two daughters and teaches them music too. In spite of knowing that he won’t be able to send them for any performances. His community and culture doesn’t allow so, still he wants them to learn it and understand the meaning of music. For him music is the purest form through which one can connect with himself and the Almighty. Kasam teaches in a Langha community school for skill development near Phaloudi. He wants to give his best for his students and wishes them to succeed in their life. Kasam is that teacher who not only give lessons to his students about music but also impart them with all the lessons of life that they should know. His first and foremost teaching to his students is to stay honest in life to themselves and with others too.
Wherever he performs, the vibrato in Khan’s voice seems to travel all the way from the sand dunes of Thar desert in Rajasthan and enthrall the entire arena of the show. For this 42-year-old Rajasthani folk singer, who has been performing with his tribe of folk singers, the Langhas, for the past 16 years, fusion is the way he could reach out to more contemporary audience. He wishes to take the folk music by his group to such a level that it is being recognized in the whole world. Born to Langhas, a Rajasthani musician clan whose ancestors have been supported by landlords and aristocrats for generations, Khan grew up listening to his father’s riyaaz. Khan’s natural gifts are indisputable. His passion for singing and harmonium playing is manifest in the way he maintains harmonies, rhythms and in sustaining the grace of his instrument and voice throughout, while accompanying other vocalists and instrumentalists. There is humility, work ethic, talent and a brilliant vocal range. But the going hasn’t been easy; there are limitations he’s had to overcome, and most of them have been financial.
Kasam’s music is mostly about the original rare age old folk. He has managed to keep the sanctity of the old folk traditions and songs. His music is pure form of folk and describes all sort of life situations. His music is an emotional roller costar ride that puts you in a situation where you can relate to it. Truly his songs communicate so much. Just like the “Chirmi” song he sung illustrating the communication between father and daughter.
Kasam Khan wants to take his pure form of folk music to west and educate people there about the reason of folk’s inception. He tells folks were sung as a way to communicate a dialogue in the entire society of the civilisation at that time. Therefore, it is very important to stick to the original folk as they tell us the right path to move on in life and teach about leading a good life. His philosophy is not to stay away from western culture but to mingle with them and impart the knowledge he has about music.
The group is newly formed by Kasam Khan with his students. They are very good when it comes to playing together. They have deep sense of music with the instruments they play in the group. In future they want to travel the whole world and propagate the message of peace and love through their music.
Anahad Foundation is a NGO which aims at conservation and preservation of Indian musical heritage by helping folk and tribal communities. These communities are in a dire need of help to get them back in the mainstream and save our age old cultural heritage from getting fade away. Currently our focus area is in Rajasthan, where we are working for Manganiyaar and Langha folk communities to make them self-reliant for their better livelihood and by generating employment for them with their own culture. We with our team and the entire studio setup travel to nook and corners of villages in Jaisalmer and Barmer region to document the folk artists. After the entire documentation we put all our efforts in designing and developing their stand-alone websites, to help them get a wider audience and endless opportunities. To contact this folk group, one can visit their website made by us kasamkhanlangha.com
To learn more about the work we are doing with Kasam Khan and other artists like him, visit https://anahad.ngo/