THE LITTLE PRINCES OF RAJASTHAN

I was approached by French ethnomusicologist Alain Weber ( who was the Musical Supervisor for Tony Gatlif’s stellar film ‘Latcho Drom’ ) and Aurelie Chauleur to design the folkloristics, shoot and edit a film on the musical traditions and oral histories of the Sarangiya Langa, an ancient bardic community from the deserts of Western Rajasthan, recording previously undocumented songs from their repertoire.

The Langas have a unique style of teaching music through demonstration, repetition and gesture, their oral instructions are steeped in the community’s philosophy towards living. The intention was to create a song dictionary exploring the Langa ecosystem through their musical repertoire, the film was designed to communicate to children.

The film played at numerous festivals across the world and debuted on EPIC TV as a part of the Drishti documentary film collection. It won the ‘Long Film Commendation Award’ at the International Folk Music Film Festival, Kathmandu, 2018.

The film can be viewed on request, write us a note : HERE

‘The Little Princes of Rajasthan’ was an Official Selection at the following festivals :

Les Orientales – Un autre Orient, Nantes | FRANCE

World Sacred Spirit Festival, Nagaur, Rajasthan | INDIA

IndiEarth X-change, Bangalore | INDIA

Curieux Voyageurs festival, Saint-Étienne | FRANCE

Al Kamandjâti Festival | PALESTINE 


Festival of Sacred Music, Perpignan | FRANCE 


Festival du Film de Lama | CORSICA

International Folk Music Film Festival | NEPAL

WOMEX | POLAND 


Bangalore International Centre | INDIA

Rendez -Vous du Carnet de Voyage, Clermont Ferrand | FRANCE

Rainforest World Music Festival, Borneo | INDONESIA

Aga Khan Museum, Toronto | CANADA

La Grande Rencontre, Montréal | CANADA

Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde | MOROCCO

During the pandemic’s onset in 2020, the Sarangiya Langa musicians reached out to me for help, they could not move freely and had lost all access to income. Water, food and medical supply in the deserts were low. We created a network to organise and list out 1100 affected musicians and released music to collect funds from patrons online to purchase rations for the community. I completely believe community-based cultural practices can accelerate change. Have a look at our successful crowdfunding story here :

https://gatika.in/crowdfunding-the-langa-radio