BAL KALYAN NAGARI

Monday was a really satisfying day. I was invited by Mewsic to visit one of their NGO based music centres for underpriviledged children in Mumbai. I travelled up to Mankhurd on the train, passing through some of the poorest areas of Mumbai. Then it was a speedy autorickshaw drive to the orphanage where the children live and study. Bal Kalyan Nagari is a peaceful location, with trees and some open green space around (not often seen in the 4th most populated city in the world with 20.5 million people).

The venue for the music class is a bare room with mats on the floor and the limited resources include 5 guitars, 2 keyboards, and a set of bongos, spread amongst 30 children, some of whom have notebooks with notes of how to play happy birthday and other similar melodies. I met mr Patil and his colleague who teaches guitar and then I started the class. Boys and girls aged 7 to 17, sitting in rows very neatly with wide eyes - having never seen a violin before, let alone heard one. These were amongst the broadest smiles I have ever seen - and the opportunity to just sit, and listen was clearly cherished by the group. I was treated to some lovely performances of dance and singing and a small amount of very basic guitar. The teachers are incredibly strict with the children and one step out of line really isn't tolerated. However, this is coupled with teachers leaving the room unattended to have a cup of tea or oversee another group and so there is little consistency for these children. Whilst I don't speak Hindi and the children understand very little English, I communicated fairly easily with them through actions and demonstrations, and the children trusted me very quickly. My session introduced them to the violin, a Scottish song, some body percussion and some Scottish dancing, but the highlight was definitely inviting the children to have a try of my violin. The sense of individual achievement that some of them got from having a go was clearly evident on their faces and they were desperate to be next in line!

I will be returning soon to do more work with the children and have scheduled a meeting with the organisers of Mewsic to discuss my future involvement.

Unfortunately I can't post pictures of the children from the sessions but here are some of the journey to the centre, and the teachers trying out my violin! (cover your ears)!

screeech!

view from the train: goat, shanty houses, burning rubbish, children playing

people crossing the railway tracks - good timing

children playing right between the train and a sewer of filthy water

back in Mumbai central area they have dug up the pavement since I walked here in the morning

MiniFROG takes off!

So it's been a good start to my fourth week in Mumbai. MiniFROG (sunday activities with children while their parents are brunching) was well attended this week. We had a 6 children and four of them really enjoyed the music activities we had prepared. The children made some groovy guitars and then we did some music activities together - singing songs, playing some tunes with my percussion instruments and listening to and learning about the violin. The children had a ball and were very proud of their instruments - and a couple didn't want the music to stop!

BOMBAY TEEN CHALLENGE

It's been an interesting start to the week with great ups and downs.

On sunday I took the train to Lower Parel Station for BlueFROG and walked through the veg, flower, chicken and smelly fish market with cats licking their lips. From a lovely sunny day into a fridge! BlueFROG is heavily air conditioned which is quite a shock now that I have aclimatised to the lovely Indian temperature. On Sundays BlueFROG run an afternoon brunch, something that is very popular with Mumbaikers. Everyone chills out after the stresses of the week in the city and enjoys amazing food and drink while listening to a guitar based trio playing Elvis covers!

Unfortunately, MiniFROG was not quite as successful as the brunch this week. Only two children were in the building (aged 1 and 4). Having spent time planning a lovely session, I was hoping that the kids would make a wee guitar, play some music with me and then maybe even perform on the club stage. However, the 4 year old just fancied doing some drawing and the 1 year old really wasn't up to being an expert instrument maker! I'm going to look into some advertising of the session and address its content in an attempt to attract some more children this week.

Monday was a fantastic day. I was invited by my landlady, Sheila Kripalani, treasurer of Bombay Teen Challenge, to visit their rehabilitation from prostitution centre and home for girls and women north of Badlapur: K.K. Devaraj founded Bombay Teen Challenge and under its auspices provides services such as shelters for children of women used in prostitution and street children, a home for AIDS orphans, homes for daughters of prostituted women, feeding programs, medical care, HIV/AIDS clinic, rescue for drug addicted “street boys”, and homes for women who have been rescued from a life of enslavement to prostitution in the brothels. At Ashagram (translated, the Village of Hope), the women have an opportunity to start new lives in a protected environment of love, and receive education and job training in the hope that they can become productive members of society. Those that cannot move on because of psychological or physical trauma have a permanent home at Ashagram.

I took the train to Badlapur, about an hour's journey North of Mumbai accompanied by one of the admin workers, Ahmeena, from the Bombay office. We were met at the station and had a half hour drive through rolling countryside with dark earth, scrub, trees and cows on the road at every corner!

We arrived at a beautiful oasis of calm = Ashagram. Girls were being schooled in classrooms below their living quarters and everyone was smiling and very welcoming. We were lucky enough to be shown around the Vocational Training Centre where the women make leather, cloth goods and jewellery for export orders to the US. The quality of the products they make is incredibly high and they produce some really beautiful things.

I am very pleased to say that I have been invited back to provide a couple of days of music workshops for the school age girls (they don't usually get to do music, but the boys do - and so many of them were really excited at the prospect of music and dance). I'll be putting forward a plan to the manager of the centre, Rinsey, in the next few days and hopefully returning in February for the work - I can't wait!

MUMBAI ROCKS!

I've now been in Mumbai for nearly two weeks and so much has happened in such a short space of time. I've seen cows on street corners, monkeys on leads, bananas the size of my pinky finger and such a whirlwind of traffic, it's a wonder I am still alive!

So to put things into context and help you understand why I'm here, this post is going to be an overview of the projects that I'm going to be involved with other the next 8 weeks.

DHARAVI ROCKS with BlueFROG and the ACORN FOUNDATION

DHARAVI ROCKS is a joint educational project between blueFROG and Acorn Foundation, an NGO working for the welfare of slum children and waste collectors/ragpickers. The idea came to reality when, wanting to get involved in environmental and social issues and give less privileged communities access to music, blueFROG tied up with ACORN Foundation which understands the value in combining arts and education.

Dharavi Rocks educates, improves learning skills, self-discipline, self-confidence, encourages teamwork, improves social skills, temperament and community life. This partnership with ACORN Foundation's Dharavi Project aims to raise awareness about the rag picker / waste collector community and their key role in society as recycling agents. We aim to legitimise them as members of a paid work force "green collar workers" and not unpaid slum dwellers and highlight Dharavi's contribution to Mumbai as a key place for recycling. (From BlueFROG'S website www.bluefrog.co.in)

The project has immense energy and the thing that strikes me about it is how much the kids value it in their lives. Some spend up to 2 and a half hours each way traveling to Dharavi Rocks in st Xavier's College, after having spent a whole day working to earn money for their families. The commitment and dedication to the music and dancing that the kids display is something rare, raw and completely inspiring. See the pictures below!

I'll be working with Dharavi Rocks and BlueFROG to try and help them figure out where they want the project to go next, how they develop the program of work to make sure it achieves its potential in the future. I will be finding about how an organisation like BlueFROG connects and interacts with an impoverished community like Dharavi.

MiniFROG at BlueFROG CIROC SUNDAY BRUNCH

Three years ago my current mentor, Vicky Cave, set up MiniFROG to involve more children in BlueFROG's activity. During the Sunday Brunch children have the opportunity to take part in art activities but this has somewhat dwindled a bit and needs a bit of input. I will be working with Priya (who currently runs miniFROG) to develop a new program of ideas including music, to attract more children and help it to fit in with BlueFROG's ethos.

FINDING YOUNG MUSICIANS

Whilst I'm here, I am going to be spending some time meeting young musicians at the start of their music careers. I will be finding out how they've developed their skills and where they see their careers going. I want to know what training needs they have and whether they have an interest in getting involved with doing workshops, and playing music for those who don't usually have access to it, as Live Music Now does in the UK. So this leads me to the focus of my blog for the future - HOW DOES A YOUNG MUSICIAN DEVELOP IN INDIA? more to come....

dharavi rocks

From now on my posts are going to be a little more exotic, as they're going to be coming to you from Mumbai, India!

I'm here doing a 10 week residency with Creative Scotland and Live Music Now! at BlueFROG, the city's most exciting music venue. While I'm here I'll be working with young people in Dharavi slum, sandwiched between Mumbai's two main railway lines and home to over 1 million people. More info to come! Also I'll be introducing some music to some younger children as part of BlueFROG's MiniFROG brunch on a Sunday.

Stay tuned for more exciting information to come!