Rhythms and Raagas: South Asian Festival 2023
In celebrating Diwali as a large community, SACH brought you Rhythms & Raagas on October 28th, 2023 at Double Tree Hotel in Westborough, MA.
Rhythms and Raagas is a musical theatre that portrays the journey of discovery through the lens of a young Indian-American boy, Aman. Aman is not keen, at first, when it comes to celebrating festivals with his parents. But as the story unfolds, his enthusiasm and outlook changes to a positive outcome. He actually starts enjoying the festivities, the food and the celebrations that come with each festival.
This unique event weaved together a rich story, by throwing a spotlight on key traditions and rituals surrounding festivals originating from South Asia, that are celebrated by many immigrant communities across the globe, creating and leaving behind a rich fabric of sub-cultures for future generations to observe.
There were a total of 8 festivals featured in the play, each integrated with a beautiful dance and music performances by talented artists from the community.
To those of you who missed this event, you can watch HCAM-TV’s recording of this event here:
The event started with a beautiful poem written by Namrata Mathur specially written for Rhythms and Raagas.
Love abound, Lights and sound, whispers turn to celebrations
The journey of love sees no geography, it thrives when unity becomes it’s philosophy.
When we find ourselves in new land and new places, we seek connections that keeps us secure,
Seeking love as our only currency, to be seen and heard is the gift of agency.
Let our diversity be the source of our unity, we reject the word rejection with everything else that loosens our connection.
The threads of our tapestry give us the courage to be bold.
Self-reflecting to inspire an intentional life
We seek to unite on this beautiful night,
The strongest threads (in Hindi we call it dhaaga) create the magic tonight through ‘Rhythms and raaga’.
We will all fondly remember Aman’s journey and reflect on Deepa’s (the wikipedia mom’s) insightful teachings to Aman. Last but not the least, we’ll carry with us the enigmatic personality, the omnipresent spirit, shape shifting from Uncle Sumit, to various uncles of Aman, to Adil, Aman’s music teacher wearing his Taqiyah and heading to his favorite Sufi concert, to the priest at the Ganesh puja wearing his customary robe reciting his mantra, and finally morphing into Aman’s grandpa, all of them constantly reminding us of how we are one and the same, no matter where we come from. Festivals are all about celebrating the human spirit. We will forever remember the rich, beautiful colors and vibes from the talented artists and the love we all felt from our community! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
We thank Mass Cultural Council for their continued support in funding our events and programs! Thank you to all for coming!
Co-funded by:
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