MUMBAI: Believe India and Ishtar Music are partnering with Snehadhara Foundation and Vasu Dixit Collective to launch the ‘PaDa’ Project, a docu-series that supports and celebrates traditional folk music in India. The Project is a part of Believe’s global CSR strategy ‘Shaping Music for Good’ which aims to create a more sustainable and inclusive music industry.

Folk songs represent the rich diversity across rural India and has been passed on aurally/verbally across generations. For the longest time, folk music was rarely incorporated in mainstream narratives. Many of these folk songs have never been recorded or heard by anybody outside of the areas of origin. There is an urgent need to document and preserve these folk traditions for the future, as well as increase their visibility outside of the communities where they originated from.

The first episode of ‘PaDa’ Project begins in Karnataka and features tribal musician Mohan Kumar singing about his pastoral practices among the Kadagulla tribal community in his folk song, ‘Tagaru’

Mohan Kumar is a folk artist from the Kadugalla tribe who learnt folk music from his family and community while growing up. With a keen interest in preserving his community’s traditional knowledge, he studied and worked at the Karnataka Janapada Vishwavidyalaya to learn methods of recording and documenting oral history and traditions.

He won the “Pustaka Award” from the Janapada Academy for his book “Kadugallara kolata padagalu'' and set up the “Karnataka Kaadugallara Samskruthika Trust” through which he hopes to document and preserve folk and tribal knowledge for future generations.

Following this, the project will also feature Sithirai Senan from Madurai, Tamilnadu, Mickma Tshering Lepcha from Gangtok, Sikkim, Dalrariti Gratel Kharnaior from Shillong, Meghalaya and Mangka Mayanglambam from Imphal, Manipur. The objective is to capture the connections between music and people's lives, rituals and ceremonies, local food traditions, and diverse socio-cultural linked themes. Producing new music through collaborations will serve as a link between the country's largest and most important musical traditions past and future.

"Believe India has always been committed to promote music in all ways and forms with outreach efforts being centered around the core CSR strategy, ‘Shaping Music for Good’ which strengthens our culture. Through this, we are providing another platform for independent artists to revive and stage folk music. We wish to extend our services to encourage these artists who can have an impactful yet long-lasting effect on the industry.  We hope our initiative results in a sustainable, diverse, and inclusive world," said Vivek Raina, Managing Director, Believe India.

“Our constant aim at the foundation is to create an engaging community and ‘PaDa’ project brings us closer to our ambition. Music has been crucial in fostering the holistic development of beneficiaries that we engage with. That, along with the fact that music holds the power to transcend the shackles of social barriers that hinder social inclusion of vulnerable populations is why we are very excited to be part of this project and be introduced to various aspects of folk music, different traditions, different lifestyles on this journey”, said Dr. Gitanjali Sarangan, Snehadhara Foundation.

"PaDa Project has been brewing inside of me for over 4 years. With Believe and the Snehadhara Foundation, I have found partners whose beliefs and ideas align with my own. Folk music and its rituals have always been a source of inspiration for me. I can't wait to embark on this journey to discover new folk music that will inspire me and - in turn - others as well", said Vasu Dixit, Musician and Filmmaker.