Snaps

An experimental track that juxtaposes two renditions of a composition – an earlier version from Bhisham Sahni’s play «Kabir Khada Bazaar Mein», directed by M.K. Raina in 1982 – and a recent rock opera version conceptualized and performed by Delhi-based Dastaan Live in 2022.

A film that transports one to the listening room assembled by Inspector Khan – a retired police officer, fondly called Khan Sa’ab. In this piece, he talks to the author about his special relationship with music, audio gear, and his adventures as a collector.

How can one think about city sounds without taking into account the sounds that have been silenced by the state? This question underscores the essay by Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita as they contemplate the sound of time spent in unjust incarceration by the state.

Abhishek Mathur, a musician in an ensemble band himself, ventures out to spend a day with a ceremonious gathering of brass bands. He reflects on the tensions and contradictions layering the multidimensional worlds of bandsmen and the sonic explosions that they create.

In this video essay, Kimberley Rodrigues reflects on feelings of belonging and identity through the acoustic memories, distinct tastes, sight, and smells of C.R. Park, a unique neighborhood in Delhi, India, a place that she calls home.

A conversation with the Delhi-based ensemble Chaar Yaar / Faqiri Quartet about the ensemble, language, translation, Sufi poetry, listening to histories, and songs of love, joy, and collectivity in times of divisiveness.

Sunayana Wadhawan traces a map of stories from Kathputli Colony (Puppeteer’s Colony) in New Delhi to foreground the pressing concerns of artists and art forms that are displaced and delegitimized in the name of urban development.

In this essay, the author unpacks memories of the city in the song of Qawwals, observing how in memorializing the past, Delhi emerges in Qawwali not as a location, an identity, or a descriptive category, but always as a space of desire.