EXPRESS INDIA (New Delhi) 17 December 06 To revive a dying art, charmers bring songs of the snakes to Capital (Ravleen Kaur)
New Delhi: More than 70 snake charmers will play their music at the India Habitat Centre tomorrow evening but it will be a very different setting from the one they have been accustomed to until fairly recently. Not only will the audience be different but even the snakes will be missing.
The snake charmers, from various towns in north India, are happy that their music is being heard outside their village. It is the biggest hope of maintaining their livelihood since their snakes are no longer with them as keeping them is illegal under the Wildlife Protection Act.
“Hum ussi ke liye bajate the aur ussi ki puja karte the. Ab saap toh chala gaya, ‘been’ bhi jyada din nahi chalegi,” says Pathram Nath, 75, who has come from Rajasthan’s Baswana village to perform in the concert.
Sporting colourful turbans and bright orange clothes, these snake charmers are trying hard to keep alive their culture with the been, thumba and khanjari.
The saperas craft these instruments by hand using leaves, bamboo, wax and goat skin. “Goat skin is very thin so it makes a good and powerful sound while playing on a khanjari,” says Pathram.
Many of the snake charmers have been trained to become “sarprakshaks (protectors of snakes)” and help in the conservation efforts of the NGO, Friends of Snakes.
But they are not happy with knowledge alone.
“Now that we know the most about our snakes, we do not have them with us. Along with employment, our children’s future is lost now. Earlier, we earned and sent them to school. Now we can’t do that at all,’’ says Satpal, a snake charmer from Molar Band.
“People listen to the been only when the snake is there. We even tried keeping artificial snakes but that did not help. People wanted us to get real snakes. I wish that one of our children plays traditional music. But we do not want them to experience poverty like us,’’ Satpal added.
Pathram fears that the art will die by the time he passes away. “We got our identity because of snakes. Now that the snakes are not there, everything will die,’’ he says.
To revive a dying art, charmers bring songs of the snakes to Capital