Pune: The founder of city-based contemporary-experimental choirgroupEnsembleSahanaad, AabhaSaumitra, has curatedan ode toIndian novelist, essayist and poet Amrita Pritam, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi (1919-2005), to presentonInternational Women’s Day on March 8. The revolutionary poet-novelist emboldened women for generations to come. Herworksexplored love and loss,as also desire, betrayal, displacement,violenceand survival often related to the partition of India that tore familiesapart andscarred memories forever. Saumitra told TOI: “The thought process behind our curation ‘Howl of a Solitary Poem’ — a choral exploration of selected poetry by Pritam, was to delve into a woman’s inner world.” LikePritam’swritings which are extremely fearless and introspective,Saumitra and her choir “chose poems that are personal and intimate — about longing, betrayal, love and secrets. They are spiritually searching — though not institutionally religious” for the March 8 production at The Box Too as part of the AllianceFrançaisede Pune’s three-day Women’s Dayprogramme Voices and Threads.Since itsinceptionin 2021, each Sahanaad member hastaken outtime from theirsphere of work touniteand create music driven by awareness,curiosityand conscience.Meanwhile, after over60 hoursof practice, meetings and ideating sessions, the idea boiled down to one. “Wewanted to explorewhat goes on inside a woman’s mind. Whena poet writes, it begins in a private space — a world untouched. There is a kind of nakedness in that space. Pritam wroteintenselypolitical poetry, buther later poemsalsofelt spiritual — independent, personal and fearless,while transcending labels.I’vealso thought about music in this way — how sacred choral music can transcend religion and become a deeply personal experience for listeners.“
