Co producer, musician
Phoolan Devi opera (composer: Gayathri Khemadasa, Librettist: Jeff Hush): The opera is based on Phoolan Devi, a low-caste (untouchable caste) Indian woman and her journey from an eleven-year-old child bride to a ruthless outlaw who came to be known as the ‘Bandit Queen of India’ .
Phoolan Devi is an ‘Untouchable opera’ that change who the heroes are in the world. The opera is ‘untouchable’ in two ways simultaneously: It smuggles into the world of the rich and ‘cultured’ the emotional heartscape of extremely ‘low’ illiterate folk, and insinuates into your nerves and brain waves a music that microscopically blends Eastern and Western traditions that you can’t ‘touch’ the roots of the music anymore.
Instrumental and workshop versions of the opera have been produced in the US, Canada and Sri Lanka
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