As the stage lights come on, the powerful rustic voice of the singers, the grace of the dancers and the energy of the folk theatre artistes fill the auditorium. In its 12th edition, NCPA’s Living Traditions — a platform to showcase the diverse folk forms of India — will shine the light on Madhya Pradesh. “India is divided into so many regions, not just states. States bear political and administrative borders, but even within each state, the language, dialect, food, and culture changes every few kilometres.

There’s a tremendous amount of cultural diversity and that’s what we wanted to showcase through Living Traditions,” says Dr Swarnalata Rao, programming head- Indian Music at NCPA. “Indian classical music also has its origins in folk forms. These folk forms are not rigid. While there are traditional guidelines, they evolve according to people’s tastes, and often talk about current affairs apart from traditional content too,” she adds.