APR KARMAGOTCHI – WEST BENGAL

I recently made a site visit to armagotchi, West Bengal in January of 2011. The village, 2 hours north of Kolkata, India is using music to preserve its traditions even as urban culture threatens its simple way of life. Project Ahimsa (www.projectahimsa.org) provided support to repair all the the traditional drums in this video, and provide a salary for 1 year to the music teacher who works with village elders to pass on traditions to village youth through music. Special thanks to Rosalie Giffoniello of Empower the Children, and Neelanjana Banerjee (photographer).