• April 5, 2022

Jagriti Ek Udaan – A musical dedication to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility (Video)

By A Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI April 5: Jagriti Ek Udaan is a dedication to the transgender community in India. This musical journey highlights not only the issues, problems, violence, harassment and inequalities faced by this section of the society but have also brought light to getting education and acceptance. It is an effort to raise awareness which could be hard and long, but success can be achieved.

Swaty De Sen who conceived and scripted the musical, alongwith Hemanto Goswami, says: “Having spent 23 years in Trivandrum, I am more of a Malayalee than a Bong! Living in Kerala, brought in the love for art and music into my life from childhood. The presentation here is a reflection of growing up in a community that was rich in culture and heritage, and believed that art can be a beautiful, strong and powerful media to convey any message.

“The concept for Jagriti… Ek Udaan sprouted in my mind a few months back. From its conception to launch, the 7 month journey has been very captivating, interesting and satisfying. Being a novice, my partner has been the brilliant Hemanto Goswami (band Bhoomi, Kolkata), who also composed the magnificent music for the same.

“Jagriti… Ek Udaan is a dedication to the transgender community in India. This musical journey is a story where we have highlighted not only the issues, problems, violence, harassment and inequalities faced by this section of our society but have also brought light to getting education and acceptance. It is a humble effort to raise awareness that, yes the struggle could be hard and long, but success can be achieved.

“Having Lord Sri Krishna transform into Mohini and then marrying Aravan for a day, to become a widow the next day, brought a splash of the Hindu mythology in our musical – to show that the concept of being a transgender is ages old, and is celebrated every year in the famous Koovagam festival.

This video was released on March 31st, 2022, to celebrate the Transgender Day Of Visibility, in Kolkata by the Hon minister Dr. Shashi Panja.

Eminent artists like Mahalakshmi Iyer and Rekha Bharadwaj from Bollywood graced the video with their collaboration, along with Hemanto Goswami, Joy Sarkar (music director), Ratul Shankar (grand nephew of Pdt. Ravi Shankar), Kaushik Chakraborty (dancer) and many other artists.

“It is time we move forward. Excluding a piece of our society, for no fault of theirs, … is only a loss to OUR society, Swaty De Sen concludes.