Centuries of Manganiyar music travel from Rajasthan’s Thar desert to Hyderabad with the Barmer Boys

Absolutely! Hyderabad indeed has a deep connection to Sufi culture; the city breathes that history. People here understand the poetry; they feel the devotion instinctively. So we can go deeper here. We don’t have to hold back or explain, the audience is already tuned into that wavelength. They can expect a powerful, immersive journey. We’ll take them from the tranquility of Sufi kalaams to the explosive energy of our wedding songs and folk jams. You’ll hear the dholak thunder, the morchang’s otherworldly twang, beatboxing that’ll surprise you, and vocals that will move your soul. And honestly, performing for an audience that already carries this cultural richness in their hearts pushes us to give even more.

It’s everything to us. The Manganiyar tradition isn’t just music; it’s our identity, our history, our voice. For centuries, our community has been the keeper and carrier of Rajasthan’s history and its cultural memory. We sing at births, weddings, and celebrations. We preserve stories, folklores, bhajans, and Sufi kalaams that would otherwise be lost. When we perform, whether it’s in our village or at venues such as WOMAD (UK) or the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, we’re carrying forward what our fathers and grandfathers entrusted to us. It’s a responsibility we take seriously but also one that fills us with pride. We’re showing the world that these ancient traditions are alive, powerful, and relevant even today.

We grew up surrounded by music. It wasn’t something you learnt in a classroom; it was and is our life itself. We belong to a community of hereditary musicians. As kids, we didn’t play with toys but with instruments, and by the time a toddler learns how to walk, they are already used to handling and even playing a number of musical instruments. By the time we could walk, we were taken to performances by our elders and made to sit, watch, and also perform with them. These could be at performances for weddings, births, and community gatherings or anything auspicious. The instruments and devotional kalaams sung late into the night under the desert stars, and those sounds and experiences shaped us. Even now, when we perform certain songs, we remember specific moments: an uncle’s voice at a wedding and the way his harmonium sounded.

There have been many. Starting with our first big show abroad — at the Roskilde Festival, where we performed between OutKast and the Rolling Stones. Standing on that stage, representing Rajasthan on one of Europe’s biggest platforms, was surreal. It is still tough to explain the reaction we got from the audience. Most recently at WOMAD in 2022, something truly magical happened.

We were performing Sufi kalaams, and as we sang, we could see people in the audience with tears streaming down their faces. After the show, someone came up and said, “I don’t understand a single word, but I felt everything.” It only proves the cliché — music is a universal language. The devotion, the emotion, and the energy transcend barriers of language and culture.

This is actually natural for us as Manganiyars. We’re Muslim, but our patrons are Rajput Hindus. We are the keepers of bhajans, folklore, and stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. We also carry stories of the valour of Rajput kings and queens and stories of towns and people (some of which are now in Pakistan, like Amarkot). We sing for everyone; we celebrate with everyone. Sufi kalaams are about divine love and surrender. Krishna bhajans celebrate devotion and joy. Wedding songs are pure celebrations of life. They’re all different expressions of the same human experience: love, devotion, celebration, longing. Just like the rest of India, in Rajasthan, life doesn’t exist in separate boxes. Our music reflects that.

We honour the roots while embracing evolution. Take Sawai, for example. He taught himself beatboxing and started weaving it into our traditional rhythms. It works because the intention is pure. We’re not trying to change traditions; we’re ensuring it reaches more hearts, including younger hearts. The core of the music, the soul, the spiritual depth, remains untouched. But the way we present it, the energy we bring, that’s contemporary. We’ve also collaborated with DJs, worked with Danish post-rock band Himmelrum, and performed with artistes like Vieux Farka Touré and Madou Sidiki Diabaté. Tradition doesn’t mean frozen in time. It means living, breathing, growing.

The band was actually formed in 2011 when Amarrass Records discovered Manga (Mangey Khan). He was playing the harmonium for another singer, when he asked if he could be recorded. When they heard his voice, they knew instantly they had to build a band around him. That was the beginning. Losing Mangey in September 2024 was the most devastating moment of our lives. He wasn’t just our lead vocalist; he was our brother, our heart. For a time, we didn’t know if we could continue. But then we welcomed Bhura Khan, who is the nephew of the Mangey Khan. Bhura brought new life and new energy while honouring everything Mangey built. That transition taught us resilience. It showed us that this music is bigger than any individual. The tradition will always find a way to survive.

Pir Jilani is incredibly special to us. We performed it on MTV Coke Studio Season 3, and it introduced us to a much wider Indian audience. It’s a devotional song, a prayer, really. When we sing it, we’re not performers; we’re devotees.

There will be the usual request for Kesariya Balam, popularised by Bollywood. However, we get the audience to listen to Kesaria Banna (which people have hardly heard). Our album Kesariya Balm in 2017 was actually the first Indian folk LP of the 21st century to debut on the Transglobal World Music Charts Top 40. That felt like a victory not just for us, but for the entire Manganiyar tradition.

What the FOLK! Rooted. Fearless. Devotional. We're rooted in centuries of tradition, fearless in how we present it to the world, and deeply devotional in our approach to music. Every performance is an offering, a prayer, a celebration. That's who we are.