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“It’s a theatre adaption of ‘Umrao Jaan’ written in English. He has assembled a cast of six musicians and 10 actors.

It’s not an opera but a play with music.” Jasani told “ Nobody as far as I known has done something like this – where you put music on stage and it’s a musical (of sorts). It will form one part of a three-pronged project, entitled “ Lost Traditions” to bring the courtesan or Tawa’if as it was known more formally, back to life. He is passionate about wanting to resurrect the culture that supported the courtesan tradition and restore it to its former glories.įor just two nights in London (starting tomorrow on July 22) and an extended run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (from August 6-31), there will be a stage adaptation of “ Umrao Jaan” made up of music and dance. These initiatives are the brainchild of Viram Jasani, who will be known to many as the face behind the long-running Asian Music Circuit (AMC). It has been entitled, “ Umrao – The Noble Courtesan”Ī later exhibition will also give people the chance to hear recordings of actual courtesans dating back to 1902. Now, in what is believed to be the first time ever in the UK, the courtesan tradition is to be resurrected in the form of a theatrical production with music.

Take the great 19th century Urdu novel “ Umrao Jaan”, and the literary works that inspired “ Pakeezah” (1972), “ Devdas” (2002) and the later screen version of “ Umrao Jaan” (2006) itself with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead….they were lavish productions that spoke of a different time and era. SEDUCTIVE, romantic, and tragic – that was the lot of the courtesan dancers who were venerated figures in much of Mughal India. In popular South Asian culture, the figure of the courtesan still persists but their long-held intellectual traditions and devotion to art have been much neglected.