Global hit: Indian folk opera revival

The World

Around the world, indigenous music is struggling to survive in its original form and location. But sometimes, music that fades in one place, say, Northern India, shows up in another place, surprisingly far away. From Hayward, California, Lonny Shavelson has more.
Audio slideshow: Indian folk opera in CA

Imagine acres of plowed farmland in India. Thousands of farmers and their families are sitting or lying on the ground. At ten at night, the crowd pushes back to make a circular clearing. Gas lanterns are lit, a dozen or so opera singers, actors and dancers prepare to perform until dawn – and you have a nautanki…a Hindi folk opera once wildly popular in northern India.

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