Festival Belluard Bollwerk International

Live interview-performance

The tradition of oppari can still be found among the women of Tamil Nadu. They can be heard at funeral services and burials, lamenting the passing of the deceased through verse and song, which are replete with wordplay and heartfelt sentiment, often improvised and generally performed in return for some form of compensation. Amitesh Grover invites a professional mourner to perform on stage and to take part in a discussion with a young Tamil researcher. At play here is not only the retelling of a life story but the role of wailing as a legitimate act of remembrance and an expression of conflict. Is public mourning the ultimate form of resistance?