Samandar Manganiar

Samandar Manganiar was born in 1971 in the village of Jhaphli Kalan [Barmer] in the western desert region of Rajasthan. He belongs to a family of hereditary professional musicians and was initiated in music from his early childhood. He learnt the traditional art of Manganiar Singing and Composing as well as playing the Khartaal from his father, Akademi Awardee, late Ustad Siddique Manganiar. He learnt Jaangda style of singing from late Ustad Bhoongar Khan.

He has mastered a large repertoire of the traditional songs of the Manganiar community which he renders with great verve and sensitivity. He has come to be known as an outstanding Folk Singer and Khartaal player of this region. Samandar has been a practitioner of Folk & Sufi Music and later attained fame in the field of Creative Music. For his compositions and various recordings made for Music Today, All India Radio, TV, and for films, he is recognized today as a leading music composer of Rajasthani and Sufi music.

Samandar has sung and shared stage space with, worked on music compositions, and, recorded with some of the leading musicians, artists, music directors and film makers of India and abroad. He has sung with and accompanied the two leading popular divas of the subcontinent-Abida Parveen from Pakistan and Smt. Shubha Mudgal, and others like Sanam Marvi from Pakistan, Smt. Konkana Bannerjee, Smt. Anuradha Pal, Ustad Sultan Khan, Shiva Mani, Hans Raj Hans; whirling dervishes from Turkey, Abdul Karim Al-Kably's group of musicians from Sudan, Mahsa Vahdat and others from Iran; Sultana Choudhuri with Bauls and Runa Laila from Bangladesh; Nurul Hasan Qawwal from Awadh; and Ghulam Nabi Namtahali from Kashmir. He has worked with a group of Flamenco dancers and musicians led by Ms. Zacky from Spain; the Jazz music group lead by Mr. Hanks from Netherlands and the Tanttz Group of dancers from Berlin, Germany.

He has worked with Muzaffar Ali several times in the productions Jahan-e-Khusro in Delhi, Sada-e-Sufi in Chandigarh, Punjab, and Sufi Sartaj in Kashmir. He has worked with film personalities Gulzar and Bhupen Hazarika on composing Assamese, Marathi, Bengali and Gujrati songs and music for children at the Children’s Film Festival in Udaipur. Samandar was part of an Audio CD of Folk Music by A.R. Rehman.

He composed music and sang for the French adaptation of Girish Karnad’s play, Hayavadan, at Asia Drama Festival in Limo, France, in 1997 directed by Asil Raish and Aryen Muskin of France.

He has worked with many dancers of India, among them, Kathak and Bharatnatyam gurus and performers like Dr. Padma Subrmanyam, Dr. Shashi Sankhla, Mallika Sarabhai, Shobhana Narayan, Chetna Jalan, Pt. Rajendra Gangani, and Rekha Thakar. He also sang for Ms. Manjari Caturvedi. Samandar has been working with Kathak dancer, Ms. Anurag Verma on the concept of Sampravaahi: The Confluent Streams, a presentation where Manganiar Folk Music and Jaipur Gharaana Kathak traditions flow together, aiming, through their choice of repertoire and manner of presentation, to preserve and bring to the fore gems of Rajasthani musical compositions that are today in the danger of being lost forever out of neglect.

Samandar also has to his credit a long experience of serving the people of his region through NGOs like Lok Rang Parishad, and Folk Heritage Foundation supported by UNICEF, Jaipur, organizing Lok Rang Shala - a residential camp in Shiv, Barmer, for conservation and promotion of Manganiar Music; promoting the singing styles of traditional Manganiar women singers; conducting Workshops for manufacturing rare Rajasthani musical instruments like the Kamaayacha, Surinda, Saarangi, Sataara, Saraai Dhol and Khartaal; besides taking up many educational, social, development schemes and projects for the welfare of rural areas, such as those for the Kanjar community, through his NGOs.

Samandar has been honoured with the National Youth Cultural Award by Nehru Yuva Kendra, Government of India; the Hukum Singh Award by Hukum Singh Foundation of Jodhpur; and the Music World Series 2002 Award by Rasa of Netherlands.

Samandar  is in  the  Best of Rajasthan  list of  artists  in  the Department  of  Tourism,  Art  and  Culture, Government  of Rajasthan, and  an  empaneled  artist  with  the  ICCR.