India is the first ‘country of honor’ at the Marche du Cinema, the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival whose 75th edition began on May 17. India’s heightened status in one of the world’s largest film markets marks the country’s 75 years of diplomatic relations with France.
And amid the list of celebrities who represented India at Cannes, is Rajasthani Folk artist Mame Khan. Khan created history by becoming the first-ever folk singer to walk the red carpet at Cannes. Dressed in a traditional Rajasthani outfit with an embroidered kurta and vibrant headgear, he literally took the whole of Rajasthan to France.
Khan was a part of the Indian delegation along with popular celebrities including AR Rehman, R Madhavan, Shekhar Kapur, Pooja Hegde, Tamannah Bhatia, Prasoon Joshi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vani Tripathi, and Ricky Kej. The India Pavilion was inaugurated a day later on May 18 amid some folk songs and dances at the ongoing 75th Cannes Film Festival. Indian celebrities Deepika Padukone, Tamannaah Bhatia, Urvashi Rautela, and Pooja Hegde danced to singer Mame Khan’s impromptu performance at the Pavilion. The video of the same has been going viral.
How Mame Khan made it to Cannes
Many are curious how Mame Khan made it to Cannes. For that, you need to understand his incredible journey.
Mame Khan was born in Satto, a small village near Jaisalmer in the Manganiyar community of Rajasthan, India. He belongs to a family of master singers, who have been performing traditional Rajasthani music for more than fifteen generations. He has been greatly influenced by his father and tutor, the late Ustad Rana Khan. By the age of 14, Mame Khan’s talent gained him a six-year scholarship by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to pursue his studies in music and arts.
Jangra, the style of the Manganiyar gharana, uses rare instruments like a bowed kamaicha and percussion piece – khartal. The player of the instruments has a unique theatrical-dance posture while performing. Initially, Mame Khan was more focused on rhythm and preferred to play the dholak. But it was during a world tour in 1999 that Khan took to singing on the advice of his father.
“While eating and drinking, we know and learn music, but it does not have any degree,” Khan told the media.
In the following years, Khan became a renowned name in the folk music circuits of Rajasthan by singing a wide repertoire of traditional Folk- and Sufi songs. His command over the folk form took him to various national and international platforms.
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This gradually landed him in the playback. He made his debut in Bollywood with Shankar Mahadevan for the film Luck By Chance in 2009. Subsequently he sang in ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Sonchiriya’, and more. He is as well the main vocal of the famous Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel. Khan even featured on Coke Studio along with Amit Trivedi and has given his voice to songs such as Chaudhary and Badri Badaria which shot him to fame.
For a large part of his life, Khan has fought financial constraints but he’d always dreamed of an album to his name. Since no music label was interested in a Rajasthani folk album then, in 2015, due to lack of funds, he decided to crowdfund an album with the Manganiyars. His recent song, the percussion-heavy Nakhralo in the Abhishek Bachchan starrer Dasvi (2022), has found much appreciation and attention.
We couldn’t be more proud of Khan to get to represent our country.