Northern Rivers legends Suzanne Whiteman and Andy Bambach were joined by Ballina’s Leanne Thomas on a recent trip to the Sambhav Festival in India, which has a focus on giving artists with disabilities an opportunity to showcase their talents and shine.
The three Australians were representing this country and its approach to disability and the arts via their music, dance and films. They were joined at the New Delhi festival by divyang (physically and mentally challenged) artists from countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Musician and film maker Andy Bambach told The Echo, ‘We’ve been very lucky, going to all sorts of wonderful places.’
Suz Whiteman explained that Sambhav comes from the Sanskrit, meaning anything is possible and anything can happen. ‘That’s always been the name,’ she said. ‘It’s a long term international disability arts festival.’
There is also a Sambhav Foundation? ‘Yes, it’s run by a friend of mine, Alpana Nayak,’ Ms Whiteman explained.
‘We call her guru, which means teacher. She also identifies as having a disability. And yes, they do lots of festivals and have disability dance music that they run regularly. She’s a big personality in the disability world in Asia and India.’
Amazing life experience
Ms Whiteman (who runs a dance studio in Alstonville, among other things) has attended the Sambhav Festival seven times. For the last two years, COVID meant people couldn’t attend in person, so she presented films together with Andy Bambach online instead.
Mr Bambach has been to India quite a few times, but describes the 2023 festival as ‘an amazing life experience… being able to hang out with so many artists with disabilities and just embed myself with them and watch them perform.
‘Some of the performances are just amazing for people with disabilities,’ he said. ‘Like a blind dance troupe that were all dancing in sync, or a deaf troupe that felt the beats through the sound waves on the floor, and everyone playing together. The quality of the dance was just amazing.’
Andy Bambach was filming as well as playing music, but handed his camera off to others when he was performing (here’s a taste of what was shot during the festival):
Mr Bambach told The Echo, ‘We were also presenting some of the disability films that Suzy and I have worked on together, as well as one I made about an Indian girl who was gifted a leg. She was a beggar.
‘People are very interested in what happens with disabilities in the arts world over here. What we do in Australia is a little bit different, and every country does it so differently. There were so many different countries involved!’
He said that after the New Delhi event they went up to Rishikesh to present another workshop to a group of orphans at Ramanas Gardens.
So how are disabled people treated in India, I had the impression they have a pretty rough time?
Andy Bambach says for each individual it depends on your place in the caste system, ‘which is supposed to be non-existent, but is very, very existent in India… As far as the people we were working with, I didn’t hear of any outrageous, horrible stories except for the orphans. They had outrageous horrible stories, pretty much every one of them.’
Suz Whiteman explained there are no government subsidies for the disabled, or anything like the Australian NDIS. ‘How you go depends on who your family is, whether you have that support or opportunity,’ she said.
‘There are a lot of people that work and have set up NGOs but they’re not funded much and everyone is working so hard.’
She said disabled people attending the festival had travelled for days on trains and buses, often with animals.
‘They performed and stayed, and had such stressful long days. And then without a blink of an eye or a tear, they got back on that bus and that train for four or five days and traveled home.
‘That is something that is amazing – it shows their resilience and their commitment to the arts and the festival.’
She explained that the Indian government traditionally funded the festival because of its yoga focus, but that didn’t happen this year. ‘Numbers were down, but there were probably about 200 people there.’
Ms Whiteman said the government officials and speakers who did attend were ‘really amazing and mindful, very sincere’, which was a pleasant surprise. ‘I was totally inspired, and it’s rare for me to get inspired by politicians!’
First time to India
Ballina’s Leanne Thomas is a drummer who works with Andy Bambach and Suz Whiteman on their film projects, and had never been to India before. She said it was very exciting.
‘Everyone was just so happy to see us. Everyone was rehearsing, where we were staying, all the different acts, and we had lots of fun doing that,’ said Ms Thomas.
‘The love that you felt from all the people was just so amazing. We all had lunch together every day. And as Andy was saying, the acts were just fabulous.’
One of the hits of the festival was a song Andy Bambach wrote for a film he’s currently working on with Suz and a local Ballina woman Simi, called ‘These Are The Sounds We Make’.
‘The song is about the world through her eyes, and because she’s non-verbal, the sorts of sounds that she can make. And so we adapted that when we went to Sambhav, and ran a workshop. I think we had about 100 people on stage at one point, all making the sounds that they could make in their own language and in their own voices. It was amazing to have that experience,’ he remembers.
‘Then when we went to Ramanas Gardens, the orphans were so switched on there that they actually learnt the lyrics and sang the whole song back to us, which was so exciting!’
Lost luggage
For Leanne Thomas, it was a particular challenge drumming after the airline lost their luggage temporarily, with borrowed pots and pans and a guitar case having to substitute for drums in one performance. ‘It was actually very loud and it was miked up, so you can hear me really well!’
The trio said India and Australia each have something to learn from the other about supported decision-making for those with disabilities; how to involve people properly in decisions that affect them, and finding ways to communicate meaningfully.
Keep an eye out for the group’s forthcoming films from Ballina, New Delhi and Rishikesh. Until then, here’s another short YouTube clip, complete with guitar case percussion:
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