Tron Theatre, Glasgow
3 stars
Nothing can unite the body politic quite like music, even as listening
to it or playing it remains an intensely personal experience. Such
notions are the back-bone of Ankur Productions' charming look at
pan-Indian identity through the eyes, words and, above all, songs of
those who left their homeland for Glasgow, and the younger generation
they sired.
In what is part concert, part oral history, some fourteen community
performers of all ages tell their stories, both on film and in the
flesh. As they relate their tales of exile and arranged marriages on
the one hand, and facing the Glasgow cold at the 'Barras on the other,
the result of Shabina Aslam's Mayfesto production, which sees the cast
perched on a network of white-painted boxes, is a crucial mash-up of
traditional Indian mores fused with a brash contemporaneity.
While the older women sport saris as they talk of a time before
Bollywood had been named thus, the younger ones wear baseball caps,
t-shirts and bling, complaining that the older garb is itchy. As a
young girl relates the story of someone who came to Glasgow more than
forty years ago, however, as she talks in first person, the importance
of such hand-me-down experiences becomes clear.
Ultimately, Jukebox is a modest but lovingly realised evocation of
community, and of forming a new one whilst retaining links with the one
that's been left behind. In this way, it stresses the importance of
retaining a deep-rooted sense of identity, even as you integrate with
another culture. The fact that such stories are not just being
preserved, but are having fresh life breathed into them, makes for a
fascinating and moving hour.
The Herald, May 7th 2013
ends
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