Sydney Festival Digital Archive

The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel (2010)

Sydney had never seen or heard anything like it: a multi-storey structure of 33 velvet-curtained cubes (inspired by the Hawa Mahal palace in Jaipur and the display windows of Amsterdam’s red-light district), each containing a member of the Manganiyar caste of hereditary musicians ( majority Muslim, all surnamed Khan) from the desert regions of Rajasthan. “Seduction” gave way to total surrender with the Seymour Centre audience enraptured by a stunning jewel-box staging and the slow build of a spellbinding wall-of-sound created by musicians for whom music, devotion and life itself is one inseparable whole. 

Premiering in 2006, The Maningayar Seduction is so beloved it still tours today.