Song of Soul(SOS) is attempting to document and record the inside story of folk and tribal music of India, a major part of which still lies undiscovered. The way the new generation of rural and tribal people is losing interest in keeping their traditional forms of music alive, the time has come to support them through serious collaborative musical exchanges, workshops and shows that can help them to earn and to look at this art form as a promising yet profitable venture, thus making an effort to save this rich variety of musical expressions from becoming extinct.

SOS is focusing on folk and tribal dance, drama, music, instruments and related matters, including the extent to which these cultures retain the rituals, beliefs and identity of their ancestors, and how modern technology has impacted their value systems and heritage. SOS is documenting the complex patterns of changes in folk and tribal song lyrics, melodies, rhythms, and accompaniment as they pass from village to village and generation to generation.

SOS is preventing extinction of folk and tribal musical instruments which are not available in the market or to the common people, by promoting and disseminating knowledge about them. SOS is making village singers and musicians understand their strengths and introduce their talents at the global level, through various projects, awareness programmes and motivational camps.

SING to LIVE (India)
The Indian sub-continent is home to a plethora of music genres, each with its distinctive history and unique form. The prominence of classical music (the North Indian Hindusthani and the South Indian Carnatic), along with the rise of film music, has created lucrative markets for both ‘serious’ and ‘popular’ music forms in India’s urban spaces from the mid-20th century onwards. However, the place and significance of folk and tribal music from rural pockets across several regional states in contemporary Indian music has been either overlooked or underrated. Their histories are undocumented and the complex patterns of changes in song text, tunes and rhythmic accompaniment as they pass from village to village and generation to generation make historical construction extremely difficult. We are at a disadvantage in evaluating the differences in musical sound between tribal and non tribal folk music because of the lack of recordings, transcriptions and useful descriptions. The individual tunes, song texts, drum patterns and musical styles of each tribe are unique as are the steps and styles of their dances. The sound characteristics of the vast majority of tribal music have yet to be analysed and recorded examples are rare.
Contemporary composers occasionally acknowledge the influence of folk music, musicians and instruments on urban music styles; yet, the precise contribution of folk and tribal artists, musicians and composers to the booming Indian music industry continues to be ignored. Moreover, the tendency to equate contemporary Indian music with groundbreaking innovativeness and folk music with quaintness and antiquity continues to relegate rural folk musicians to the status of ‘museum items’ generating a mere curiosity value.