Warli

The Warli are a people scoring over 300,000 indigenous ethnic groups ( Adivasis ) in the Indian state of Maharashtra, who live in an area about 150 kilometers north of Mumbai. They speak a language which does not exist in written form.

The creation myths and stories of their very old, self-sufficient nature religion handed down both orally and in pictures. Traditionally, Warli Paintings are applied to ceremonial occasions such as weddings and harvest festivals of the women using a bamboo rod and white color rice paste, water and gum on the terracotta colored walls of their huts.

Since the Indian government has taken measures at the beginning of the 1970s, to obtain these ephemeral tradition-bound art ( of various tribal communities ), the art of Warli is increasingly came into the public eye. The extraordinary artistic talent of Soma Mashe Jivya was quick to recognize the now a celebrity in the West, however, is still largely unknown in India. Now equipped with modern material, Jivya S. Mashe was the first man who painted daily and without ritual occasion with white acrylic paint onto primed with cow dung canvases. Meanwhile, the painting has become a predominantly male -dominated commercial business on mobile image carriers such as canvas and paper.

Soma Mashe Jivya has both the independent sign language of the Warli, which is based on the basic geometric shapes (triangle, circle and square ) as well as their motifs and themes refined and further developed on the basis of independent observations. With a particularly skilful and precise design as well as its very clear, fluid style he gives his own view of the world and tells expression in his paintings both the creation myths and legends of his religion as well as from everyday village life. Certain key shapes and motifs are always varied.

The two typical traditional musical instruments of the Warli are made ​​of gourds reed instrument Tarpu and a simple Vina corresponding bar zither Ghanghli.