ABOUT GURIA SANSTHAN
Guria Sansthan (www.guria.org) is a proactive feminist self-help organization whose members consist of tawa’if-s (courtesan singers and dancers, and sex workers who are folk performers), their children, their musical accompanists, and their mainstream well-wishers. Founded in 1994 by Ajeet Singh, the organization’s head office is in Benares. Guria’s quarterly magazine, Tawa’ifon ki Awaz (Voice of the Tawa’ifs), advocates solidarity among these marginalized women, to empower them to fight exploitation.
Guria’s activities include running a non-formal education center for children of prostitutes in Benares and in Karar village in Madhya Pradesh; publishing the magazine; and participating in rallies and marches protesting sex workers’ exploitation by police and politicians.
Guria also organizes music and dance festivals in various major Indian cities at which tawa’if-s from around the country perform Urdu ghazal songs, popular qawwali, regional traditional music and dance; and folk performers who are sex workers stage songs, dances, and plays depicting their aspirations in the face of exploitation by procurers, pimps, criminals, and the police, as well as the threat of AIDS. The objective of these events is to demonstrate to tawa’if-s (and the public) not only that their performance tradition is an economically viable means of earning a livelihood, but also that they as artists deserve the respectful patronage attained by performing their indigenous music and dance on the concert stage.
Guria’s long-term goal is to sustain these women’s empowerment so that they become financially independent in a manner such that they can avoid forced prostitution. Amie and Sangeet Millennium actively advocate for Guria. They have presented several events to benefit Guria’s efforts, including Monsoon Mehfils in 2003 and 2005, cosponsored by AID/Austin (Association for India’s Development/Austin chapter, www.aid.org/austin and City of Austin Cultural Contracts, respectively. Amie has also made the point-of-view documentary “films” “Guria, Gossip, Globalization” and “Chandni’s Choice” that focus on Guria’s work and members. She has performed her music and screened these films in awareness and fundraising events around North America and in India on numerous occasions. She has also published several scholarly articles on the topic, citations listed on her “curriculum vitae”.