BUY TICKETS Thursday, 4 December – 6.00pm –The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
“… taps into the vibrant and energetic sphere of Bhojpuri music in Mumbai … now tied as much to derelict suburbs of Mumbai as to its cutting-edge studios.” – The Hindu
Bidesia is Bhojpuri language for “the one who leaves home”. One in four migrants in Mumbai are Bhojpuri, a people from the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Bambai is their name for Mumbai/Bombay. The Bidesia in Bambai, like most migrants in any “global city”, inhabit its precarious edges. Mobile phones bridge a tenuous connection between home and the city. Along with his meagre belongings though, the Bidesia migrant also brings a vibrant musical culture that is often sexually charged, religious and political. Bidesia In Bambai makes the migrants visible, in a city that renders them illegal and unwanted, in and through the musical sphere that they inhabit. This is a story of music, migration and mobile phones.
