Living Ancestor Is Heavily Influenced By My Relationship With Mahavidya Goddess Matangi, Says Singapore Poet-Performer ArunDitha

This is the most engrossing month in 2024 for Indians in Singapore — or for any culture aficionado, for that matter — as , the biggest celebration of Indian or Indian-led performing arts, presented by , is being organised on November 15-24.

Like every year, Kalaa Utsavam brings together the classical and the experimental, the established names and the emerging talent. Like every year, there is something unique on the festival calendar. One such show this time is Living Ancestor நம்முள் வாழும் முன்ேனார் by ArunDitha, SISTRUM & Beatroot Ensemble featuring Mohamed Noor and Munir Alsagoff (15 & 16 Nov 2024; Friday & Saturday 8pm; Esplanade Annexe Studio;  from SGD 18).

, born Deborah Arunditha Emmanuel, is an Indian-origin artiste who describes herself as “a poet, singer and space-0pener from Singapore” — the zero (‘0’) in place of ‘o’ is intended and open to interpretation; perhaps it is there because zero marks the point where something can begin.

About her work, she says that it “exists/lives in material and non-material dimensions”.

The performances by ArunDitha are outside conventionality, to say the least, but they are also deeply rooted in spirituality, especially in the concept of ‘Shakti’ or feminine power.

“Living Ancestor is a piece of work heavily influenced by my relationship with the Mahavidya goddess Matangi. I am on the path of Mahavidya worship, a path of my ancestors from Tamil Nadu and south India, and Matangi was one of the first goddesses within this pantheon who I formed a deep relationship with,” she tells Connected to India in an interview ahead of Kalaa Utsavam.

Excerpts from the interview:

● You describe yourself as a “techno-shamanic writer and performance artist who puts maca in their morning cacao”. Could you tell us how that summarises your performance art and your personality?

It is always hard to describe oneself, but I try, and sometimes certain terminologies come in handy for that. Techno-shamanism is a contemporary esoteric term used to describe the work of transmitting spiritual energies through technology, and often sound.

It is not so much a personality-based phenomenon, though I must admit that I do sometimes emanate the ‘strangeness’ apparent in people who are connected to ‘the other side’.

In terms of my performance art, I would say the relevance is that I am heavily influenced by animism and Shaktism, and it deeply impacts all I do and create in this world.

The sounds that will come out of my mouth during Living Ancestor will certainly embody a kind of spiritual energy which comes from my devotional practices. These energies will be transmitted through physical and non-physical technologies I use, like ‘shamanic’ song, channelled text, and the TC Helicon Voicelive Touch 2, a piece of equipment that operates as a VPU (vocal processing unit) with live looping abilities.

● You performed WIP – Earth Song (Esplanade, 25 March 2023) and now you return to Esplanade with Living Ancestor for Kalaa Utsavam 2024. Is there any common thread between the two, since both appear to be centred around women?

These two works are intimate and cosmic interpretations of different parts of my human experience. Perhaps my devotion to the Goddess comes through in them, and this is what appears to be a centering around women.

For me, these works centre around the universe which I inhabit, composed of many dimensions, experiences, realities and abstractions. Also, I do very much inhabit a woman’s body in this life, and I love it!

● Please tell us about the idea behind Living Ancestor and whether or not the notion of questioning traditions is still outside the comfort zone of most women.

Living Ancestor is a piece of work heavily influenced by my relationship with the Mahavidya goddess Matangi. I am on the path of Mahavidya worship, a path of my ancestors from Tamil Nadu and south India, and Matangi was one of the first goddesses within this pantheon who I formed a deep relationship with.

I cannot speak to the experience of most women; I can only speak to the experiences of the women I know well and, of course, to my own experience.

In my reality and community here in Singapore, many women question tradition. Perhaps it is as a result of the secularisation of my country; perhaps it is as a result of technological modernity and the information age, where many different perspectives are now available to us via the worldwide web and social media.

I believe that the concept of ‘most women’ is relative to the location and the demographic we are referring to, and in my demographic, to question is to think, and to think deeply is the norm.

● About the artistes collaborating with you on Living Ancestor, how did you all come together?

I am incredibly honoured to be working with a group of highly gifted individuals, all of whom ‘kick ass’ in their respective roles and fields. The musicians on the team — percussionist Mohamed Noor and multi-instrumentalist Munir Alsagoff, as well as electronic music producer Ramesh Krishnan, who has taken the lead on sound design — are all respected icons in their own right.

Since Singapore has a relatively tight-knit arts scene, some of us have known each other for many years. It is a gift to be able to finally collaborate on something this meaningful.

Working with SISTRUM, composed of architect Laura Miotto and designer Lim Shu Min, has been an absolute dream.

The visual dimension of Living Ancestor has taken form in ways I could never have imagined myself. Everyone is very impressive and I am sometimes a bit shocked to find myself amongst them. They all blow my mind!

(L-R) Electronic music producer Ramesh Krishnan, designer Lim Shu Min, and architect Laura Miotto of SISTRUM. Percussionist Mohamed Noor. Multi-instrumentalist Munir Alsagoff.

● You have written poetry about women, but you identify as “they”, not “she”, and yet refer to yourself in singular. Is there a story/thought here that you would like to share with us?

Well, for me, the pronouns are a bit of a constraint, but I try to live within them since they are relevant to present-day society.

“The complexity of our identities must always be honoured,” says ArunDitha.

In terms of the pronoun ‘they’, it has a double meaning for me. One meaning is the kind of androgyny I often embody, developed over time as a result of my spiritual practice. The other meaning is the multiplicity within my identity, since I feel myself to be composed of many layers of being and, in fact, of many energetic ‘beings’.

I went through a brief total ‘they’ phase, but I am certainly more of a ‘she’, and use the relevant language regularly now.

The ‘they’ within me is still strong, though, and increasingly across the world, we see that gender is much more complex than we previously thought. The complexity of our identities must always be honoured.

● Your birth name is Deborah Arunditha Emmanuel; why did you pick your middle name specifically to represent your art?

It does not just represent my art; it is also what most people call me these days! Either ‘Ditha’ or ‘Arunditha’. This name was given to me by my grandmother and I was so colonised most of my life that I did not even know its meaning until I entered my 30s.

Once I began the process of connecting to my ancestry and releasing the reign that colonisation has had over my psyche, I inevitably began using my middle name, which now very much feels like the name meant for me. I did not pick the name; the name picked me, through the heart of my grandmother Mary Emmanuel.

● Your performance style fits the description “avant garde”. Have you found the Singapore audience receptive to this? Is there any specific performance that has been memorable for you because of the audience reaction?

Yes, the Singapore audience is receptive! Everywhere in the world, there is an audience for the ‘avant garde’, there is an audience for the non-linear, there is an audience for marginalised stories and for work which is ‘fringe’.

The audience will receive such work also when the quality of the work is high, irrespective of the content.

I honestly believe that we are in a process of changing what the norm is, in my country and beyond. It is an exciting time to be alive and creating.

In terms of a performance that has been memorable for me because of the audience reaction… I think of my 2018 work Alien Flower in Fundamentalist Fields, which was first presented in Story Fest in Sydney, Australia. It was the second show that I devised using this one-woman show format and with some of the technological devices used in Living Ancestor, and it was received really well. This is when I first knew that what I have envisioned is possible and powerful.

● You are a performance artiste, so when you are not performing live, how do you leave your work behind at performance spaces, to be experienced by others later?

Everything which I perform is first written and lives on the page. I began and will leave this life as a writer. The words are from my soul. And my soul remains externalised, perhaps eternalised, in text.

(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between  and )