Usha Barle – Pandavani folk singer from Chhattisgarh

Usha Barle is a Pandavani folk singer from Chhattisgarh. Known for promoting traditional performing folk art forms, she was honoured with the prestigious Padma Shri awards in 2023, for her contributions towards this field. She is known for her performances in the Kapalik style Pandwani singing. She teaches numerous students, conducts workshops and is actively engaged in cultural preservation.

Usha started her Pandwani singing at the age of seven

Usha Barle was born on 2 May 1968 in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. She started singing at the age of seven and later trained under Padma Vibhushan Teejanbai, an exponent of Pandavani. Pandavani is a traditional performing art form that narrates tales from the epic Mahabharata, and both these artists have excelled in this field.

She has performed Pandwani across India and abroad, including London and New York. She also won the gold medal six times in Girodhpuri Tapobhoomi. She is also a recipient of Guru Ghasidas Samajik Chetna Puraskar by the Government of Chhattisgarh. Usha’s performances are characterized by improvisation and dynamic storytelling, where the performer enacts various episodes and characters from the Mahabharata.

End note: Pandavani is a form of folk theatre quite popular in Chhattisgarh and in the neighbouring tribal areas of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, which enacts the stories of Pandavas of epic Mahabharata, using traditional music instruments.