Stories, Sites, and Sounds: Life of the Munshi
Join members of the Chineke! Junior Orchestra in a musical exploration of the life of Abdul Karim. Keep going to watch their composition, filmed at Kenwood House.
The Creators of 'Life of the Munshi'English Heritage
Follow Adrian, Amalia, Imaan, and Toril as they learn about the story of Abdul Karim and his position in Queen Victoria's household, and create a new piece of music inspired by his life.
Peacock Plaster Detail, Durbar Room, Osborne HouseOriginal Source: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/osborne/
Abdul Karim (1863-1909)
Abdul Karim was one of Queen Victoria’s Indian servants. Having been declared Empress of India in 1877 she became fascinated with Indian culture. Abdul was brought over in 1887 to serve in the royal household, and to the surprise and jealousy of many, the two became close.
Abdul started to teach the Queen Urdu, and she showered him with honours, appointing him her Indian Secretary. Abdul is sometimes called “Munshi”, an Indian term of respect for a language teacher. However, after the Queen’s death, Abdul was stripped of any status and returned to India.
Life of the Munshi' - Graphic ScoreEnglish Heritage
Abdul Karim’s story felt like a journey: from India to England, and through his migration, we saw echoes of our families' own stories of migration, which we wanted to reflect in the music we created, taking a journey through Indian classical music to Western classical.
Life of the Munshi': Creating the ScoreEnglish Heritage
Zoom in to get a look at how we turned some of these ideas from concept to sound!
Tap to explore
And finally, filmed at Kenwood House, residence of the Earls of Mansfield during Queen Victoria’s reign, here are Toril, Imaan, Amalia and Adrian performing their original composition.
Watch and learn more about our other ‘Stories, Sites, and Sounds’ compositions: 'Dido Belle - A Musical Voyage' and 'In Memory of SFB'. You can also see more about how these projects were created here.
Head to the Shout Out Loud project page to find out more. Or if you want to know more about Kenwood House, including how to visit, all the information can be found here.
Learn more about the Chineke! Junior Orchestra by visiting their website, or by reading their story here on Google Arts and Culture.
Stories, Sites, and Sounds is part of Shout Out Loud, English Heritage’s national youth engagement programme. Shout Out Loud is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Kick the Dust programme.
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