As Indiaart had organised several demonstrations, workshops and exhibitions of Warli art featuring Warli artists, I was always curious to know more about their traditional festive dance of Tarpa. Warli tribals live in the region of Dahanu which is in Thane district in state of Maharashtra.

Warli art and the customs and traditions of the Warli tribals is a rich cultural heritage of Maharashtra and India and needs to be properly documented and preserved. Warlis traditionally use rice paste as the medium to paint. The walls of their dwellings adorn these beautiful paintings which reflect their life cycle, seasons of nature, animals, crops, festivities and so on.

I was delighted when in an exhibition organised by Tribal Research Institute, I met a Warli artist with whom I had worked in the past. I expressed my long standing wish of purchasing one Tarpa musical instrument and he was kind enough to agree to my request. I further requested him to play the instrument for few minutes so that I could record it. He again agreed readily.