Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 48

Image Courtesy of Edinburgh Art Festival
official records, or indeed which have been deliberately expunged. More
than one million Indian soldiers served in the British Army during the First
World War. And while the common (mis)conception is one of noble sacrifice
made by Sikh soldiers, extending a warrior tradition into the service of
empire, Abidi’s sound installation explores an alternative history.
Memorial to Lost Words fills the debating chamber of Edinburgh’s New
Parliament House with two sets of voices, singing in dialogue. The rest are
those of women singing folk songs in Punjabi, entreating their menfolk not
to go to war. Archived by the poet Amarjit Chandan, and now re-recorded by
the artist working with contemporary folk singers, the songs were first sung
��� years ago.
In response, we hear a newly composed folk song, based on letters (now in
the British Library) written by Indian soldiers to their wives and families
from the front. Filled with honest descriptions of the brutality and absurdity
of war, the letters were censored and many never reached their intended
recipients.
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