Help NYSZA raise money for marginalised Indian communities

Recent BIMM London graduate Ananya Panwar (NYSZA) has started a fundraising campaign to help support marginalised and disenfranchised Indian communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Covid death tolls in India skyrocketing and nobody truly knowing the extent of the figures, Ananya desperately wants to help. With her entire family still in India and some testing positive for Covid, as well as masses of people getting turned away from hospitals due to a lack of medical oxygen and space, Ananya felt that she had to act.

Ananya originally released ‘Petunia’ on International Women’s Day 2018, when she was 19. The song addresses the dual standards and oppression of sexual autonomy faced by women (cis and trans) in South Asia. Now, three years on, the track has amassed a fantastic 122k streams on Spotify and boasts listeners from all over the world. The track was initially recorded in London with BIMM musicians and mixes world rhythms, contemporary jazz, and folk storytelling in English, Hindi, and Urdu, to create a new world for the listener to lose themselves in.

“I’m trying to contribute to on-ground efforts to soothe even just a tiny iota of the trauma and grief that marginalised Indian communities are currently going through… and with people’s continued support, I’d like to keep on going as far as we can get together!”

— Ananya Panwar (NYSZA)

Ananya’s Plan

Using the songs’ message of empowerment, Ananya aims to contribute to aid in India, specifically for people struggling to cope with the impact of Covid. This is where you come in… Ananya has re-released her single on Bandcamp, and you can buy it for as much as you like, with all proceeds going to these fantastic causes:

• Food Assistance for Transgender Community in Tamil Nadu: Grace Banu
• Safe Period: Help Those Who Menstruate To Have a Hygienic Cycle
• Support Remote Areas of Uttarakhand During Covid: Uttarakhand Welfare Association

All the funds raised from the single sale will be split equally between these charities and causes. The localised charity initiatives will provide Covid relief to marginalised, oppressed, and underrepresented Indian communities that struggle to find acceptance in society, let alone access to the already scarce medical supplies and healthcare.

These communities include (but are certainly not limited to) women, sex workers, trans and non-binary folk, menstruating individuals, the HIV-infected population, and isolated Pahadi villagers in remote regions of the Himalayas. You can read more about how these charities can help and buy the single here.