Queen Harish

Harish Kumar (1979 - June 2, 2019) popularly known as Queen Harish was a folk dancer from Rajasthan, India. A person who worked towards revival of Rajasthani folk dances,[1] his performances included various folk dance forms from Rajasthan like Ghoomar, Kalbelia, Chang, Bhawai and Chari.

Queen Harish
Queen Harish during a dance performance
Born
Harish Kumar

1979 (1979)
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India
DiedJune 2, 2019(2019-06-02) (aged 39–40)
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
OccupationDancer
Known forRajasthani folk dances
Children2

Biography
Queen Harish in drag costume

Harish Kumar was born in 1979, in a carpenter family in Suthar community in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.[2] He started dancing at the age of 13.[3] Harish, who lost his parents, comes to drag dance to take care of his sisters.[3] Inspired by 'Annu Master', the first drag performer in the Jaisalmer region, he started learning drag dance under him.[3] He practiced American tribal style belly dance to make his body more capable of all feminine movements.[4]

Harish had performed Ghoomar, Kalbelia, Chang, Bhavai, Chari, and other folk dances of the Rajasthan state, in nearly 60 countries.[2] His performance was one of the highlights of the annual Jaipur Literary Fest.[5] He has participated in Raqs Congree in Brussels, Belly Dancing Championship in Seoul and Desilicious in New York City.[6] He has appeared in the reality television show 'India's Got Talent' and several Bollywood movies including Appudappudu (2003), Jai Gangaajal (2016) and The Accidental Prime Minister.[7][8] In 2007, he starred in the documentary When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan by American filmmaker Jasmine Dellal.[9][10] In collaboration with the government of Rajasthan, he ran a daily evening show at Jaisalmer called The Queen Harish Show.[11] He was also a choreographer with over two thousand students in Japan alone.[2]

Personal life and death

Harish is survived by his wife and two sons.[12] He died at the age of 39, on 2019 June 2, in a road accident in a Highway in Kaparda village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan.[13]

References
  1. "Farewell, Queen Harish – India's most famous drag queen". Times of India Blog. 21 June 2019.
  2. "Jaipur diary: Rajasthan mourns folk dancer Queen Harish". The New Indian Express.
  3. "Obituary | Queen Harish, India's 'Dancing Desert Drag Queen'". The Wire.
  4. "Blush.me". Blush.
  5. Swaminathan, Chitra (6 June 2019). "Dance like Queen Harish". The Hindu.
  6. "Queen Harish of Jaisalmer, Traditional Dancers from Jaisalmer". www.jaisalmeronline.in.
  7. "Who was Queen Harish Kumar?". DNA India.
  8. "Harish". IMDb.
  9. Roy, Sandip (22 July 2008). "Queen Harish dances in drag". SFGATE.
  10. "Rajasthani folk dancer Queen Harish dies in road accident". The Indian Express. 3 June 2019.
  11. "Queen Harish: The Man, The Woman, The Performer". eNewsroom India. 4 March 2018.
  12. Soparrkar, Sandip (10 June 2019). "Queen Harish: The man, the woman & the mystery will stay the same forever". The Asian Age.
  13. ഡെസ്ക്, വെബ് (2 June 2019). "നാടോടി നർത്തകൻ ക്വീൻ ഹാരിഷ് വാഹനാപകടത്തിൽ മരിച്ചു". www.madhyamam.com (in Malayalam).
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