Queen Harish
Queen Harish during a dance performance
Born
Harish Kumar

1979 (1979)
Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India
Died2 June 2019(2019-06-02) (aged 39–40)
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
OccupationDancer
Known forRajasthani folk dances
Children2

Harish Kumar (1979 - 2 June 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.

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, started drag dancing 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. 1 2 3 Asnani, Rajesh (6 June 2019). "Jaipur diary: Rajasthan mourns folk dancer Queen Harish". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Obituary | Queen Harish, India's 'Dancing Desert Drag Queen'". The Wire.
  4. ↑ "Blush.me". Blush. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  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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