SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Operas are often centered on tragic heroines who die or take their own lives at the end of the story. But "Thumbprint," a new chamber opera, takes that formula and turns it around. This opera is based on the true story of a young, illiterate Pakistani who was the victim of a terrible honor crime. Jeff Lunden reports she took on the system and ultimately triumphed.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Mukhtar Mai is from a small tribal village in Pakistan. In 2002, her brother was accused of sexually molesting a woman from a wealthy landowning clan. What happened next was horrifying, says Kamala Sankaram, who wrote the music and plays the lead role in "Thumbprint."
KAMALA SANKARAM: For retribution, the village council decided that Mukhtar should be gang-raped by four of the men of this clan. And what is supposed to happen for a woman after this has taken place is that not only has she shamed herself, she's brought dishonor to the rest of her family as well. She's shunned from her village, and the only course of action for her to take is to take her own life.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FROM THE OPERA, "THUMBPRINT")
LUNDEN: Far from being the end of Mukhtar Mai's story, in many ways it was just the beginning.
SANKARAM: Not only did she defy tradition by choosing not to kill herself, she actually, despite the fact that she's illiterate, despite the fact that she had no knowledge of the laws of her country, she took her case to court and she won.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FROM THE OPERA, "THUMBPRINT")
LUNDEN: Sankaram and her librettist Susan Yankowitz both came to Mukhtar Mai's story separately. Sankaram had written a song cycle based on Mai's autobiography, while Yankowitz wrote a monologue about her for Seven, a theatrical evening sponsored by Vital Voices Global Partnership, an NGO that works with women leaders around the world.
Cindy Dyer is its vice president for human rights.
CINDY DYER: What she experienced is actually very common. Women are being violated and brutalized even today, and the problem is that many women do not have access to help and they are afraid to seek help. And so her courage in seeking help is so inspirational to others.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FROM THE OPERA, "THUMBPRINT")
LUNDEN: In telling Mukhtar Mai's story, Kamala Sankaram has taken elements of Hindustani music from Ragas to Qawwali devotional songs and fused them with Western operatic forms.
SANKARAM: So, there are flavors of India and Pakistan in there even though it's still written for Western opera singers.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FROM THE OPERA, "THUMBPRINT")
LUNDEN: The title, "Thumbprint," comes from a pivotal moment in Mukhtar Mai's story when she goes to the police to report the rape, says librettist Susan Yankowitz.
SUSAN YANKOWITZ: When she's there, she realizes she does not know how to sign her name to the document. And it has never really occurred to her that this was a disadvantage in any way, that this was a problem. But in the context of the police and the judge and a court, she understands how important it is. She does sign the document with her thumbprint, and in doing so, she understands the power and importance of education.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FROM THE OPERA, "THUMBPRINT")
LUNDEN: With the money she won from the settlement, Mukhtar Mai set up schools and a foundation to serve the impoverished people in her community. But Cindy Dyer of Vital Voices says...
DYER: Different entities have use every tool in their arsenal to try to shut this organization down and try to silence Mukhtar Mai.
LUNDEN: And that's why librettist Susan Yankowitz says it's important to tell Mai's story.
YANKOWITZ: Because of the fact that she - one single person, one body, one voice, made this enormous change in Pakistan. She was really the first. She's the first woman to ever bring her rapists to court.
LUNDEN: After today's matinee performance of "Thumbprint," Mukhtar Mai will speak to the audience herself via Skype. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC FROM THE OPERA, "THUMBPRINT")
SIMON: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.